河南省高招服务平台:The Power of LESS
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“BABAUTA HAS BECOME A POWERHOUSE OF ONLINE PRODUCTIVITY FOR GOOD REASON: HIS MANTRA WORKS.”
—TIMOTHY FERRISS, AUTHOR OH THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
THE 4-HOUR WORKWEEK
The Power of LESS
the fine art of limiting yourself to the
essential. . . in business and in life
Leo Babauta
Leo Babauta
CONTENTS
Introduction v
PART I: THE PRINCIPLES
1. Why Less Is Powerful 3
2.The Art of Setting Limits 11
3. Choosing the Essential, and Simplifying 17
4. Simple Focus 25
5. Create New Habits, and the Power
of Less Challenge 33
6. Start Small 39
PART II: IN PRACTICE
7. Simple Goals and Projects 45
8. Simple Tasks 57
9. Simple Time Management 61
CONTENTS
10. Simple E-mail 71
11. Simple Internet 83
12. Simple Filing 91
13. Simple Commitments 99
14. Simple Daily Routine 113
15. Declutter Your Work Space 119
16. Slow Down 131
17. Simple Health and Fitness 143
18. On Motivation 159
Acknowledgments 171
About the Author
Credits
Cover
Copyright
INTRODUCTION
T
HERE HAS NEVER BEFORE been an age in which we
could get so much done so quickly. There also has never
before been an age in which we were so overwhelmed
with information and tasks, so overloaded with e-mails and
things to read and watch, so stressed by the incredible demands
of our lives.
For many people these days, work is a constant stream of
e-mails, of news and requests, of phone calls and instant mes-
sages, of papers and notes and files. The day starts with an
in-box full of e-mails, and ends with an in-box just as full,
and each e-mail represents a request for information or for
actions that we don't have time to fulfill. We are drinking
from a fire hose of information, with no idea of how to reduce
the flow.
It's stressful and wasteful. And if we stop to think about it,
it's not how we want to spend our lives.
FINDING CALM IN THE CHAOS
What's the alternative to information and task overload? Must we
follow the example of Thoreau, and build a cabin in the woods,
shutting ourselves off from society and modern technology?
I propose a middle ground: one where we can still enjoy ac-
cess to vast amounts of information, still have instant commu-
nication when we want it, still get things done quickly—but one
in which we choose how much we consume and do. A simpler
life, but one in which we accomplish the things we want to ac-
complish.
The solution lies in setting limits to how much we consume
and do. It lies in making the most of our time by focusing on
the most important things, instead of everything. Picture a life
in which you have a fairly peaceful workday, where stress levels
are minimal, where you're able to focus on your work. Imagine
that you only do a few tasks, but they're chosen so that they have the most impact. You accomplish major goals without the stress of doing everything at once.
It might sound idyllic, but it's definitely achievable. I've done
it using a system that's very easy to implement.
It all comes down to making choices.
SIMPLICITY
I'm a firm believer in simplicity. My life is better when I sim-
plify it, when I cut down on the noise and I'm able to enjoy the
things I love. My work is better when I cut out the distractions
and I'm able to focus. My writing is more powerful when I can
eliminate excess words and use only those words needed to con-
vey my core ideas.
Simplicity means a lot of things in different contexts. For
some, it means going back to using raw materials instead of
manufactured ones, building and making everything yourself
instead of buying it, doing everything yourself instead of rely-
ing on others. While that definition holds a lot of appeal for me,
the simplicity I seek in my life is simplicity in what I do. Do
less, not more, but achieve more because of the choices I make.
Simplicity boils down to two steps:
1. Identify the essential.
2. Eliminate the rest.
In this book, we'll talk about a lot of ways to apply those two
steps to various areas of your work and personal life, but we'll
always come back to those two ideas: Focus on the essential and
allow everything else to drop away.
It'll make you much happier, less stressed, and perhaps sur-
prisingly, more productive.
HOW IT WORKED FOR ME
Only a few years ago, I was over my head in debt, with a work
schedule that rarely allowed me to see my family and had me
stressed to maximum levels every day. I was overweight and
unhealthy, I was eating fried and fatty and salty and greasy
foods every day, I wasn't exercising, and I was a smoker. I was
unhappy at work and going nowhere, fast. My life was compli-
cated, and I didn't have time for the things I loved.
So I made a choice: I decided to simplify. I decided to make
positive changes. It started with quitting smoking—I focused
on that first, and only that. I poured all of my energy into this
one goal, and an amazing thing happened: That focused energy
allowed me to break through the initial barriers of quitting,
which I'd failed at numerous times before.
Beating that barrier helped inspire me to new goals and hab-
its, and I used the same method on each one: I'd focus all of my
energy and attention on that one challenge, and the barriers
would break down. I'd focus on one goal at a time (I call it my
"One Goal") and not try to accomplish everything at once.
Through this method, over the last several years, I've been
able to:
1. Take up running
2. Begin eating healthier
3. Become organized and productive
4. Train for and run two marathons
5. Work two jobs and double my income
6. Become an early riser (I wake at 4 a.m.)
7. Become a vegetarian
8. Complete two triathlons
9. Start a successful blog—Zen Habits
10. Completely eliminate my debt
11. Save a substantial emergency fund for the first time
12. Simplify my life
13. Declutter my home
14. Lose forty-plus pounds
15. Write and sell two successful e-books
16. Write the first draft of a novel
17. Quit my day job and work from home
18. Start a successful second blog, Write To Done, for writers
19. Publish this book
And I've done all of that while raising and making time for
six beautiful kids.
That may sound like a lot, but I accomplished all of this in
small steps, one thing at a time. Again, I used the concept
of One Goal—I focused on only one goal at a time, and put
all of my energy into it.
My blog, Zen Habits, which documents how I've reached
these goals, is now in the top fifty blogs in the world, with more
than sixty thousand subscribers and about two million readers
a month. Many of my readers have asked me how I can do so
much, given that I have the same number of hours in the day as
everyone else. My answer: It's a matter of placing limits, and
focusing on the essential.
THE SIX PRINCIPLES
OF SIMPLE PRODUCTIVITY
Part I of this book will explore the six guiding principles of the
Power of Less—the ideas that will help you to maximize your
productivity while simplifying your life. These Power of Less
Principles will reappear throughout the book:
1. Set limitations.
2. Choose the essential.
3. Simplify.
4. Focus.
5. Create habits.
6. Start small.
In Part II of this book, the Power of Less in Practice, we'll
take a look at practical tips for implementing these principles in
key areas, from your work to your personal life.
WHAT THIS BOOK WILL DO
First, let me tell you what this book won't do: It won't teach you
exactly how to write a novel or run a marathon or quit smoking.
This isn't a how-to manual to do any of that. This is a how-to
manual on how to simplify and focus on the essential. How to
do less while accomplishing more. How to focus and use that
focus to achieve your goals, no matter what they are.
It's about limitations rather than volume.
Each chapter of this book is designed to teach you how to
focus on less and to use that focus to be more powerful in dif-
ferent areas of your life. You'll learn to simplify what you do, to
reduce the volume of your tasks and projects and communica-
tion and information. You'll learn to reduce the clutter in your
life so that you're less stressed and more productive. You'll learn
how simplicity can be extremely powerful and how to use that
to accomplish your goals, one at a time.
You'll learn how to create a more tranquil workday and envi-
ronment, no matter where you work.
This is a book about less, and how focusing on less can transform your life.
And it's not an abstract book, either: It will give you very
practical advice about how to put the concept of less into action,
every day.
Part I
the
PRINCIPLES
one
Why Less Is Powerful
W
E LIVE IN a world where, more often than not,
more is better. We are after more money, to buy
bigger houses and cars, and more clothes and gad-
gets and furniture. We need bigger shopping malls rather than
the small shops of yesterday. We consume more, and we pro-
duce more, and we do more than ever before.
At some point, however, we run into limits. There is only so
much we can do or consume. There are a finite number of
hours in a day, and once we reach that limit to our production,
we can't do more. Many people see these limits as problems,
while others see them as a challenge: How can I squeeze more
into my day? If I manage my time effectively and learn to be
more productive, can I get more done in the limited number of
hours available to me?
The problem with constantly trying to increase volume is
that it doesn't always produce the best results. Doing a huge
number of things doesn't mean you're getting anything mean-
ingful done. In fact, it's so hit-and-miss that it's almost like
playing a game of roulette: If you do enough tasks, one of them
is bound to pay off big.
It doesn't work that way. Doing more things means you're
likely to do a lot of unimportant things, and you'll be over-
worked and stressed at the same time.
Imagine two reporters working at a newspaper: One goes for
a high volume of articles each week, and the other decides to do
only one. The reporter writing thirty articles a week scans a vast
amount of sources for any little bit of information that's re-
motely interesting, turning each into a short, quick, and fairly
limited article that doesn't get much attention. His editor is
pleased by the amount of work he's doing, and he gets rewarded
with praise.
The second reporter decides that if he's just going to do one
article this week, he'd better make it count. He spends half of
the first day researching and brainstorming and thinking until
he chooses a high-impact story that he knows will knock people's
socks off. It'll be an article that wins awards. He spends two
days researching it and another couple days writing it and
checking facts.
Guess what happens? Not only does he produce the best ar-
ticle of the week, but it becomes an award-winning article, one
that the readers love and that gets him a promotion and long-
term and widespread recognition. From that article, and others
like it, he can build a career. The first reporter was thinking
high-volume, but short-term. The second reporter focused on
less, but it did much more over the long term.
That's the Power of Less.
THE LESSONS OF THE HAIKU
The fairly popular form of Japanese poetry known as the haiku
has a couple of interesting lessons to teach us about why less is
powerful. The haiku, as you may know, is usually a nature-re-
lated poem of just seventeen syllables, written in three lines
(five syllables, then seven, then five). A poet writing a haiku
must work with those limitations, must express an entire idea
or image in only that number of syllables. It can be a daunting
task if you have something important to convey.
So the haiku poet has a couple of choices: He can quickly
whip out seventeen syllables and have a completed haiku in a
short amount of time; or he can carefully choose only the essen-
tial words and images needed to convey his idea. And this sec-
ond choice is what creates some of the most powerful poetry in
such a limited form—choosing only the essential. So the les-
sons we can pick up from the haiku are the first two principles
of simple productivity:
Principle 1: By setting limitations, we must choose
the essential.So in everything you do, learn to set
limitations.
Principle 2: By choosing the essential, we create great impact with minimal resources. Always choose the essential to maximize your time and energy.
These two lessons form the key to this book. They are the
Power of Less in two sentences. Everything after this is simply
an exploration of these concepts, or practical ways to apply them
to many areas of your life.
CHOOSING THINGS WITH THE MOST IMPACT
In our work lives, we can be like the first reporter in the exam-
ple above, cranking out tasks like crazy, and we'll probably get a
whole lot done and be praised for it. People like to see hard
workers who will handle anything thrown at them.
However, we can make another choice: We can be like the
second reporter and choose to do fewer things, but things with
the most impact. What does that mean, "the most impact"? A
task or project could be "high-impact" in a number of different
ways. It could:
get you long-term recognition;
make you a lot of money in the long run;
be highly beneficial to your company, in terms of revenues, branding, expanding into new areas, etc.;
change your career or have the potential to greatly advance your career;
change your personal life in some important way; or
contribute to society or humanity in general.
These are just some examples—you can probably think of other
ways a task or project can be high-impact.
How can you determine which tasks have the most impact?
There are generally two good ways of doing this.
1. Examine your task list. Take a look at everything on
your list and ask yourself the following questions about each
one: Will this have an impact that will last beyond this week or
this month? How will it change my job, my career, my life?
How will this further a long-term goal of mine? How impor-
tant is that goal? From these answers, you can determine
which items will have the most impact over the long term.
While this sounds like a tedious process, it actually gets very
easy with practice, and soon you'll be able to do it in just a few
minutes.
2.Start with your goals. If you start by identifying the
things you really want to accomplish in the next year, you can
plan your tasks so that you are doing things each day to further
those goals along. Let's say you have three long-term goals—
each day, choose a task from your list that will move you closer
to those goals. This will ensure that you are completing the
tasks with the most impact, because they relate directly to a
long-term goal.
Which of these two methods should you use? Whichever
method works for you. We'll talk more about working with goals
and tasks in later chapters, but for now I just want to point out
that it's not an either/or choice. You can try a combination of
both of the above methods, and in fact, I think that's necessary.
You can do your best to plan for your goals, but even the best of
us has tasks outside of those goals that must be completed. All
your tasks will pile up in a long list (if you're careful to write
them down) and the non-goal tasks can easily push back your
goal tasks. What you'll need to do is do a review of your task list
(method number one above) to choose the high-impact tasks,
instead of trying to tackle everything regardless of how mean-
ingful the tasks are to your life.
APPLYING LIMITATIONS TO
EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE
The lessons of the haiku, of applying limitations in order to
force choices, of choosing the essential and finding the Power
of Less—these are lessons we can apply not only to the tasks on
our to-do lists, but to everything in our lives. If there's any area
of your life that is overwhelming you, and that you'd like to sim-
plify, apply limitations.
Have too many e-mails in your in-box? Apply a limitation:
You'll only check e-mail twice a day, and only respond to five
e-mails each time. You'll be forced to work more effectively, and
only write important e-mails.
Have too many projects? Limit them to three. Have too much
stuff in your house? Limit yourself to two hundred items. You
get the idea.
We'll explore these different areas in more detail and see
how the lessons of the haiku can transform these areas of your
life into something powerful and meaningful, but for now, it
helps to ask yourself the following questions:
Which areas of my life are overwhelming?
What would I like to simplify?
In addition to the tasks I need to accomplish in different
areas, do I want to limit the number of possessions I
have, what information I receive, or what responsibilities
I have?
These are just preliminary questions for now; we'll explore this
in more detail and figure out what's essential and what isn't as
we get into the following chapters.
two
The Art of
Setting Limits
M
OST OF us lead lives filled with too much stuff, too
much information, too many papers, too much to do,
too much clutter. Unfortunately, our time and space
is limited, and having too much of everything is like trying to
cram a library into a single box: It can't be done, it's hard to en-
joy the books, and sooner or later the box will break.
Our problem is living without limits. It's like going shop-
ping without spending limits—you tend to go overboard and
end up with a bunch of stuff you don't need or really want
much. But if you have a budget (say one hundred dollars), you'll
choose only the things that matter, and you'll end up with much
less junk.
Our entire lives are like this: We live without limits. And
while that freedom can seem fun at first, after a while it gets to
be too much. We don't have enough room for everything. We
can't handle the stress of trying to do everything. We just can't
fit it in our lives, no matter how much we'd like to do so.
It weakens us in so many ways. It dilutes our power and ef-
fectiveness. It spreads us too thin. It tires us out so that we don't
have the energy to handle the important stuff. A life without
limits is taking a cup of red dye and pouring it into the ocean,
and watching the color dilute into nothingness. Limited focus is
putting that same cup of dye into a gallon of water.
