Tools for Thought

Action is experiential. The more we experience doing, the less effort we realize it takes. The more we imagine doing, the more effort it appears to take. We need a way to externalize our thinking, a tool to bypass our mental process. Fortunately, there’s a time-tested way to jump start any daunting task:
Set a timer […]

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Paperwork should not be used as a reminder of what to do with it. Once the project and next actions associated with a document have been identified and placed on their corresponding lists, the best practice is to keep the document out of sight until it’s actually needed. Like books in a library, documents should […]

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Information overload is the stress of infinite opportunity. In a world of bottomless information resources, the need to ruthlessly gatekeep our information intake is absolute.
Working online is a walk through a minefield of time sinks disguised as quick lookups. One of the best reality checks against getting drawn into interesting articles is applying the Two […]

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Some tasks are better put off until higher-priority tasks are completed. If you’re working on a sales report, and suddenly think about researching a new car you’d like to buy, it’s best to put “Research car purchase” on your project list or “Look up Prius on ConsumerReports.com” on your @Computer list, and handle it later. […]

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“Do it now!” is often good advice, but depending on what needs to be done, now is not necessarily the most strategic action choice. Many times we prioritize our reactions to information based on how recently it entered our world, or how much emotional charge it carries. Acting on any intention the moment it occurs […]

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A calendar serves two purposes:

It shows what times are committed
It implies by omission what times are available

The first one is obvious. The second one contains a subtle corollary: A calendar is not a To Do list. The quickest way to erode the authority of a calendar is to fill it with tasks that may or […]

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Context lists are a way of organizing next actions by the physical place or resource needed to execute the actions. A shopping list is a familiar context list. Instead of adding shopping items to a To Do list, we segment the items we need to purchase at the store, filtering out the other things we […]

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Some paperwork is relevant now, and some won’t be until later. If the car insurance bill is due on the 13th, but you get paid on the 9th, you can put the payment reminder on your calendar. Or you can write the check now, stick the bill and check in the envelope, and file the […]

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For most of us these days, the computer is the hub of our production, research, entertainment and even socializing. One of the most critical keys to computer fluency — more than word processing, spreadsheet manipulation or even web browsing — is increasing typing speed.
The keyboard is the primary interface on all desktop computers and most […]

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Designating a place for everything is necessary for good organization, but not sufficient. Things need to be accessible where they will actually be used, not just where they “should” be used. Organize resources around your activity zones.
If someone frequently reads in a living room chair facing a television, it’s not practical to keep the library […]

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