Limitless is the pitcher who pitches nine innings every three
days, throwing as many pitches as he can, as hard as he can.
Soon he's too tired to pitch very hard, if at all. The real power is
when that same pitcher comes in for one inning every three
days and can mow down the batters every time.
Limitless is trying to excavate an entire acre of land with a
single shovel. Limited focus is digging with that same shovel in
one spot until you hit water.
Limitless is weak. Learn to focus yourself with limits, and
you'll increase your strength. In this chapter, we'll explore Prin-
ciple 1. Setting Limits.
HOW LIMITS CAN HELP
Going from a limitless life that's overwhelming and not very
effective to a life with limits, focus, and power is an incredible
transformation.
Here are just a few benefits of setting limits on everything
you do:
It simplifies things. Your life becomes more manageable
and less stressful.
It focuses you. Instead of diluting yourself, you focus
your energy on a smaller number of things.
It focuses on what's important. Instead of trying to do
everything and not having enough time for the impor-
tant things in your life, you do only what's important to
you. That's an incredible change for most people.
It helps you achieve. Many times, when we are spread too
thin, we only make incremental progress on important
projects and goals. But if we focus on just a few impor-
tant things, we can actually complete them. You'll achieve
much more by focusing on the essential.
It shows others that your time is important. When we
try to take on everything that comes our way, the people
around us get the message that their time is more im-
portant than ours, that we'll say yes to whatever re-
quests they have. If, however, we have firm limits on
what we do, we send the message that we value our
time and our priorities. Others will value your time in
return.
It makes you more effective. By doing less of the busy-
work, and more of the important work, you are spinning
your wheels less and using your limited time and energy
on something with lasting impact. That helps you make
the best use of your time, and eliminates much of the
nonessential in your life.
WHAT TO SET LIMITS ON
What areas of your life need limits? Everything that you feel is
in any way overloaded. Every area that you'd like to improve.
You don't need to revamp your entire life all at once. That's a
sure recipe for failure, actually. Taking on too much at once is
the antithesis of this book—to succeed at setting limits, you
should start with one area at a time, and preferably an area with
a great likelihood of success.
Where should you start? That can't be prescribed, as each
person's life is different, and you'll need to do what works for
you. Take a few minutes to think about your life—what areas
take up too much time, or seem overloaded? What would you
like to simplify? Some ideas for good places to start:
E-mail
Daily tasks
The amount of time spent on the phone
The number of projects you have on your plate
The number of blogs or other projects you subscribe to
The amount of time you spend reading on the Internet
The number of things on top of your desk
These are just ideas, of course. You'll slowly be expanding into
other areas. Focus on one change at a time until it becomes a
part of your routine, and you're comfortable with the limit.
HOW TO SET LIMITS
When you first set a limit on something, it'll be a fairly arbitrary
number, as it will take some time to see what works for you.
However, setting limits isn't just pulling a random number out
of a hat—it's based on your experience with that type of activity,
and based on what you think your ideal is.
For example, when you first set a limit on the number of
times you plan to check your e-mail, if you just randomly select
a number, it could be well over a thousand. But you know from
experience that that would obviously be too high a limit, so
you'll likely choose from a range that's reasonable based on your
years of experience in checking e-mail. Let's say you normally
check e-mail ten to fifteen times a day, and that seems like too
much for you. You're spending most of your day in e-mail, in-
stead of getting your other work done. So you might choose
from a range of one to five times, as that seems ideal. Maybe
you'll try twice a day—once in the morning and once before you
leave work.
The next step is to test it out, to see if that limit works for
you. Is it a limit you can reasonably stick to? Is it hurting your
communication with others in an appreciable way? Are you able
to get much more work done with this limit?
Think of your first week with that limit as an experiment. If
it doesn't work for you (and there's no single limit that works for
everyone), then adjust it a bit. If twice a day isn't often enough,
try three times a day. If you think you can get by with even less,
try once a day. Then test that new limit out until you find what
works for you, and until you make that limit a part of your daily
routine. Once it's a habit, you can move on to the next area of
your life. So setting limits for anything else will work the same
way:
1. Analyze your current usage levels (how many times do
you do something a day?) and pick a lower limit based on
what you think would be ideal.
2. Test it out for about a week, and then analyze whether
that's working for you.
3. If it doesn't work, adjust to a new level you think might
work better, and test that out for about a week.
4. Continue to adjust until you find the right level and until
you make it a habit.
Once you've learned to set limits, you will then learn to
make the most of those limits—by choosing the essential and
then simplifying. That's when the power of limits can really be
seen: when the limits force you to reduce yourself to only the
essentials. We'll discuss this in the next chapter.
three
Choosing the Essential,
and Simplifying
I
N THIS CHAPTER, we'll explore Principle 2, Choose the
Essential, and then Principle 3, Simplifying. Choosing the
essential is the key to simplifying—you have to choose
the essential before you simplify, or you're just cutting things
out without ensuring that you're keeping the important things.
How do you know what's essential? That's the key question.
Once you know that, the rest is easy.
Once you know what's essential, you can reduce your proj-
ects, your tasks, your stream of incoming information, your
commitments, your clutter. You just have to eliminate every-
thing that's not essential.
It's like the old joke: how do you carve a statue of an elephant?
Just chip away everything that doesn't look like an elephant.
Well, first you have to know what the elephant looks like.
PUT THE HORSE BEFORE THE CART
Many productivity systems will tell you to do things in reverse:
They'll tell you how to do things quickly, without trying to fig-
ure out what things you should be doing. They'll tell you how to
get the urgent tasks done, and how to handle a mass of assign-
ments and information coming at you, but these systems don't
do a good job of discriminating between what's important and
what's not, and you end up doing everything that's thrown at
you. That puts you at the mercy of the flow of tasks and infor-
mation coming at you—in other words, at the mercy of anyone's
whim or requests.
Instead, you must ask yourself in everything you do, what is
essential? Whether that's asking yourself what you want to do
today, or this week, or this year, or in your life in general, ask
yourself what is essential. Whether that be deciding which
e-mails to reply to, what you can buy this month with your lim-
ited budget, how to declutter your desk or your house—ask
yourself what the essentials are.
That puts the horse before the cart, instead of after it—you're
identifying the essential, and then accomplishing those essen-
tials.
CHOOSING THE ESSENTIAL:
A SERIES OF QUESTIONS
In everything you do, use these questions to guide you to
choose the essential, especially if you have problems deciding.
Once you get the hang of it, you won't need these questions
anymore—they'll become automatic.
1. What are your values? Values are simply knowing what
things are most important to you. Think about the things that
really matter to you, the qualities you want to have, the principles
you want to live your life by. Once you've identified these values,
everything you do and choose should follow from those.
2. What are your goals? What do you want to achieve in
life? How about over the next year? How about this month? And
today? If you know what you're trying to achieve, you can deter-
mine if an action or item will help you achieve it.
3. What do you love? Think about what you love, who you
love to spend time with, what you love doing.
4. What is important to you? Along the same lines, make
a list of the most important things in your life, in your work, or
in whatever area you're thinking about.
5. What has the biggest impact? If you have a choice to
make between a list of projects or tasks, think about which proj-
ect or task will make the biggest difference in your life or career.
What will have the biggest effect on everything else? For exam-
ple, if you have a choice between making some calls, having a
meeting, and writing a report, think about the impact each task
will have: the calls are to clients who spend perhaps one hun-
dred dollars each on your company, the meeting is with a client
who will bring in ten thousand dollars in business if you can
close the deal, and the report is something that might not even
be read. The meeting, in this example, has the biggest impact,
and is therefore the most essential.
6. What has the most long-term impact? There's a differ-
ence between the size of an impact and its long-term value. For
example, a meeting with a client might bring in ten thousand
dollars next week, but a long-term marketing campaign might
bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next year.
The impact doesn't have to be in terms of money—it could be
anything that's valuable to you.
7. Needs vs. wants. This is a good criteria to use when you're
trying to decide whether to spend on certain items: Which items
do you actually need, and which ones are just things you want?
If you can identify needs, you can eliminate most of the wants,
which are nonessential.
8. Eliminate the nonessential. Sometimes it's useful to
work backward, if you're having trouble figuring out the essen-
tials. If you have a list of things to do, for example, start by
crossing off the nonessential items. You know that washing
your car, for example, isn't as important as paying your bills or
fixing that leak that is costing you hundreds of dollars on your
water bill. Once you eliminate some of the nonessential stuff,
you are left with the more essential things on the list.
9. Continual editing process. Most of the time you don't
pare things all the way down to the essentials on your first try.
You eliminate some of the nonessentials and give the remain-
ing things a try. Then you take another look at it in a week or
two and eliminate more things. Continue that process until you
are happy that you can't eliminate anything else.
HOW TO APPLY THE QUESTIONS
The list of questions above is a good way to determine which
things are essential to you if you're having difficulties, no mat-
ter what area of your life you're examining. From your work
projects and tasks, to e-mails, to finances, to goals, to your com-
mitments in life, to the clutter in your home and on your desk,
identifying the essentials is the first and most important step in
simplifying things so that you can be more effective.
The key is to take a few moments (or hours, or days, if neces-
sary) to stop what you're doing and think about it in a broader
perspective. Are you focusing on the essentials? What are the
essentials? Can you eliminate the nonessentials? Take the time
to ask yourself the questions above and you'll do a much better
job of honing in on what you really need to do, and really want
to do—a better job of focusing on what's important, and on get-
ting the important things done. That'll cut back on the time you
spend doing things that aren't important, that you don't love do-
ing, that don't lead to the accomplishment of your goals.
Here are some ways you can apply the essentials questions
(with more detail in the following chapters on these topics):
Life commitments: What commitments in your life are es-
sential? Apply the questions above, especially those about
values and goals and the things you love, to reduce your
nonessential commitments.
Yearly goals: At the beginning of each year, we are often
filled with the desire to accomplish many goals. It doesn't
always turn out the way we wanted at the beginning of
the year, and one of the main reasons for that is having
too many goals. Pick one or two goals for the year and
focus on those. Learn to use the essentials questions to
decide which goals are the most essential. You can al-
ways get to the less essential goals later.
Work projects and tasks: If you have a long list of projects
and tasks, you need to simplify—use the essentials ques-
tions to decide what your priorities are. What project will
you focus on this week? What tasks will you focus on to-
day? Eliminate as many nonessential projects and tasks
as possible. The essentials questions regarding your
goals, and the impact of each project and task, are the
most relevant.
E-mails: If you have twenty e-mails to answer, use the
essentials questions to pick the three to five e-mails
you're actually going to answer today. Worry about the
nonessential ones tomorrow—or if you dare, just elimi-
nate them.
Finances: The needs vs. wants question is important here,
but so are the questions about goals and values. If you
align your spending with your goals and values, you'll
eliminate a lot of nonessential spending, and your fi-
nances will be better off.
Clutter: Eliminate clutter by starting with the needs vs.
wants question, by eliminating the nonessential and us-
ing a continual editing process. Eventually you'll weed
out the junk and get down to what is truly necessary and
the things you truly love and use.
Regular review: Choosing the essential is almost never a
one-time decision. It's something you have to revisit reg-
ularly, as new things accumulate, as your values and goals
change, as you learn that you can live with less and less.
If you go through an area of your life and eliminate
many of the nonessentials, mark a date in your calendar
to revisit that area, and continue the editing process over
and over. And learn to enjoy the process, not to strive for
a certain destination.
Simplifying isn't meant to leave your life empty—it's meant
to leave space in your life for what you really want to do. Know
what those things are before you start simplifying.
Principle 3: Simplifying—Eliminating the Nonessential
Once you've identified the essential, the task of simplifying is
theoretically easy—you just have to eliminate all the nonessen-
tial. However, in practice this isn't always easy, although it does
get less difficult the more you do it.
Let's say you have a task list, for example, and you've identified
the top three things you need to do on that list. To simplify the
list, you'd want to eliminate as many of the nonessential things
on the list as possible—everything that's not identified as es-
sential. So you start by crossing off the things that aren't really
important, then delegating other tasks that can be done by co-
workers, and finally postponing assignments that you do need
to get done but that don't need to be done today.
The hard part comes when others want you to get something
done, but you don't think it's essential. In that case, you'll have
to learn to say "no." We'll talk more about this in the chapter on
Simple Commitments, but for now it's useful to understand
that saying "no" is simply a commitment to sticking to the es-
sentials. If that means telling people you don't have time to do
more, then that's what the commitment means. And saying
"no" gets easier with practice, especially as you gain confidence
that sticking to the essential is something that will have great
benefits to you in the long term. Additionally, others will start
to respect you for being honest about what commitments you
can take on without overloading yourself, and they will start to
respect your time if you respect it first.
four
Simple Focus
" With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with
the future. I live now"
—RALPH WALDO EMERSON
P
RINCIPLE 4 of the Power of Less is that your focus is
your most important tool. Focus on less to become more ef-
fective. Focus on One Goal in order to achieve it (more on
this later). Focus on the task at hand instead of multitasking, and
you'll be more productive. Focus on the present, to reduce anxiety
and stress.
Principle 4: Focus is your most important tool in
becoming more effective.
HOW TO USE FOCUS TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE
Let's first look at how to use the power of focus in different
ways:
Focus on a goal. Focus is the most important factor in
determining whether you'll achieve a goal or stick to cre-
ating a new habit. Not self-discipline, not rewards, not
sheer willpower, not even motivation (though this is also
an important ingredient). If you can maintain your focus
on a goal or habit, you will more often than not achieve
that goal or create that habit. If you can't maintain your
focus, you won't achieve the goal, unless it's such an easy
goal that it would have happened anyway. It's that sim-
ple.
Focus on now. Focusing on the present can do a lot for
you. It helps reduce stress, it helps you enjoy life to the
fullest, and it can increase your effectiveness. Focusing
on now, rather than the past or the future, isn't easy, and
takes a lot of practice. We'll explore how to do this in the
next section.
Focus on the task at hand. Have you ever completely lost
yourself in a task, so that the world around you disap-
pears? You lose track of time and are completely caught
up in what you're doing. That's the popular concept of
"flow" (see page 63), and it's an important ingredient in
finding happiness—having work and leisure that gets
you in this state of flow will almost undoubtedly lead to
it. People find their greatest enjoyment not when they're
passively mindless, but when they're absorbed in a mind-
ful challenge. The first step is to find work that you're
passionate about. Next, you need to clear away distrac-
tions and focus completely on the task you set before
yourself.
Focus on the positive. One of the key skills I've learned is
how to be aware of my negative thoughts, and to replace
them with positive thoughts. I learned this through quit-
ting smoking and running—there are many times when
you feel like giving up, and if you don't catch these nega-
tive thoughts in time, they'll fester and grow until you
actually do give up. Instead, learn to focus on the posi-
tive. Think about how great you feel. Think about how
other people have done this, and that you can too. Think
about how good it will feel when you accomplish what
you're trying to do. Also, learn to see the positive in just
about any situation. In my experience, this results in
happiness, as you don't focus on the difficult or negative
parts of your life, but on the good things. Be thankful for
what you've been given.
FOCUSING ON ONE TASK (SINGLE-TASKING)
We live in a multitasking world. You're working on two projects
at once when your boss places two new demands on your desk.
You're on the phone when three new e-mails come in. You're
trying to get out the door on time so you can pick up a few gro-
ceries for dinner on the way home. Your BlackBerry is going off
and so is your cell phone. Your coworker stops by with a request
for info and your Google Reader is filled with more than a hun-
dred articles to read.
You've learned to juggle tasks at high speed, worthy of this
age of the Internet.
In these days of instant technology, we are bombarded with
an overload of information and demands of our time. But we're
not designed to handle this kind of overload: Soon we are so
overwhelmed with things to do that our system begins to fall
apart.
Instead, I advocate single-tasking, focusing on one task at a
time and working as simply as possible to preserve your mental
health and to improve your effectiveness. Here are a few quick
reasons not to multitask:
1. Multitasking is less efficient, due to the need to switch
gears for each new task and then switch back again.
2. Multitasking is more complicated, and thus leaves you
more prone to stress and errors.
3. Multitasking can be crazy-making, and in this already
chaotic world, we need to rein in the terror and find a
little oasis of sanity and calm.
Here's how to single-task instead:
1. First thing in the morning, work on your Most Impor-
tant Task. Don't do anything else until this is done. Give
yourself a short break, then start on your next Most Im-
portant Task. If you can get two to three of these done in
the morning, the rest of the day is gravy.
2. When you are working on a task in a time block, turn off
all other distractions. Shut off e-mail and the entire
Internet if possible. Shut off your cell phone. Try not to
answer your phone, if possible. Focus on that one task,
and try to get it done without worrying about other
stuff.
3. If you feel the urge to check your e-mail or switch to an-
other task, stop yourself. Breathe deeply. Refocus your-
self. Get back to the task at hand.
4. If other things come in while you're working, put them
in your in-box, or take note of them in a small notebook
or on a text file on your computer. Get back to the task at
hand.
5. Every now and then, when you've completed the task at
hand, process your notes and in-box, adding the tasks to
your to-do lists and refiguring your schedule if neces-
sary. Process your e-mail and other in-boxes at regular
and predetermined intervals.
6. There are times when an interruption is so urgent that
you cannot put it off until you're done with the task at
hand. In that case, try to make a note of where you are
(writing down notes if you have time) with the task at
hand, and put all the documents or notes for that task
together and aside (perhaps in an "action" folder or proj-
ect folder). Then, when you come back to that task, you
can pull out your folder and look at your notes to see
where you left off.
7. Take deep breaths, stretch, and take breaks now and then.
Enjoy life. Go outside, and appreciate nature. Keep your-
self sane.
HOW TO FOCUS ON THE PRESENT
Similar to single-tasking, you can learn to focus on the present,
instead of the past or future, in order to stay calm, productive,
effective, and sane.
The only way to learn to focus on the present is to practice.
This might be hard to do at first. Your mind will wander, or
you'll do a lot of "meta-thinking," which is just thinking about
what you're thinking, and whether you're thinking it the right
way, and whether there is a right way . .. and so on, until you're
no longer in the present. That's normal. We all do that.
Don't beat yourself up about that. Don't get discouraged. Just
practice. Practice in the morning. Practice while eating lunch.
Practice during your evening jog or walk. Practice while wash-
ing dishes after dinner. Every opportunity you get, practice.
And you'll get better. I promise.
Here are some of the best ways to practice focusing on the
present:
1. When you eat, just eat. The best way to think about be-
ing present is this: Do just one thing at a time. When you are
eating, don't read or think about something else or iron your
clothes (especially if you're eating something that might splat-
ter on the clothes). Just eat. Pay attention to what you're eating.
Really experience it—the taste, the texture. Do it slowly. Same
thing with anything else: washing dishes, taking a shower, driv-
ing, working, playing. Don't do multiple things at once—just do
what you're doing now, and nothing else.
2. Be aware. Another important step is to become more
aware of your thoughts. You will inevitably think about the past
and future. That's OK. Just become aware of those thoughts.
Awareness will bring change.
3. Be gentle. If you think about the past or future, do not
beat yourself up about it! Don't try to force those thoughts out of
your head. Just be aware of them and gently allow them to leave.
Then bring yourself back to the present.
4. Exercise. Exercise is my meditation. I run, and try to only
run. I focus on my running, on my breathing, on my body, on
nothing but the present. It's great practice.
5.Daily routines. Anything can be your meditation. When
you wash dishes, this is practice. This is your meditation. When
you walk, focus on walking. Make anything you do become
practice.
6. Put up reminders. A reminder on your fridge or com-
puter desktop, or on your wall, is a good thing. Or use a reminder
service to send you a daily e-mail. Whatever it takes to keep your
focus on practicing being present.
7. There is no failure. You will mess up, but that's OK, be-
cause it is impossible to mess up. The only thing that matters is
that you practice, and over time, if you keep doing it, you will
learn to focus on the present more often than you do now. You
cannot fail, even if you stop doing it for a while. Doing it at all is
success. Celebrate every little success.
8. Keep practicing. When you get frustrated, just take a
deep breath. When you ask yourself, "What should I do now.
Self?", the answer is "Keep practicing."
five
Create New Habits, and the Power of Less Challenge
P
RINCIPLE 5, Create New Habits, is the secret to mak-
ing lasting changes that will actually improve your life.
There is a series of habit changes recommended in every
chapter of this book, but if you attempt to master all of them at
once, you'll be overwhelmed and your focus will be spread out
too thin. And in a matter of weeks, the changes you attempt will
be for naught.
Principle 5: Create new habits to make
long-lasting improvements.
Instead, the only way you'll form long-lasting habits is by ap-
plying the Power of Less: Focus on one habit at a time, one
month at a time, so that you'll be able to focus all your energy on
creating that one habit.
The tool that you'll use to form each habit is an extremely
powerful one: the Power of Less Challenge, a thirty-day chal-
lenge that has proven very effective in forming habits for thou-
sands of readers of my Zen Habits blog.
Here's how it works:
1. Select one habit for the Challenge. Only one habit per
month. You can choose any habit—whatever you think will
have the biggest impact on your life.
2. Write down your plan. You will need to specifically state
what your goal will be each day, when you'll do it, what your "trig-
ger" will be (the event that will immediately precede the habit
that's already a part of your routine—such as exercising right af-
ter you brush your teeth), and who you will report to (see below).
3. Post your goal publicly. Tell as many people as possible
that you are trying to form your new habit. I suggest an online
forum, but you could e-mail it to coworkers and family and
friends or otherwise get the word out to a large group.
4. Report on your progress daily. Each day, tell the same
group of people whether or not you succeeded at your goal.
5. Celebrate your new habit! After thirty days, you will
have a new habit. You will still need to make sure you do the
habit each day, but it'll be fairly well entrenched if you were con-
sistent all month.
WHY IT WORKS
This thirty-day Challenge is one of the best ways to form a
habit, and it has worked repeatedly for several reasons:
Commitment. Just the act of committing to the Chal-
lenge, and setting a measurable goal, and declaring it to
a bunch of others, is a huge step toward making the
habit change a success.
Accountability. The daily check-in makes you want to do
your daily habit, so you can report your success to others.
There is a very positive feeling (reward) you get when
you report that you did your habit today.
Encouragement. There is also value in reporting your
struggles. For example, during one challenge, when I got
sick for a few days, I asked my group to motivate me.
They were extremely encouraging, and I got back into my
habit.
Inspiration. When you see everyone else doing so great,
it's inspiring. If they can do it, so can you! And there are
always some really inspiring people in each group of
challengers.
Now, you don't need to join the Monthly Challenge on the
Zen Habits forums to achieve a positive habit change, but I
highly recommend you find a group—online or off—to help
you stick to your habit change. There are plenty of online fo-
rums and community groups to help with these kinds of
things—the power of a group can help leverage your power to
change a habit.
THE RULES
There are only a few rules you need to follow to make this Chal-
lenge a success. If you follow these rules, it would be hard for
you not to form a new habit by the end of the thirty days.
Do only one habit at a time. Do not break this rule, be-
cause I assure you that if you do multiple habits at once,
you will be much less likely to succeed. Trust me—I've
tried both ways many times, and in my experience there
is a 100 percent rate of failure for forming multiple hab-
its at once, and a 50 to 80 percent rate of success if you do
just one habit at a time—depending on whether you fol-
low the rest of these rules.
Choose an easy goal. Don't decide to do something really
hard, at least for now. Later, when you're good at habit
changes, you can choose something harder. But for now,
do something you know you can do every day. In fact,
choose something easier than you think you can do every
day. If you think you can exercise for thirty minutes
a day, choose ten minutes—making it super easy is one
of the best ways to ensure you'll succeed.
Choose something measurable. You should be able to
say, definitively, whether you were successful or not to-
day. If you choose exercise, set a number of minutes or
something similar (twenty minutes of exercise daily, for
example). Whatever your goal, have a measurement.
Be consistent. You want to do your habit change at the
same time every day, if possible. If you're going to exer-
cise, do it at 7 a.m. (or 6 p.m.) every day. for example.
This makes it more likely to become a habit.
Report daily. You could check in every two or three days,
but you'll be more likely to succeed if you report daily.
This has been proven over and over again in the Chal-
lenges.
Keep a positive attitude! Expect setbacks now and then,
but just note them and move on. No embarrassment in
this challenge.
12 KEY HABITS TO START WITH
You can choose any habits in this book that you think will help
you most, at work and in the rest of your life. But if I had to recom-
mend twelve habits to start with (one each month for a year), these
are the twelve I think could make the most difference in the lives
of the average person (more on each habit in later chapters):
1. Set your 3 MITs (Most Important Tasks) each morning.
2. Single-task. When you work on a task, don't switch to
other tasks.
3. Process your in-box to empty.
4. Check e-mail just twice a day.
5. Exercise five to ten minutes a day.
6. Work while disconnected, with no distractions.
7. Follow a morning routine.
8. Eat more fruits and veggies every day.
9. Keep your desk decluttered.
10. Say no to commitments and requests that aren't on your
Short List (see Chapter 13, Simple Commitments).
11. Declutter your house for fifteen minutes a day.
12. Stick to a five-sentence limit for e-mails.
six
Start Small
W
HILE YOU WOULD do just fine if you only fol-
lowed the first five principles of this book, Princi-
ple 6, Start Small, is simply a way to ensure the
greatest likelihood of success for the rest of the changes.
Principle 6: Start new habits in small increments to
ensure success.
Oftentimes people are enthusiastic about making changes—
whether it's about implementing a new productivity system or
starting a new exercise program—so they start out with big
ambitions.
The problem is that that enthusiasm often runs out of
steam after a week or two, and the goal comes to failure. That's
what happens with almost every New Year's resolution—peo-
ple start out with a lot of enthusiasm but it dies down by the
end of January.
The solution is Principle 6: Start Small. Follow this principle
with everything you do: with any goal, with any habit change,
with any change in your life.
I've proven this principle over and over again in my life
changes. When I start an exercise program, I will start with one
that's as easy as possible, even if I know I can do more. When I
start with a new habit, I start with just a tiny habit change, even
when I think I can handle more. When I decided to start wak-
ing earlier, I started by waking only fifteen minutes earlier.
WHY STARTING SMALL WORKS
People often skip Principle 6, because they don't really under-
stand why it's so important. Here are some of the main reasons
that Starting Small works so well:
It narrows your focus. Focus, as we discussed in the sec-
tion on Principle 4, is incredibly important in getting
anything done. If you start an enterprise or life change
trying to tackle a lot at once, you spread your focus and
decrease your effectiveness. But by starting small, you
keep your focus narrowed, and therefore increase your
power.
It keeps your energy and enthusiasm going for longer. By
starting out doing less than you can actually handle, you
build up energy and enthusiasm, kind of like water build-
ing up behind a dam. That built-up energy and enthusi-
asm ensures that you don't run out of steam early on, but
can keep going for much longer.
It's easier to handle. Easier is better, especially in the be-
ginning. If the change you're making is hard to stick to,
you are making it more likely that you'll fail.
You ensure success. Choose something so small that
success is almost guaranteed. Sure, a small success is
not as satisfying as a big success, but it's only small in
the short term. If you start out with a small success, you
can build upon it, get another small success, and build
upon that, and so on—until you have a series of small
successes that add up to a very large success. And that's
much better than a large failure.
Gradual change is longer-lasting. Think of dieting—
when you go on a severe, drastic diet and you lose forty
pounds in two months, it feels pretty great, but more of-
ten than not those forty pounds will come back, and
then some. But if you do small changes—perhaps one to
two pounds a week—those pounds are much more likely
to stay off. This has been proven repeatedly in weight
loss studies and it works with any kind of change. Make
gradual changes, in a series of small steps over time, and
you're more likely to stick to those changes than if you
attempt a big change all at once.
HOW TO APPLY STARTING SMALL
So when and with what do you start small? Always, and with
anything. Any habit change you undertake, any exercise or pro-
ductivity or life change, any goal or project or task—start small.
Here are but a few examples:
Exercise: Start with five to ten minutes a day, instead of
thirty.
Waking early: Start by waking fifteen minutes earlier,
instead of an hour or two.
Productivity: Start by trying to focus on the task at hand
for five to ten minutes at a time.
E-mail effectiveness: Start by limiting yourself to check-
ing e-mail just a couple fewer times a day.
Healthy eating: Start by making just one change to your
diet, instead of doing a major diet overhaul.
A major project: Start with just one small task from the
project, instead of trying to tackle everything at once.
Then go to the next small task, and so on.
Decluttering: Start with just one drawer, instead of try-
ing to declutter your entire office or home.
Part II
in
PRACTICE
seven
Simple Goals
and Projects
I
'M AS AMBITIOUS in setting goals as anyone I know—I
often have several goals I'd like to achieve at work, along
with self-improvement goals that can range from learning a
new language to running a marathon. And while I've always
been enthusiastic about setting and starting new goals, my list
of things I want to achieve seems to grow faster than I progress
on any of those goals.
It's easy to set goals, but extremely difficult to achieve them
if they're goals worth achieving.
Tackling a goal takes energy and focus and motivation, three
things that are in limited supply in any person, no matter how
driven. Taking on many goals at once spreads out your available
energy and focus and motivation, so that you often run out of
steam after the initial couple weeks of enthusiasm. Then the
goals sit there on your list, gathering dust, while you feel guilty
about not achieving any of them.
The Power of Less is perfect for achieving goals: Limit your-
self to fewer goals, and you'll achieve more.
At the same time, we'll look at ways to narrow your focus on
your projects, so that you can complete them more effectively
and move forward on your goals. We'll apply limitations to our
projects to increase our effectiveness.
THE ONE GOAL SYSTEM
The One Goal System is simple—you focus on one goal at a time
to increase your effectiveness with that goal. To break the goal
into concrete steps, you will focus on one sub-goal at a time.
1. Choose a goal. Make a list of things you'd like to accom-
plish over the next few years. This list might have ten things on
it, or maybe twenty. Now, you could try to tackle all those goals
at once, or take on as many as possible. But that will dilute your
effectiveness. Instead, choose just one, and focus completely on
that goal until you can check it off the list.
I'd recommend that you choose a goal that you really want to
accomplish—the stronger your desire, the more likely you are to
actually stick with that goal until you're finished. It's not enough
to say, "It would be nice to achieve this goal." You need to want
it so deeply that you'll make it your top priority for months to
come.
I also recommend that you choose a goal that will take about
six months to a year to complete. Any longer than a year, and
you will have problems maintaining your focus, and might be-
come overwhelmed. If it's much shorter than six months, it
might not be something worthy of your efforts.
What if you really want to achieve it, but it'll take two years
or more? Break it down into sub-goals, so that your first sub-
goal will take about a year. For example, if you want to become a
lawyer, you have to get in to law school, and then complete three
years of school, and then pass the bar exam. Make your first
goal simply to be accepted into a decent law school—that'll take
six months to a year.
2. Break it down to a sub-goal. Once you've decided on
your One Goal, the next step is to focus on a smaller sub-goal
that you can accomplish in the next month or two. In the law
school example above, you might decide that your sub-goal will
be to do research into some of the top law schools in the areas
you prefer, to choose five schools, and to gather the essential
information about each school. To shorten that, you might call
this sub-goal something like, "Complete research on Top 5
schools."
The reason for a sub-goal is to create shorter steps that are
more immediately achievable than a larger, yearlong goal might
be. If you don't break a goal into smaller steps, you can become
overwhelmed by such a large and vague goal. You can't sit down
today, for example, and get accepted into a law school. It's not
something that's doable. So you have to break it into more do-
able steps.
3. Weekly goal. Each week, create a weekly goal that will
move you closer to your sub-goal. So this week, using the ex-
ample above, you might just want to find all the decent law
schools in the areas you prefer, find their Web sites, and start
reading about them. That would be your weekly goal.
4.Daily action. Then each day, choose one action that will
move you closer to your weekly goal. Make this action your most
important task for the day. Do it first, before you do anything
else. This will help keep you focused on your One Goal, instead
of pushing it back when other, more pressing things come up.
This might sound complicated, but in action, it's fairly sim-
ple. You set a One Goal for the year (it can be set at any time—
you don't have to wait for January). You set a sub-goal that will
take a month or two to complete. Each week you set a weekly
goal. Each day you choose a task that will move you to that
weekly goal, and make that your most important task of the day.
This One Goal system will keep you focused on achieving
your goal, moving closer to it each day. It will keep you from
spreading yourself too thin, and will allow you to focus all your
energy on completing this goal.
THE SIMPLE PROJECTS LIST
If you don't already have a projects list, I suggest you make a
quick-and-dirty one right now. List all the projects you have go-
ing on in your life, including all your work projects, any per-
sonal and home projects, projects with civic organizations, and
so on. Anything that would take a day or more to complete, to
use a rough guideline. If you can do it in an hour or two, you
can still list it if you like_a project is usually something that
takes several tasks to complete.
How many items are on this list? If you're like most people,
you probably have ten to twenty projects on this list. If you're an
overachiever or extremely busy, you might even have more. This
isn't a good thing. Too many projects leads to ineffectiveness.
Now I'm going to ask you to do something that might be a
bit difficult for some of you: Choose just the top three projects
on your list. Don't choose three from each area of your life_
just choose three altogether.
This list of three projects is your Simple Projects List. Every-
thing else goes on a second list, which we'll call the "On Deck
List." You'll probably still get to these projects on your On Deck
List, but you won't be working on them right now. They're on
hold until you complete the three projects on your Simple Proj-
ects List.
Let me make this point clear: In this system I'm recom-
mending, you don't move a project from the On Deck List to the
Simple Projects List until you finish all three projects on your
Simple Projects List. Not just one, but all three. Why? Because
this will ensure that you don't leave one of the top three projects
sitting uncompleted while you keep moving new projects onto
your active list. It will ensure that you focus on completion of all
of your top three projects, not just one or two.
The top three projects on your Simple Projects List will be
your entire focus until you finish all three, and then the next
three projects you move onto this active list will be your focus.
This ensures that you aren't spreading your focus too thin, and
that you're completing your projects.
I recommend that, at all times, you have at least one of
your top three projects be related to your One Goal so that you
are always moving that goal forward. Of the other two projects
on your active list, you can choose another work-related goal
and a personal goal (if you like). Whatever works best for your
situation.
Why not have just one project? If limiting yourself to three
projects makes you more effective, why not limit yourself to one
project to make yourself even more effective? You'd think this
would be logical, especially as I recommended having just One
Goal. However, the reality is that almost every project is held up
as you wait for information, for other people to get back to you,
for others to complete tasks, for vendors or clients to do some-
thing. It's rare that you can start a project and work on it until
it's finished, without any waiting. If this is possible, I suggest
you do exactly that: Start a project and don't work on anything
else until the project is completed.
Unfortunately, that's often not the case: We must wait for
tasks or information or other things to be completed before we
can move on to the next step. And so we multitask, but not on
the task level_we multitask only on the project level. While one
project is on hold for an hour or a day or a few days, we can be
working on another. I've found that three projects works best
for this type of project-level multitasking any more than three,
and you begin to lose effectiveness.
For this system to work, a project should take no more than
a month to complete, and preferably only a week or two. If a
project takes a year to complete (for example), then you will
not be able to work on any other projects for a year. That's too
long to put the rest of your life on hold. Instead, break long-
term projects into smaller projects that can be completed in a
month or less. If you want to launch a magazine, for example,
focus first on the project of coming up with a design, then on
putting together a team, then on finding financial backing,
and so on.
FOCUS ON COMPLETION
Many of us lose focus of what's important when it comes to
project management. We might get caught up in organizing the
project, in laying out a task list and timeline, and assigning
tasks to different team members. We might get caught up in
meetings about our projects, in sending e-mails, and in instant-
messaging people about the project. We might get caught up in
the technology of it.
But the real focus of any project should be in getting it done.
Completion. Each day, put your focus on moving your project
forward to completion. Put aside distractions, and put all of
your energy into one project at a time_you can switch to an-
other of your three active projects when necessary, but at any
given moment, just focus on one project. And move it closer to
completion, until you're done.
Here are a few more tips to help you get to completion:
Have an outcome in mind. How will you know when
your project is complete? You should have a clearly de-
fined outcome. Visualize what the project will look like
when you're done. Then write this down in a sentence or
two, next to the project title on your Simple Projects List.
This is what you're working toward.
Move from projects to tasks. You can't actually do projects.
You can only do tasks. One of the first steps in any proj-
ect, after writing out your desired outcome, is to list the
tasks required to get the project to the desired outcome.
Then you take this task list, choose the very next task
that needs to be done, and focus on completing that task.
Once that's done, focus on the next task, and so on, until
you're done. One task at a time.
Each day, choose a task to move you to completion. When
you start your day, choose three Most Important Tasks
(also known as MITs_more on this in later chapters) to
complete that day. Whatever else you complete, if you
complete these three MITs, you will have had a good day.
At least one of those MITs should be related to one of
your projects, and preferably all three should be project-
related. This method will help you move your projects
closer to completion each day.
Reassess your progress. It's easy to get sidetracked with a
project, to focus too much on organizing or communicat-
ing or technology or people. To keep yourself on track,
once a week, review your projects and see how much closer
you are to completion, and what still needs to be done. If
you notice that you're focusing on something that's not
getting you closer to completion, refocus yourself.
WHAT IF I DON'T CONTROL
MY PROJECTS LIST?
If you're lucky, you have complete control over your projects
list_you choose what projects to work on and the number of
projects you're working on at any given time. Unfortunately,
we're not all that lucky. I know the frustrations of working un-
der a boss, where your boss dictates (sometimes to a micro-
scopic level) what you're supposed to be working on. Sometimes
bosses can be real control freaks, which might help them com-
plete projects but isn't ideal for you.
And while you might want to limit your projects to just your
top three projects in order to increase effectiveness, that's not
always up to you. You might choose three projects, and then
your boss might pile a few more of them on your plate and de-
mand that they get done right away.
Fortunately, there are a few strategies you can use to limit
the number of projects you're working on, even if you don't have
complete control over your projects list. Not all of these strate-
gies will work for you, but choose the one that you think will
work best and give it a try:
1. Make your own projects list. Sometimes it's better to
ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. That means just
do what you think is right, and let your boss know about it later,
after you've made it a success. This strategy works best if your
boss isn't a super control freak, and doesn't demand constant
progress updates. If you can work on your own for at least a few
days, and preferably a week, this strategy might work. Just
choose your top three projects and focus on them completely.
When you've knocked them out and completed them, you can
show your boss your system and point to it as your reason for
success. Or don't even mention it, but keep doing it. Your boss
might not care how you're completing the projects, but will
probably just be happy that they're getting done.
2. Delay. If your boss insists that you work on more than
three projects at once, and is constantly asking for progress up-
dates, you might be successful with delay tactics. That means
that you still focus on your top three projects, and try to com-
plete them as quickly as possible_but for any others that he
insists you still work on at the same time, you just delay until
you can complete your top three projects. Ask for extensions,
put certain tasks in other people's laps so that the project is de-
layed for a day or two, or just say (truthfully) that you didn't get
to the project today because you were working on your other
projects. I'm not suggesting dishonesty, but just honest delays.
3. Talk to your boss about your system. This is actually
the best strategy on this list, in my opinion, and if you can pull
it off, I highly recommend it. How it works: Sit down with your
boss and tell him (or her) about your system_the Simple Proj-
ects List. Tell him that it will make you more effective, and that
you will be better at completing projects because of this system
of limitations. Be sure that you follow through with this prom-
ise, however_your boss won't be happy if you limit yourself to
three projects and then sit on them. If necessary, show your
boss this book and let him read it. If that's not enough, show
him my Web site (zenhabits.net) and give him my e-mail ad-
dress (it's on the About page of my site). I'll talk to him.
4. Ask your boss to choose. If none of the above strategies
work, and your boss insists on adding projects to your list and
insists that you work on all of them, all the time, then you need
to be honest and up-front with your boss_you only have a lim-
ited amount of time, and you can't do everything at once. Talk to
your boss about this, and tell him that if he doesn't want you to
choose what projects to work on, then let him choose for you.
Show him the projects he's given to you, and all the items on
your projects list and to-do list, and tell him you only have time
to work on three projects at the moment. Let him choose which
projects those will be, and tell him you will put all of your focus
on completing those three projects, and that when you're done,
you'll let him choose the next three, and so on. If your boss
doesn't acknowledge that you have limited time, and that you
can only work on so many projects at once, then you might con-
sider looking into other job options_your boss is demanding
more than is humanly possible from you.
eight
Simple Tasks
I
F YOU'VE SIMPLIFIED your goals and projects (in the
previous chapter), you've made great headway toward doing
less but becoming more effective and more powerful. How-
ever, it's not until you get to the level of tasks that you can ac-
tually accomplish anything. You're not doing anything until
you're doing tasks.
On a practical level, simplifying your tasks can be the most
important step you take. As always, in this chapter we'll focus
on doing less, but doing it more effectively and, in effect, ac-
complishing more while reducing stress.
We do that with limitations, by focusing on one thing at a
time, and by focusing on small things rather than large
ones.
MOST IMPORTANT TASKS (MITS)
The power of limitations works on the task level by choosing
only three Most Important Tasks (MITs) that will become the
focus of your day.
It's very simple: Your MITs are the tasks you most want or need
to get done today. In my case, I choose three MITs each day, but
you might find that only two MITs work better, or perhaps four. I
suggest starting with three and seeing if that works for you.
Do I get a lot more done than three things? Of course. But
the idea is that no matter what else I do today, these are the
things I want to be sure of doing. So, the MIT is the first thing
I do each day, right after I have a glass of water to wake me up.
What about the other things I need to do today? They're usu-
ally smaller things, not as important, but tasks or errands that
need to get done anyway. Here's the beauty of MITs: Usually, the
small, unimportant tasks that we need to get done every day
(e-mail, phone calls, paperwork, errands, meetings, Internet
browsing, etc.) will get in the way of our important, longer-term
tasks_but if you make your MITs your first priority each day,
the important stuff will get done instead of the unimportant.
Once I'm done with my MITs, I will do the smaller tasks in
batches (I call them "batch tasks"_more on this in the next
chapter).
The key to the MITs for me: At least one of the MITs should
be related to one of my goals. While the other two can be work
stuff (and usually are), one must be a goal action. This ensures
that I am doing something to move my goals forward that day.
That makes all the difference in the world. Each day, I've
done something to make my dreams come true. It's built into
my morning routine: Set a task to accomplish for one of my
goals. And so it happens each day, automatically.
Another key: Do your MITs first thing in the morning, ei-
ther at home or when you first get to work. If you put them off
till later, you will get busy and run out of time to do them. Get
them out of the way, and the rest of the day, anything you ac-
complish is extra.
It's such a small thing to implement, and yet for most people
it's a huge revelation. Sometimes small things can make big
differences.
The keys to making MITs work for you:
Set them first thing in the morning.
Limit yourself to three.
Ensure that one MIT is goal-related, or related to one of
your top three projects.
Focus on accomplishing these tasks above all others.
Do your MITs early in the day, before you do anything
else.
When you do one of your MITs, be sure to single-task_
focus on that task only (see Principle 4).
SMALL TASKS
Focusing on fewer but more critical tasks is important, but to
really simplify our tasks we must talk about the size of the tasks
as well. We can focus on just one task today, but if it's a huge
and intimidating task, we can become overwhelmed and not
actually do the task. Limiting our tasks doesn't get anything
done if those tasks are too big.
Instead, break things down into small tasks that can be ac-
complished in an hour or less_even better would be twenty to
thirty minutes, or even ten to fifteen minutes. The smaller, the
better, because then we're more likely to actually get them done.
Let's say we have a huge task staring us in the face: "Write
Annual Report." We look at that task, and we stare at it, and
we know we should do it, but we stare at it some more. Then
we check e-mail, or check our bank account ("My balance is still
negative?"), or log on to a forum or site we enjoy, or call a friend
or coworker. The large task doesn't get done.
Instead, beat that procrastination hurdle by making the task
smaller. "Outline report" or "brainstorm report topics" or "write
first section of report" are much better, because they're things
we can do in a shorter amount of time. They're less intimidat-
ing. We can get started on them and get them done in ten to
twenty minutes.
Anytime you find yourself procrastinating on an important
task, see if you can break it into something smaller. Then just
get started. Don't procrastinate, but just get started. Once you've
gotten started, you will gain momentum, and will have broken
through the initial resistance barrier, and you'll be much more
likely to continue to the next small task and the next one until
the large task is completed.
Small tasks are always better than large ones.
nine
Simple Time
Management
T
HERE ARE THE super-organized among us_those
who schedule every minute and stick to the plan to the
letter_and then there's the rest of us. We plan our
schedules, but our days don't usually resemble the plan very
much.
Of course, that's because things change, and we have to be
able to go with the flow. Time management, especially for the
more fluid work arrangements of many people these days,
doesn't have to be a rigid or time-consuming process.
Keep time management simple and avoid rigidity or compli-
cated schedules.
AN OPEN APPROACH
For those who are overwhelmed by a schedule, and would like
to take a more open approach, I suggest minimalist time man-
agement. Instead of allowing your life to be ruled by your calen-
dar, let your life be ruled by the moment.
How can you do that? First, don't schedule appointments.
This will be a radical departure for many people, but it's not a
new idea and it's worked for others. If someone requests an ap-
pointment, tell them that you don't schedule appointments. In-
stead, ask them to call you a little before they'd like to meet to
see if you can make it. If you're free, take the meeting. I suggest
keeping your meetings to a bare minimum if you want to get a
lot of work done. Now, there will be some things you'll want to
note on a calendar (I use Google Calendar, accessible from any-
where). These are events that you'd like to have on your calen-
dar, but you don't necessarily have to go to them. The calendar,
then, serves as a way for you to see what your options are, but
not as a tool to rule your life. I suggest not keeping too much on
the calendar, though.
What do you do instead of keeping a schedule? Know your
priorities (see the next section) and from moment to moment,
decide what you should be doing based on your priorities, how
much time you have available, and your energy level.
Learn to be in the moment, focusing on one task at a time,
and immersing yourself completely in that task. If you aren't
finding yourself passionate about a certain task, allow yourself
to move on to something you're more passionate about. The
more passionate you are about a task or project, the more energy
you'll put into it, and the better you'll do with it.
Immersing yourself in a task, completely, is a phenomenon
called "flow." Flow has gotten a lot of attention recently, in both
the scientific world and the world of productivity, because peo-
ple have discovered that the state of flow can lead to increased
productivity and happiness. Basically, flow is a state of mind
that occurs when you lose yourself in a task, and the world
around you disappears. You lose track of time. We've all experi-
enced this from time to time_the trick is learning how to pur-
posefully get yourself into flow.
The way to get into flow:
1. Choose a task you're passionate about. If it's something
you don't care about, you won't find flow.
2. Choose a task that's challenging. But not too challenging—
if it's too difficult, you'll have a hard time getting into
flow. If it's too easy, you'll get bored.
3. Eliminate distractions. The less you think about other
things, the better. You want to focus completely on this
task. Get rid of distractions such as phones, e-mail notifi-
cations, instant-messaging, clutter on your desk or com-
puter desktop, etc.
4. Immerse yourself in the task. Just start on the task, and
focus completely on it. Forget about everything else, and let
the world melt away. Get excited about the task and have
fun. Warning: You may lose track of time and be late for
your next appointment_which is why it's a bad idea to
schedule too many appointments.
KNOW YOUR PRIORITIES
If you have an open schedule, how do you know what you should
be working on at any given moment? Priorities. See the last
chapter on Most Important Tasks (MITs)_basically, you should
decide first thing in the morning what you want to accomplish
each day. Make a short list of three things you'd really like to ac-
complish. Your three most important things. You can have a
short list of other small tasks you'd like to do in a batch (save
them for later in the day), but the focus of your day should be
the list of three important things. Let this list, and not your
schedule, be the ruler of your day.
Once you've set your priorities, the trick is finding focus. I
highly recommend that you focus on one thing at a time. To get
your short list of three important tasks completed, you'll need to
focus on each one of those tasks in turn, and try to focus on
them to completion. This will also be a radical departure for the
multitasker in all of us. But single-tasking is not only more pro-
ductive, it's more relaxing as well.
It will take a little while for you to get used to single-tasking,
if you are used to jumping from one thing to another and back.
That's OK. Just gently bring yourself back to your task every
time you feel yourself being pulled away. Keep at it and you'll
soon be knocking off your most important tasks easily.
While you're working on your task, you'll think of other
things you need to do, or be interrupted by a coworker with a
request, or an idea will pop into your head. You can't let those
ideas and requests rule your life. Instead of switching tasks, just
make a note of other tasks or ideas as they come up, to consider
for later. Have a sheet of paper or a small notebook or a text file
on your computer (or wherever you write your list of three im-
portant tasks), and get back to the task you were working on.
When you're done with that task, you can take a look at your list
to see what you should be working on next.
REDUCE YOUR TASKS
The fewer tasks you have, the less you have to do to organize
them. If you focus only on those tasks that give you the most
return on your time investment, then you will become more
productive and have less to do. You will need only the simplest
tools and system, and you will be much less stressed. I think
that's a winning combination.
With task management, as with any type of organization,
my philosophy is to reduce before you organize. If you only have
three things to organize, instead of twenty, you actually don't
need to organize. With time management, that means you should
reduce what you need to do. You can eliminate tasks, delegate
them, postpone them, get out of commitments. Focus always
on simplifying, reducing, eliminating. And keep your focus on
what's important. Everything else is easy.
BATCH PROCESSING
Aside from your three Most Important Tasks, there are always
smaller tasks you need to complete each day. The trick is 1) not
to let these smaller tasks take priority over your Most Important
Tasks, and 2) to do them in batches as much as possible to save
time. Computer programmers call this last trick "batch process-
ing" or "batching"_you save similar tasks and then do them all
at once. It saves the time it costs to switch between tasks, be-
cause instead of switching from important tasks to phone calls
to e-mails to meetings to projects to phone calls again, you do
all the important tasks first, then phone calls at once, all the
e-mails at once, etc. Less switching means fewer complications,
less time wasted, and a simpler schedule.
Make a note of these types of "batch tasks" on your to-do list,
below your list of three MITs. You can group the batch tasks
into different categories ("calls", "e-mails", etc.) or just have a
list of "batch tasks." I highly recommend that you wait until
later in the day to process these batch tasks, instead of doing
them early in the day. Save the mornings for your important
tasks, get them out of the way, then focus on knocking out your
batch tasks as quickly as possible.
What kinds of tasks work well for batching? Here are some
ideas:
Phone calls. Instead of making calls throughout the day,
just make a note of the calls you need to make, and do
them all at once. I often reserve about thirty minutes for
calls, but your needs may vary. You might also consider
only receiving phone calls during a certain time_route
everything to voice mail during the times you're unavail-
able. This will allow you to concentrate on the important
tasks, rather than being interrupted every time someone
feels like calling you.
E-mails. This is a huge issue for most of us these days_
e-mail has become so important that it can rule our
lives if we let it. I'll expand on this topic in the next
chapter, but basically, to batch your e-mails, just check
and process e-mails at certain predetermined times
throughout the day. I suggest twice a day_perhaps at
10 a.m. and 4 p.m., or whatever works best for you.
Avoid doing it first thing in the morning, or you'll get so
caught up in your e-mail that you'll push back your im-
portant tasks.
Errands. Do all your errands at once to save the time it
takes for you to go out of the home or office. You might
do them at the end of the day, or save one day as your Er-
rands Day.
Paperwork. I don't have a lot of paperwork these days
(I've gone paperless), but that's not a luxury for most of-
fices. If you have a lot of paperwork you have to process
or fill out or review, do that all at once rather than
throughout the day.
In-box processing. Similar to e-mail processing once or
twice a day, in-box processing is going through the pa-
pers in your physical in-box to determine what action, if
any, is required for each document. If you do this as pa-
pers come into your in-box, you'll be ruled by that, in-
stead of being in control of your schedule. Instead, set a
certain time to process your entire in-box to empty.
Meetings. You might not be in control of meetings, but if
you are, I recommend that you do them all at once, at a
certain time, and set a very defined purpose and time
limit for each meeting. It helps to batch meetings be-
cause then you have a larger part of your workday open for
important tasks. If possible, avoid meetings altogether_
they're most often a waste of time.
Different Web sites. If you're like me, there are certain
Web sites that you check regularly. Instead of letting
these sites interrupt your important tasks, set a certain
time to check them and do them all at once.
Research. Some jobs require that you do research or
reading in preparation for writing. Do this all at once if
possible.
Maintenance. There are little tasks that we must do as
maintenance for our jobs_for bloggers like me, those
are things like checking reader comments, checking or
tweaking our ad systems, doing HTML code tweaks, and
so on. For other jobs, there are other maintenance
tasks_not your important projects or tasks, but little
things that still need to be done. Batch these at the end
of your day, if possible.
SIMPLE TIME MANAGEMENT TOOLS
Time management wouldn't be simple if you had too many
tools, or tools that were too complicated, to manage the system.
If you've followed the simple time management philosophy out-
lined above, you won't need a lot of tools.
Here are some simple tools you might use:
Calendar. Instead of using a hefty organizer, or a compli-
cated computer program, I recommend that you keep it
as simple as possible. If you have few appointments, you
might try a simple paper wall calendar_basically just
boxes where you can note one or two appointments or
events each day. If you have other things that need to be
noted, such as your kids' soccer schedules and parent-
teacher organization meetings, you might use an online
calendar_I highly recommend Google Calendar, as it is
simple, quick, and easy, and accessible from any com-
puter with an Internet connection. The paper calendar
or Google Calendar can also be used as a "tickler file" to
mark reminders for things you want to remember later.
Paper notebook or text file. I recommend a simple pocket
notebook, and that's all. You can use this notebook to
capture everything as you think of it, to write down your
MITs and batch process tasks for today, and to write
down your One Goal. If you only have one tool, you don't
need to worry about it too much. If you'd prefer to use
the computer to write down your tasks, I recommend
just using a simple text file. That's my current setup: I
have a to-do text file, and pop it open when I need to
write down a task or idea. At the top of the text file are
my MITs for the day, and below that are my batch tasks,
and below that are other notes or ideas that might come
up. I process it once a day.
ten
Simple E-mail
F
OR MANY OF us, e-mail has become one of our stan-
dard modes of working. We live in our e-mail in-box, do-
ing everything from personal communication with
family and friends to carrying out complete projects through
e-mail.
Unfortunately, e-mail has also come to overwhelm us, tak-
ing us away from more important tasks, threatening to take
over our lives.
There's a better way than living in your e-mail in-box. Mini-
mize your time spent doing e-mail, transform your e-mail ef-
fectiveness by setting limitations, and become an e-mail master
by getting your in-box to empty.
It's possible to do all these things, by setting limits and by
learning to process e-mail quickly with simple rules and habits.
You can get out of e-mail and back to doing things that are im-
portant_your One Goal, for example, or your top three proj-
ects, or your Most Important Tasks.
The way to e-mail nirvana is by applying the Power of Less_
simplify, set limits, and find yourself becoming more powerful
with e-mail.
LIMIT YOUR IN-BOXES
How many different ways do you get information? Some people
might have six different kinds of communications to answer_
text messages, voice mails, paper documents, regular mail, blog
posts, messages on different online services (MySpace, Face-
book, AOL, et al). Each of these is a type of in-box, and each
must be processed on a continuous basis. It's an endless pro-
cess, but it doesn't have to be exhausting or stressful.
Getting your information management down to a more
manageable level and into a productive zone starts by minimiz-
ing the number of in-boxes you have. Every place you have to go
to check your messages or to read your incoming information is
an in-box, and the more you have, the harder it is to manage
everything. Cut the number of in-boxes you have down to the
smallest number possible for you still to function in the ways
you need to.
Here's how:
1. List all the ways you receive information. You might
forget a few at first, but as you remember new ways, add them to
the list. The list should include digital and analog information_
paper and computer.
2. Evaluate each to see if it gives you value. Sometimes
we continue to check certain in-boxes, even if it's not adding
anything to our lives. It's just more stuff to check. Have a pager
when you also have a cell phone? Maybe the pager isn't any use
to you anymore.
3. Find ways to combine or eliminate in-boxes. If some-
thing's not giving you value, consider eliminating it from your
life. See if you can go a week without missing it. For all the
rest, see if you can combine multiple information streams into
one in-box. For example, how many places in your home do
incoming papers get placed? Have one in-box at home for all
mail, papers from work, school papers, phone notes, computer
printouts, schedules, and more. Have four e-mail services?
See if you can forward them all to one service. Get voice mails
from a couple of different services? Try forwarding them to
one service, or use an Internet service to deliver them to your
e-mail in-box. At work, have one in-box for all incoming paper-
work. Read a lot of blogs? Put them all into a feed-reader, in a
single stream of posts, instead of having to check twenty-five
different in-boxes. The fewer in-boxes you have, the better.
Aim for four to seven in-boxes if possible; one or two would be
ideal.
LIMIT YOUR TIME IN E-MAIL
If you spend all of your day in e-mail, or going back to e-mail
and checking for new messages, you'll never get much else
done. Instead, make the decision to only check e-mail at prede-
termined times, and leave it alone for the rest of the day_that
will allow you to work on more important stuff.
I recommend that you decide, in advance, how many times
you'll check e-mail, and at what times. Here are some tips:
Number of times per day. How many times you check
e-mail per day is a function of the kind of work you do. If
you can get away with checking e-mail just once per day,
that would be ideal_you'd have very few e-mail inter-
ruptions and your e-mail habits would be most efficient.
However, for many people, twice a day is probably more
realistic. Others, who need to be able to get e-mail more
often because their job orders are sent through e-mail
(customer service, for example), might want to limit their
e-mail checking to once per hour (perhaps ten minutes
at the top of the hour). Still others might be able to get
away with checking e-mail less than once a day_every
other day, twice a week, or even once a week. If you can
count yourself among these people, take advantage of
this and limit yourself to the bare minimum.
The best times. I've found that if you check twice a
day_10 a.m. and 4 p.m. are good times_that lets you
get a mid-morning feel for what urgent e-mails you have
and then allows you to finish up your e-mail before you
leave for the day. However, each person's workday is dif-
ferent_you should take a look at your work habits, your
usual schedule, and your needs, and decide what times
are best for you. Then stick to those times.
Not first thing in the morning. A common productivity tip
is not to check e-mail first thing in the morning, and it's
good advice. By checking e-mail in the morning, you're
allowing e-mail to dictate the rest of your day, instead of
deciding for yourself what your Most Important Tasks
will be for that day. You're putting yourself in danger of
getting stuck in your e-mail and not getting out of it.
Many people, however, have a hard time sticking with
this rule of not checking e-mail first thing in the morn-
ing, because they're addicted to e-mail. While this is a
common problem, it can be beat. The first step is to be
more aware of your e-mail usage_pause and give some
thought before actually opening up e-mail. The next step
is to make it a more conscious decision_think about
whether you would rather check your e-mail, or achieve
your goals. If you can focus on getting your important
projects done, and advancing your One Goal, instead of
checking e-mail, you will be that much closer to achiev-
ing your dreams.
Turn off e-mail notifications. Most e-mail programs have
a way to give you an alert (through a sound or a pop-up
message or a blinking icon) that lets you know you've re-
ceived a new e-mail. If you use such an alert, I highly
recommend that you turn it off. It interrupts whatever
you're working on, and draws you back to e-mail based
on the schedule of anyone who chooses to e-mail you,
not at a time you determine. Instead, turn off alerts and
only check e-mail at predetermined times. You'll get a lot
more done this way.
How to stick to this habit. It's easy to say that you should
only check e-mail twice a day, but much harder to stick
with it when constantly checking e-mail is an ingrained
habit. How do you stick to the habit of checking e-mail
less? You make it a priority for a week or two. Put up a
sign with the rule: NO E-MAIL EXCEPT FOR 10 A.M. AND 4
P.M.! (or whatever schedule you choose). Every time you
find yourself habitually switching to e-mail, stop your-
self. Breathe. And then focus on your work instead. Your
reward: You'll get a lot more done.
REDUCE YOUR INCOMING STREAM
One of the most important parts of any e-mail strategy is to stop
any unnecessary e-mail from getting into your in-box in the
first place. Although I get hundreds of e-mails a day, most of
those e-mails never make it to the in-box. They go straight to
the spam folder or the trash. You only want the essential e-mails
in your in-box, or you'll be overwhelmed.
Here are some essential ways to reduce your incoming
stream of e-mails:
1. Junk. I recommend using Gmail, as it has the best spam
filter possible. I get zero spam in my in-box. That's a huge im-
provement over my previous accounts at Yahoo, Outlook, and
Hotmail, where I'd have to tediously mark dozens of e-mails as
spam.
2. Notifications. I often get notifications from the many
online services I use, from Amazon to WordPress to PayPal
and many more. As soon as I notice those types of notifications
filling up my in-box, I create a filter (or "rule" if you use Mail,
app or Outlook) that will automatically put these into a folder
and mark them as read, or trash them, as appropriate. So for
my PayPal notifications, I can always go and check on them
in my "payments" folder if I like, but they never clutter my
in-box.
3. Batch work. I get certain e-mails throughout the day that
require quick action (like ten to fifteen seconds each). As I know
these e-mails pretty well, I created filters that send them into a
"batch" folder to be processed once a day. It takes a couple min-
utes to process the whole folder, and I don't have to see them in
my in-box.
4. Stupid joke e-mails. If you have friends and family who
send you chain e-mails and joke e-mails and the like, e-mail
them and let them know that you are trying to lessen the huge
amount of e-mail you have to deal with, and while you appreci-
ate them thinking of you, you'd rather not receive those kinds
of messages. Some people will be hurt. They'll get over it. Oth-
ers will continue to send the e-mails. I create a filter for them
that sends them straight into the trash. Basically, they're on
my kill-file. If they ever send an important e-mail (which is
rare), they'll call me eventually and ask why I haven't re-
sponded. I tell them that their e-mail must be in my spam
folder.
5. Set expectations and publish policies. A great strategy
for reducing e-mails is to pre-empt them by letting people
know not to send you certain types of e-mails, and telling
them where to go for commonly requested information. As
most people who e-mail me get my contact info from my Web
site, I've created a set of policies published on my site that are
designed to pre-empt the most common e-mails. If people fol-
low my policies, I will get very little e-mail. For example, in-
stead of e-mailing me to ask for a link, they can save the link
for me in a popular bookmarking service. For suggestions or
comments or questions, they can post them on a couple of
pages that I created for that purpose. I'm also planning on
creating a Frequently Asked Questions page for more com-
mon questions and issues. These policies remove the burden
on me to respond to every request_I still read the comments
and questions, but I only respond if I have time. My in-box has
been under a much lighter burden these days. For people who
don't have Web sites, they can still establish policies and a Fre-
quently Asked Questions page by e-mailing them to other
people, publishing them on the Web, or sending out a memo
to coworkers.
PROCESS TO EMPTY
So now that only the essential e-mails come into your in-box,
the question is how to get it empty in the least amount of time
necessary. I'm usually able to empty my in-box in about twenty
minutes, although your processing time may differ, depending
on how practiced you are at the following methods, and how
much e-mail you get, and how focused you keep yourself. How-
ever, in any case, you should be able to get your in-box empty in
a minimal amount of time using these methods.
1. Temporary folder. If you have a very full in-box (hun-
dreds or thousands of messages), you should create a temporary
folder ("to be filed") and get to them later, processing them per-
haps thirty minutes at a time until they've all been taken care
of. Start with an empty in-box, and use the following techniques
to keep it empty, in as little time as possible.
2. Have an external to-do system. Many times the reason
an e-mail is lingering in our in-box is because there is an ac-
tion required in order to process it. Instead of leaving it in your
in-box, and using the in-box as a de facto to-do list, make a note
of the task required by the e-mail in your to-do system ... a
notebook, an online to-do program, a planner, whatever. Get
the task out of your in-box. Make a reference to the e-mail if
necessary. Then archive the e-mail and be done with it. This
will get rid of a lot of the e-mail in your in-box very quickly. You
still have to do the task, but at least it's now on a legitimate to-
do list and not keeping your in-box full.
3. Process quickly. Work your way from top to bottom, one
e-mail at a time. Open each e-mail and dispose of it immedi-
ately. Your choices: delete, archive (for later reference), reply
quickly (and archive or delete the message), put on your to-do
list (and archive or delete), do the task immediately (if it requires
two minutes or less_then archive or delete), or forward (and
archive or delete). Notice that for each option, the e-mail is ulti-
mately archived or deleted. Get it out of the in-box. Never leave
it sitting there. And do this quickly, moving on to the next
e-mail. If you practice this enough, you can plow through a
couple dozen messages very quickly.
4. Be liberal with the delete key. Too often we feel like we
need to reply to every e-mail. But we don't. Ask yourself, "What's
the worst that will happen if I delete this?" If the answer isn't
too bad, just delete it and move on. You can't reply to everything.
Just choose the most important ones and reply to them. If you
limit the e-mails you actually reply to or take action on, you get
the most important stuff done in the least amount of time. The
eighty-twenty rule at work.
5. Process to done. When you open your in-box, process it
until you're done. Don't just look at an e-mail and leave it sitting
in your in-box. Get it out of there, and empty that in-box. Make
it a rule: Don't leave the in-box with e-mails hanging around.
Now your in-box should be empty and clean. Ahhh!
WRITE LESS
Another key to spending less time in e-mail but making the
most of every e-mail you send is to write short but powerful
e-mails. So after all the screening and spam filters, you've cho-
sen the few e-mails you're actually going to respond to . . . now
don't blow it by writing a novel-length response to each one. I
limit myself to five sentences for each reply (at the maximum_
many replies are even shorter). That forces me to be concise and
to choose only the essentials of what I want to say, and limits
the time I spend replying to e-mail.
Your limit might be different_perhaps a seven-sentence
limit works better for you. Experiment with your limit for a few
days to find your ideal length, and then do your best to stick to
the limit. The key is in limitations: They force you to convey
only the key concepts while limiting the amount of time you
spend writing e-mails.
eleven
Simple Internet
T
HE INTERNET: it's not only where we get our infor-
mation these days, it's where many of us live. It's where
we buy things, where we meet people, where we com-
municate, where we play and work, where we go to waste time,
where we go to do research.
With so many functions, it's no wonder we can go on the
Internet to do a work task and get caught up in a dozen other
sites, often wasting an hour or two before realizing it. The In-
ternet can be a black hole of productivity, and if we let it, it can
take over our lives. Apply the Power of Less to your Internet us-
age: Set limitations and use the Internet more powerfully. With
limitations and simplicity, you can get more done both on and
off the Internet.
AWARENESS: TRACK YOUR USAGE
Try this challenge: Track your Internet usage for three days.
Use a tool likeToggl (www.toggl.com/), yaTimer (www.nbdtech
.com/yaTimer/) or Tick (www.tickspot.com/) to track your In-
ternet usage time, and you'll get a good picture of how you actu-
ally spend your time.
This first step helps you increase your awareness, and that's
an important part of the process of getting your Internet usage
under control. To simplify anything, you must first become
more aware of it. And sometimes it can be an eye-opening pro-
cess_we might spend a lot more time in e-mail, or at a certain
site, or on the Internet in general, than we think we do.
Once you've tracked your Internet usage, you can take a look
at which sites are time-wasters for you_you spend a lot of time
there, but they're not helping you get to your goals. These are
the sites you need to limit.
CONSCIOUSNESS: MAKE A PLAN
After awareness comes consciousness. You want to consciously
plan your use of the Internet, instead of jumping on anytime
you feel like it and getting carried away without thinking. Con-
scious use means setting limits and having a purpose to your
use. That doesn't mean you can't ever use the Internet for fun,
or for browsing, but you should be doing this consciously_
when you need to work, work, and when you have time to play,
allow yourself to play.
Your Internet plan will be different from mine, as it really
depends on your needs, but here are some things to consider:
What are your real needs? What Internet uses are critical
to your work? When do you need to use these sites and
how often?
What are your fun sites? You can still use them, but limit
your time on these sites. Use them as rewards for doing
your work.
When do you need to do serious, uninterrupted work,
and when can you afford to browse the Internet and get
distracted?
I suggest that you set blocks of your day for doing uninter-
rupted work (without the Internet), for doing communication
like e-mail or instant messaging, for doing research and other
work-related Internet activities, and for doing fun stuff or just
browsing. This will allow you to be more conscious and smarter
about how you use the Internet, and will allow you to get more
work done.
FOCUS: LEARNING TO WORK
WHILE DISCONNECTED
One of the best things I've ever done to increase my productiv-
ity is to disconnect from the Internet when I want to get fo-
cused, uninterrupted, serious work done. While I'm writing
this book, for example, my Internet is disconnected. While this
might sound a bit drastic to many of you who are used to being
connected all the time, it's actually quite relaxing and enjoyable
to be disconnected for good chunks of time, once you're used
to it.
Let's say you set your three Most Important Tasks (MITs) for
the day, and the first one is writing a report or a paper or an ar-
ticle. You might first need to do some research on the Internet,
so you go on with a specific time frame (let's say thirty minutes)
and a specific purpose (retrieve all the relevant info on rain for-
ests). After you do the research, you disconnect from the Inter-
net to write your paper or report.
Many of us have tasks like this that require research or com-
munication on the Internet, but don't require the Internet for
the main part of the task, such as writing or drawing or editing
or even reading. If you do these tasks while connected to the
Internet, distractions will crop up every few minutes_you think
of an e-mail you need to send, or a book you want to look up, or
a song you want to download. Temptations to go check on your
favorite sites are constant. It's hard to stay focused on your task
when the lure of the Internet is there all the time.
Disconnecting allows you to put these distractions in the
background. It means you have one task to do and one task only,
and it means that you'll get a lot more work done. Some tips on
working while disconnected:
Do your Internet research first, so you don't need to
reconnect once you get started.
Clear all other distractions and disconnect from the
Internet so you can focus on your task.
Set a timer and try to really focus on the task for a certain
amount of time.
When you think of something you need to do on the
Internet, write it down. You can do it later. It will wait.
Consider having an "offline hour" each day when you
regularly work while disconnected. Or even an "offline
day" if you think you can do it.
If necessary, actually unplug the Internet so that you
can't just reconnect with a couple clicks of the mouse.
If really necessary, give the cord that connects you to the
Internet to someone else to hold for an hour or so. Or go
somewhere quiet with your laptop that doesn't have
wireless Internet.
Reward yourself for finishing your task by allowing
yourself to go to some site you enjoy, but only when
you're done.
You'll be amazed at how much work you'll get done.
DISCIPLINE: HOW TO STAY AWAY
FROM DISTRACTIONS
The Internet, for many people, is an addiction like any other,
even if we don't realize it. That means that if you try to work while
disconnected, you might have a really tough time_tougher
than you think. In fact, you might not even want to consider
working without a connection, if you're addicted.
Like any addiction, the urge to go on the Internet can be
beaten. It takes focus and energy, but it can be done. Here's
how:
Focus on breaking the addiction for at least one week. A
month would be better, but I know you have other things
to do. During this week, make it your goal to break free
from the Internet and be able to work in disconnected
mode when needed.
Set rules for using the Internet and stick to them. Rules
could include "No e-mail except at 10 and 4" or "No In-
ternet from 9 to 10 a.m." or "No Internet in the morn-
ings." Make up the rules based on what will be optimal
for your working situation, but stick to them.
When you get an urge to go on the Internet, let it pass.
Every urge is like a wave_it builds up, then it goes away.
Another wave will come, but just ride that one out too.
Every urge will pass if you just wait a few minutes.
Apply positive public pressure to yourself. Ask family,
friends, and coworkers to encourage you to stay away
from the Internet during the times you designate_to
help you follow your own rules. Tell them to keep an eye
on you, and report to them each day. This positive public
pressure will help you break your addiction.
Reward yourself. If you successfully stay away from the
Internet for the time you set, give yourself a little reward_
a treat, or some time checking e-mail, or whatever will
help motivate you.
Use delay strategies that work for any addiction, such as
deep breathing, drinking water, self-massage, and walk-
ing around. Do these things and the urge will pass.
Give it some time. It takes getting used to. But the more
you practice being disconnected, the better you'll get. It's
a great feeling.
twelve
Simple Filing
I
'VE WORKED IN several offices where people's desks were
stacked with papers_one pile after another. I've had co-
workers claim that the stacks are their form of organization,
and yet I've seen them sifting through the piles to find a docu-
ment they were sure was there. In fact, they spend so much
time going through stacks that I wonder why they don't come
up with a better way.
Stacking might work for some people, but for others, it's just
a disorganized mess that stresses us out and creates headaches
and wasted time. What is stacking, at its most basic level? It's
the failure on our parts to do two things:
1. Create a simple system for organizing paperwork; and
2. Get into the habit of using that system, immediately and
routinely.
Today my desk is clean and clear, simple and Zen-like_
there's nothing on my desk but a phone, my iMac, and a small
notebook_because I've learned to do these two basic things.
Let's take a look at each one in turn.
CREATING A SIMPLE FILING SYSTEM
The key to having a usable filing system is to keep it simple. If
the system is complicated or hard to use, you'll resist using it
after a while. Here's how to set up your system:
1. Reduce before organizing. The first rule to organizing
is that you should eliminate the unnecessary before organizing
at all. If you've got a filing drawer that's overflowing, or stacks
of paper that need filing, it'll take forever to organize_and
even then, it'll be hard to find things. To simplify:
Put everything in one big pile. If it can't all go in one
pile, make more than one, but look at them as continua-
tions of the first pile. If you have folders that are a mess,
take them out and add them to the stack. I recently did
this with my home filing system and reduced the files by
two thirds. It took about an hour.
Go through them, one at a time. Pick up each document
or folder and decide what needs to be done with it. If you
can't see yourself needing it in a couple of months, toss it.
Default to toss (or shred, or recycle). Get rid of as much as
you can. I've never regretted tossing a document.
Route. If you can't toss something, and it would be better
to have that item done or read by someone else, route it to
that person to get it off your desk.
File. If a document is absolutely critical, and you're sure
you'll need it again, then it needs to be filed. Let's take a
look at how to set up a simple system for doing that.
2. Simple filing. All you need is a simple, alphabetical filing
system. Just use plain manila folders with labels (you can buy a
label maker if you like), creating a file for each client, vendor,
and/or project. I believe that most people only need one drawer
for filing. There are some jobs that require much more than
this, but for the average employee (or self-employed person),
one drawer is all you need. And if you limit yourself to one
drawer, you force yourself to toss out unnecessary files when
the drawer gets full. Don't overthink this. Just create a file, and
file it alphabetically. Keep it simple.
3. File immediately. The key to keeping your filing system
up to date is to file things right away. When you're processing
your in-box and you run across something that doesn't require
action but that you might need to file later, don't put it in a pile
to be filed later. Don't put it in a folder labeled TO FILE or
MISCELLANEOUS.
Just open your filing drawer (it should be close at hand), pull
out the appropriate folder, put the document in it, and file it.
That takes about five seconds, and then you're done. If you don't
do it now, it will start to pile up, and stacking just doesn't work.
Why stacking doesn't work: It just piles up, and then the pile
gets a little intimidating, and then before you know it you've got
a huge pile that you never want to go through. Then you can't
find anything when you need it, and now you no longer have a
filing system. I know some people think that their piles are or-
ganized into a kind of system, but piles are inefficient because
you constantly have to re-factor what pile is for what and which
documents are in each pile, and when you need a document, it
takes too long to find it. Plus, it clutters up your desk, distract-
ing you from your work.
4. Have materials on hand. Always have a big supply of
manila folders and labels on hand. If you have a document that
needs to be filed for future reference but no file exists for it yet,
you will put the filing off until later if you don't have the materi-
als at hand. You don't feel like getting up to get a manila folder
or label every time you need to file something, so you'll put it
off. And that will create piles.
So instead, just have the materials in a drawer, for easy ac-
cess. When you need to make a new file, just put a label on,
stick the document in, and file it alphabetically.
5. Reduce your needs over time. Over the last year or so,
I've consciously been reducing my filing needs so that I now
barely use my filing drawer. Sure, at least once a week I'll pull
open the drawer to look at a file, but I file many fewer docu-
ments than I used to. I recommend that you do the same, slowly
and consciously reducing your filing needs. Here are a few tips
for doing that:
Store reference information online. Now when I need to
look something up, I press a hot-key combination (I use
AutoHotkey to open Web sites and documents) and the
appropriate document opens up with all the info I need.
Contacts, budget information, ideas, logs, and much more
are all online, so I no longer need hard copies of them
and don't need to file them.
Reduce incoming paper. Ask people to e-mail you instead
of faxing or sending a document by post. In this age, ev-
erything is created on a computer, and sending hard cop-
ies is outdated. Insist on digital. Also take steps to stop
paper versions of newsletters, magazines, and other such
regular documents.
Stop printing stuff. Lots of people still print out e-mail or
documents they receive, or even documents they create
themselves. But then you have two copies of it, you're
killing trees, and you now have to file the paper version
as well as the digital. And it's much easier to search for
digital information when you need it.
Analyze other incoming docs. Every time you file some-
thing, ask yourself if you really need a hard copy version of
it. Is it available online? Does it really need to be sent to
you? Is it better to scan it and store it digitally? Is there any
way to eliminate the need for this document? And slowly,
one by one, reduce your need for all the incoming stuff.
HOME PAPERWORK TIPS
The five steps above can apply to both an office workplace and
your paperwork at home, but here are home-specific tips for or-
ganizing all the papers in your personal life:
1. Create one "mail center" in your home for dealing
with your mail and incoming paperwork. This should in-
clude an in-box for all incoming papers, a wastebasket (the sim-
plifier's most important tool!), a small filing system (just some
manila folders in a drawer or file case is fine), and something to
hold envelopes, stamps, your checkbook, pens, and other needed
tools.
2. Home in-box. All incoming mail, school papers, and
other paperwork goes straight into your in-box. Don't toss them
on a counter or the kitchen table or a desk. Put them in one
place only: the in-box. It's best if you remove the mail from the
envelope right away, toss the envelopes and any junk flyers, and
toss junk mail and catalogs right away_but even if you don't, at
least toss everything in the in-box.
3. Pay bills immediately. While you're processing your
mail and paperwork, you can put all bills in a folder to be paid at
a certain date (you might have two dates a month when you pay
bills, for example, or maybe you need one day each week). But
another alternative is to just pay the bill on the spot, as soon as
you're done processing your in-box. Either write a check and put
the bill and check in an envelope to be dropped in the mailbox
tomorrow, or go to your computer and pay the bills online. Either
way, the bill is taken care of and off your mind.
4. Enter stuff into your to-do lists or calendar. For pa-
pers that contain tasks or appointments or schedules, you'll
want to enter the tasks on your to-do list immediately, and enter
any dates into your calendar immediately (I use Gcal). I even
enter all my kids' soccer games, school events, and other activi-
ties in Gcal, and then just file the school papers or schedules in
a "school papers" folder so I can refer to it later if necessary.
5. File immediately. Once you've paid a bill or taken action
on a piece of paper, you should file it immediately (unless
you can toss it). Don't let it sit on your counter, or pile up in a
"to be filed" pile or folder, or go back into your in-box. File it
right away. Set up a simple filing system with manila enve-
lopes, labeled with the name of the billing company or utility,
along with folders for other important documents in your life,
and use a simple alphabetical filing system so you can find
things immediately. Always have a stack of manila folders and
labels on hand (some people even recommend a handy Brother
label-maker) so you can create a new folder quickly if you need
it. The trick to filing is to do it right away and not let it pile
up.
That's it. No papers should ever be anywhere except the in-
box or in your filing system. It's simple and efficient. The trick
is to make this a habit, and stick to it like a routine. Have set
times of the day or week when you process your in-box and pay
your bills. Create a simple system like this, and you eliminate
the clutter and the worry.
thirteen
Simple Commitments
I
F THERE'S ONE change that you could make today that
would have the biggest impact on your life in terms of pro-
ductivity, effectiveness, and being able to do the things you
want to do, it would be to reduce the commitments in your
life.
With that one change, you could free up the time you need
to focus on the important work and to achieve the things you
want to achieve. With that simple change, you could free up
time to pursue things you're passionate about, to exercise, to
read, to find quiet time, or to spend time with loved ones.
I'm not going to lie to you: Reducing your commitments
isn't easy. It takes determination, it takes a willingness to say
"no," and it can take time. But it will pay off in so many ways,
for the rest of your life.
THE DEMANDS OF COMMITMENTS
Most of us have lives that are overloaded with commitments.
We have multiple commitments at work_besides the core du-
ties of our job, which is already a multitude of commitments,
we might also serve on different committees, have to go to dif-
ferent meetings, have commitments to various projects, have to
go to conferences and clinics, have regular meetings with cli-
ents, or serve on boards in our industry.
Then there are civic commitments, family commitments,
hobbies, stuff we have to do at home, online commitments, reli-
gious commitments, extra jobs, sports, exercise, other social
groups, and more.
It's possible to have multiple commitments in all of these
areas, until we have no spare time in our lives and we are worn
down by the time and energy demands of each of these commit-
ments.
Each time someone makes a request of you and you agree to
that request, you're making a commitment that will take up a
part of your life.
The curious thing is that we don't ever decide to do them all
at once. They are added to our lives, one at a time_and viewed
individually, none of them ever seems like too much work. But
cumulatively, these commitments add up, so that eventually they
can consume your entire life, and your life no longer belongs
to you.
Cut back on those commitments, one at a time, leaving your-
self with the time you need for the things that are important
to you.
TAKE INVENTORY OF YOUR COMMITMENTS
In order to get a handle on your commitments, you first have to
take inventory, so you know what you have on your plate. Take
an inventory of the commitments in your life right now. Here
are some common ones (though you may have more):
Work: We have multiple commitments at our jobs. List
them all.
Side work: Some of us do freelance work or do odd jobs
to take in money.
Family: We may play a role as husband, wife, father,
mother, son, daughter. These roles come with many
commitments.
Kids: My kids have had soccer, choir, Academic Chal-
lenge Bowl, National Junior Honor Society, basketball,
spelling bee, science fair, guitar lessons, and more. Each
of your kids' commitments is yours too.
Civic: We may volunteer for different organizations, or be
a board member or officer on a nonprofit organization.
Religious: Many of us are very involved with our
churches, or are part of a church organization. Or per-
haps we are committed to going to service once a week.
Hobbies: Perhaps you are a runner or a cyclist, or you
build models, or are part of a secret underground comic
book organization. These come with commitments.
Home: Aside from regular family stuff, there's the stuff
you have to do at home.
Online: We may be a regular on a forum or mailing list
or Google group. These are online communities that
come with commitments too.
You might have other categories. List everything. The more
honest and complete your list, the better.
MAKE A SHORT LIST
Now take a close look at each thing on the list and ask your-
self: How does this give my life value? How important is it to
me? Is it in line with my life priorities and values? How would
it affect my life if I dropped out? Does this further my life
goals?
Then make a "Short List" of your four to five most important
commitments. What are the things you love to do most, the
things that are most important to you? Your list can include
whatever you like, but here's mine:
1. Spending time with my wife and kids
2. Writing
3. Running
4. Reading
That's my entire list. It might take some soul-searching to
cut your list down to four to five things. Once you've created
your Short List, I suggest you go over your list of commitments
and decide which of those commitments fit on your Short List
and which don't. The commitments that align with your Short
List are the essential commitments. For example, writing posts
for my blog, Zen Habits, is one of my commitments. It falls un-
der one of my Short List priorities_writing_so it is an essen-
tial commitment in my mind.
What are your essential commitments?
BEGIN ELIMINATING THE NONESSENTIAL
Everything on your commitment list that isn't essential is, by
definition, nonessential. They're all on the chopping block.
Eliminating the nonessential commitments is crucial, as it
will free up a lot of your time, leave you with less stress, and
allow you to focus on the essential. Never have enough time
for the truly important projects, or your family, or your pas-
sion in life? Now you will, if you eliminate the nonessentials
and use the freed-up time for the essentials on your Short List.
Here's how to eliminate the nonessential commitments on
your list:
1. Start with something small. Don't try to eliminate ev-
erything at once. Maybe find something on the list that will be
easy to eliminate. That's your first target. Look for the thing
that gives you the least return for your invested time and effort.
The thing that's least in line with your life values and priorities
and goals. Cut it out, at least for a couple of weeks, and see if you
can get along without it.
2. Call or e-mail to send your regrets. Explain that you
have too much on your plate right now and you simply don't
have the time to fulfill the commitment. Apologize, but be
firm, and don't leave any room for negotiation.
3. Eliminate the commitment from your appointment,
and instead fill that time with something from your Short List.
Don't just use that time to watch TV_use it wisely.
4. Repeat this process with the other nonessential com-
mitments, one at a time, until you're done. Strive to eliminate
all nonessential commitments from your list. This might take a
while, especially with some commitments where you'll need to
find a replacement or some other solution. But don't stop until
you've eliminated all of them.
Each time you cut a commitment, it may give you a feeling
of guilt, because others want you to keep that commitment. But
it's also a huge relief, not having to keep that commitment each
day or week or month. It frees up a lot of your time, and while
others may be disappointed, you have to keep what's important
to you in mind, not what's important to everyone else. If we
committed to what everyone else wanted all the time, we would
never have any time left for ourselves.
LEARN TO SAY "NO"
Your list of commitments didn't become overloaded by itself.
Those commitments were added to your life, one by one, be-
cause you accepted them. Someone made a request and you said
"yes," one commitment at a time.
Now that you're in the process of eliminating your nones-
sential commitments and freeing up time for your Short List,
keep your list short by not adding new commitments, if at all
possible. Sometimes, adding a commitment is a good thing, if
it's something you love, and if you make time for it by dropping
something you don't love as much. But most of the time, new
commitments just add to your load and take time and energy
away from more important or enjoyable pursuits.
So avoid new commitments by learning to say "no" to new
requests. These requests come in all the time, at home and
work, via phone or e-mail, when you run into someone at the
supermarket. Learn to recognize them as requests for new com-
mitments, and learn to turn them down.
This is very difficult for many people, who feel a sense of
obligation to say "yes," who are uncomfortable turning people
down, who think that they have no good reason to say no to a
simple request by a friend or coworker or loved one in need.
But you do have a good reason to say "no"_a great reason, in
fact: Your time is limited and precious.
You might think you have all the time in the world, and that
a one-hour commitment won't matter much. But most people
only have a couple hours of free time each day, when you factor
in sleep and getting ready and eating time and commuting time
and work and chores. Protect your time_it's your most valu-
able commodity. Guard it with your life.
If you have difficulty saying "no" to requests, here are some
tips:
First, be aware. Learn to recognize requests for what they
are_demands on your time. And be aware that your
time is extremely limited, and that you want to fill that
limited time with the things that are important to you.
Consider your Short List. Is the request in line with the
four to five priorities you wrote out in your Short List? If
not, the commitment is nonessential. Don't allow it to
come into your life.
Be honest. Tell the person that you're trying to cut back
on your commitments because you've been overloaded.
Tell the person that you are trying to focus and can't
commit to anything new right now. Most likely, they'll
understand. If not, be assured that at least you are doing
what is right for you.
Be firm. Say, "I just can't right now" and make it clear
that you're not open to negotiation or persuasion. If you
don't make that clear, they might pester you until you
give in.
I wish I could. Often I will honestly tell the person, "I re-
ally wish I could. It sounds great. But I just don't have
the time right now." It validates the person's request but
makes it clear that you are unable to fulfill the commit-
ment.
Don't be sorry. Even if the person is insistent that you're
needed for this project, don't worry_they'll find another
person to fill the need. Nothing in this world has failed
because one person said "no" to a request_if the need
was great enough, another person filled it. So while
there's a temptation to feel guilty that you're ruining
something good for someone you care about, don't. That
person will still get it done without you.
MAKING THE TIME FOR WHAT WE LOVE
The same concepts that you use to reduce commitments in your
work life can be used to make time for what you love in your
personal life.
How can we create a life where we have time to do all the
things we wish we could do? Where we live a more enjoyable,
relaxed life away from work? It's fairly simple, though it takes
an effort to implement such a plan:
1. First, make a list of the things you truly want to do. The
things you love to do. The things you want to spend your
precious time doing. Shorten it to four to five things, if
possible_this is your Short List, the things that are most
important.
2. Eliminate as much of the rest of the stuff as possible
from your private life.
3. Schedule your free time so that you're doing the things
on your Short List.
It really is that simple. When I decided I wanted to spend
more time with my family, it was simply a matter of making
that time a priority. I would turn down invitations to social en-
gagements, say no to friends who wanted to go out, and cancel
previous commitments_just because they weren't as high a
priority as spending time with my family. When I decided to
run a marathon, that meant I had to get up early to run before I
had to get the kids ready for school and myself ready for work.
Waking earlier meant going to sleep earlier, which meant cut-
ting back on television. No problem_running was more im-
portant to me than television. I canceled my cable TV.
When I decided to write this book, I had to cut back on other
work projects, because they weren't as important. I made the
time, and dedicated that time to writing. If you make the com-
mitment to make time for the things you love by cutting out the
things that are of lower priority, you can create the life you want
to live. It just takes a commitment to your Short List.
TIPS FOR SIMPLIFYING YOUR PERSONAL LIFE
While creating the simple life is as simple as the three steps I
outlined above, you'll get use out of the tips below. I suggest you
take a weekend out of your life to examine these issues, to plan
how you're going to simplify your life, and to start making
changes to your schedule.
What's important. First, take a step back and think about
what's important to you. What do you really want to be
doing? Who do you want to spend your time with? What
do you want to accomplish with your work? Make a Short
List of four to five things you love doing.
Examine your commitments. A big part of the problem is
that our lives are way too full. We can't possibly do every-
thing we have committed to doing, and we certainly can't
enjoy it if we're trying to do everything. Accept that you
can't do everything, know that you want to do what's im-
portant to you, and try to eliminate the commitments
that aren't as important.
Do less during your days. Don't fill your day up with things
to do. You will end up rushing to do them all. If you nor-
mally try (and fail) to do seven to ten things, do three
important ones instead (with three more smaller items
to do if you get those three done). This will give you time
to do what you need to do, and not rush.
Leave space between tasks or appointments. Another
mistake is trying to schedule things back-to-back. This
leaves no cushion in case things take longer than we
planned (which they always do), and it also gives us a
feeling of being rushed and stressed throughout the day.
Instead, leave a good-sized gap between your appoint-
ments or tasks, allowing you to focus more on each one,
and have a transition time between them.
Eliminate as much as possible from your to-do list. You
can't do everything on your to-do list. Even if you could.
more things will come up. Simplify your to-do list down
to the essentials as much as you can. This allows you to
rush less and focus more on what's important.
Now, slow down and enjoy every task. This is the most
important tip in this chapter. Read it twice. Whatever
you're doing, whether it's a work task or taking a shower
or brushing your teeth or cooking dinner or driving to
work, slow down. Try to enjoy whatever you're doing. Try
to pay attention, instead of thinking about other things.
Be in the moment. This isn't easy, as you will often for-
get. But find a way to remind yourself. Unless the task
involves actual pain, there isn't anything that can't be
enjoyable if you give it the proper attention.
Single-task. This is kind of a mantra of mine. Do one
thing at a time, and do it well.
Eliminate stress. Find the stressors in your life, and find
ways to eliminate them.
Create time for solitude. In addition to slowing down and
enjoying the tasks we do, and doing less of them, it's also
important to just have some time to yourself.
Do nothing. Sometimes, it's good to forget about doing
things, and do nothing. Don't be afraid to be lazy some-
times.
Sprinkle simple pleasures throughout your day. Knowing
what your simple pleasures are, and putting a few of
them in each day, can go a long way to making life more
enjoyable.
Practice being present. You can practice being in the mo-
ment at any time during the day. Simply focus on what
you're doing right now, not on the past or the future.
Free up time. Simplifying your life in general is a way to
free up time to do the stuff you want to do. Unfortu-
nately, it can be hard to find time to even think about
how to simplify your life. If that's the case, free up at
least thirty minutes a day for thinking about simplify-
ing. Or alternatively, free up a weekend and think about
it then. How can you free up thirty minutes a day? Just a
few ideas: Wake earlier, watch less TV, eat lunch at your
desk, take a walk for lunch, disconnect from the Inter-
net, do e-mail only once today, shut off your phones, do
one fewer thing each day.
fourteen
Simple Daily Routine
O
VER THE LAST couple of years I've discovered the
power of having simple routines, especially in the morn-
ing and evening. Having these routines can super-
charge your day while simultaneously creating a sense of calm
and sanity in your life.
I highly recommend that you think about your mornings
and evenings, as they are two key times in your day, and they
can do so much to change your life. You can skip this chapter
and still get a lot out of this book, but examining your daily rou-
tines is worth considering.
THE POWER OF A MORNING ROUTINE
One of the most rewarding changes in my life has been finding
peace with a morning routine. I've made it a habit to wake be-
fore most others, at about 4:30 a.m., and just enjoy the quiet and
solitude.
It has made all the difference in the world.
I sit quietly with a cup of coffee, and enjoy the silence. I go
for a morning run, which relieves stress and is perfect for con-
templation. I use the quiet time before my family awakes to
write something each morning. And I read, because a good
novel is one of my favorite companions.
Now, not everyone is a morning person, of course. But that
doesn't mean you can't create your own routine, one that incorpo-
rates something that gives you solitude, quiet, or stress release.
If you haven't yet, I recommend that you create your own
calming routine. Give it a couple of weeks to become a habit, fo-
cus on doing it every day, and soon you will not want to miss it.
With a well-planned morning routine:
You can prepare for your day and set your goals;
You can get in exercise, reading, writing, or other things
you normally don't have time for;
You can do something enjoyable, calming, and relaxing.
There are other things you can do with a morning routine, but
those three things alone make the morning routine a very power-
ful tool in transforming your life.
MORNING ROUTINE IDEAS
Choose four to six of the following ideas for your morning rou-
tine_or add activities of your own. These are just ideas to help
get you started. Remember to keep your routine simple. More
than six things will probably be too rushed, or you won't have
enough time for all of them. Test out your new routine for a few
days, and make adjustments as needed. Sometimes the routine
won't go as you hoped, or it will take longer than you expected.
That's OK_just make adjustments.
Some ideas for your morning routine:
Have coffee or tea.
Watch the sunrise.
Exercise.
Shower.
Take a bath.
Read.
Eat breakfast.
Do yoga.
Meditate.
Take a walk in nature.
Prepare lunch or lunches.
Write.
Journal.
Choose your three Most Important Tasks
for the day.
Review your goals.
Have a gratitude session (say thanks for all that you're
thankful for).
Notice that "check e-mail" and other work-related activities
aren't on this list. I suggest you wait until after your morning
routine to get started on these types of things, otherwise you
might get so caught up in e-mail that you run out of time for
the rest.
SUPERCHARGE TOMORROW
WITH AN EVENING ROUTINE
If the mornings are a great time for me, the evenings are just as
wonderful. Planning a calming evening routine, especially one
where you prepare for the next day, can make a huge difference
to your mornings.
An evening routine can take as little as ten to thirty minutes,
or as long as a few hours, depending on your goals. Some com-
mon goals of an evening routine include:
Prepare for the next day.
Unwind from a long day.
Review your day.
Keep your house clean.
Calm yourself before bed.
Spend quality time with loved ones.
Log, journal, write, or exercise.
EVENING ROUTINE IDEAS
Pick four to six of the following activities for your evening rou-
tine, or add ideas of your own. And again, remember to keep the
routine simple, try it out for a few days, and adjust as needed.
Some ideas for your evening routine:
Cook dinner.
Eat dinner.
Shower/take a bath.
Brush your teeth/floss.
Journal.
Write.
Read.
Exercise.
Prepare clothes/lunch for tomorrow.
Meditate.
Do your log.
Review your day.
Give yourself a facial treatment.
Read to your kids.
Clean up.
Have a conversation with your partner.
Notice there's no "check e-mail" or work-related activities
here either. Use the evening to relax and prepare for the next
day, if possible.
HOW TO ESTABLISH ROUTINES
It might sound easy to establish simple routines, but it's just as
easy to fall out of them. You want to make them a habit that will
stick.
The key steps to establishing routines are to:
1. Focus on them. Keep your routine as your foremost goal
for one month, focusing on nothing else. Having too many hab-
its at once spreads your focus too thin, and makes success less
likely.
2. Make them rewarding. If you establish a calming rou-
tine, the routine itself is your reward. Include enjoyable activi-
ties in the morning to start your day off right, so that you're not
rushed when you begin work. In the evening, quietly prepare
for the next day, review your day, and have some quiet time.
Satisfying routines like that will make you look forward to do-
ing them.
3. Log your progress. Reporting your progress every day on
an online forum is a great way to log progress, but you could
also do it in a journal or some other type of log, or put a big "X"
on a wall calendar. The key is to keep track of it and see how
well you've done over the course of a month.
fifteen
Declutter Your
Work Space
A
CLEAN DESK ALLOWS you to focus on the task at
hand, which is the key to being effective in whatever
you're trying to do.
We looked at a simple system that will keep all your papers
in place. But what if your desk is already piled with papers_and
not only papers, but knickknacks, little sticky notes, photos,
mementos, tools, equipment, and more? How do you clear your
desk from under the chaos? Where do you begin?
In this chapter, we'll take a look at how to begin decluttering
your main work space, which is most likely your desk. We'll then
look at how to use the same technique to declutter other areas of
your life, including your home.
THE BENEFITS OF A CLEAN DESK
What's so great about a decluttered desk? In my experience a
clean and decluttered desk has two extremely important bene-
fits:
1. It allows you to focus. I've mentioned a number of times
the importance of being able to focus, of clearing your desk and
your mind so that you can focus on the task at hand. If you can't
do that, you're losing effectiveness. And if you are working
with decreased efficiency, you're wasting precious time. A clut-
tered desk is full of visual distractions_if you're trying to fo-
cus on one task, but glance at a pile or folder or note that
reminds you of something else, you'll switch focus, at least for a
few seconds. But if you clear your desk of distractions, then
your mind has no choice but to focus on what you're supposed
to be doing.
2.It gives you a Zen-like sense of calm. My clear desk helps get
me into a more serene state of mind. Too much visual
clutter can be stressful, even if you don't realize it. But once you
clear your desk and surroundings from clutter, that stress level
drops.
Given that calm and focus are two keys to this book, I think
any chance to improve them is worth the effort. And if you find
that you don't like this style of working, you can always go back
to your old system.
HOW TO GET STARTED
Getting started is the hardest part for most people_if there are
huge piles of things all over your desk (not to mention in the
dark recesses of all your drawers), it's extremely intimidating.
So intimidating that you never want to start.
And once you get started, you'll probably discover that it's
not that hard, and for some of you it may even be fun. (It was for
me.) The first step is the hardest_everything else is easy.
Here's how to get started:
1. Set aside a little time. You don't need to block off the
whole day (though you can if you like). An hour is a good start,
if you can manage it, or thirty minutes will also suffice if your
day is busy. Put it on your calendar for today and don't push it
back.
2. Take all the paperwork off the top of your desk and
put it in a big pile. You'll tackle that soon.
3. Clear everything off your desk except your computer,
phone, in-box, and other essential equipment. Everything else
goes, at least for now. Put it next to the pile of papers.
4. Start with the pile of papers—take a chunk and start
processing it from the top down. Never re-sort, never skip a
single piece of paper, never put a piece of paper back on the pile.
Do what needs to be done with that paper, and then move on to
the next in the pile. The options: Trash it, delegate it, file it, do
it, or put it on a list to do later. In that order of preference. If you
can't trash, delegate, or file it, then put it on a list of to-dos.
5. Work for as long as you can, then schedule another
block of time when you can do another chunk of papers or
other items (or when you can finish the piles, if possible).
GETTING DOWN TO THE ESSENTIALS
Once you've gotten through the piles of papers and other items
that were on your desktop, it's time to ask yourself: What's es-
sential? What do you really need to do your job? What do
you use often, and what is just cluttering your work space and
drawers?
Start with the top of your desk: What do you really need
there on top of the desk? Ideally, this is just your working
space_the stuff you need to do the task at hand, right now, not
things you need later. For most people, the real essentials are a
computer, a phone, an in-box (for incoming papers only), and
perhaps a notebook and pen if you're like me and like to note
things that need to be done later. Other than that, only the pa-
pers or folders you're using for the task at hand should be on the
desktop_and when you're done with them, they go back in a
folder in a drawer.
Here are some other tips for getting your work space down
to the essentials:
If you've got folders or stacks of paper on or around your
desk, process them and put them away as in the previous
section_listing them on your projects or actions lists,
and filing them out of sight.
Get rid of distracting knickknacks, posters, pictures, etc.
A few photos of your family is fine, but if you've got a lot
of other stuff, it's probably distracting.
Take everything out of a shelf or drawer at once. Focus
on one drawer or shelf at a time, and empty it completely.
Then clean that shelf or drawer. Then, take the pile and
sort it (see next tip), and put back just what you want to
keep. Then tackle the next shelf or drawer.
Sort through your pile, one item at a time, and make
quick decisions. Have a trash bag and a giveaway box
handy. When you pull everything out of a shelf or drawer,
sort through the pile one item at a time. Pick up an item,
and make a decision: Trash, give away, or keep. Don't put
it back in the pile. Do this with the entire pile, and soon
you'll be done. If you keep sorting through the pile, and
re-sorting, it'll take forever. Put back only what you want
to keep, and arrange it nicely.
Papers? Be ruthless, unless it's important. Magazines,
catalogs, junk mail, bills more than a year old, notes to
yourself, notes from others, old work stuff... toss it! The
only exception is with tax-related stuff and other impor-
tant documents like warranties, birth and death and mar-
riage certificates, insurance, wills, and so on. But you'll
know those when you see them. Otherwise, toss.
If you are on the fence with a lot of things, create a
"maybe" box. If you can't bear to toss something because
you might need it later, put it in the box, then close the
box, label it, and put it in storage (garage, attic, closet),
out of sight. Most likely, you'll never open that box again.
If that's the case, pull it out after six months or a year
and toss it or give it away.
Celebrate when you're done! Always celebrate your accom-
plishments, no matter how small. Even if you just decluttered
one drawer, that's great. Treat yourself to something delicious.
Open that drawer (or closet, or whatever), and admire its sim-
plicity. Breathe deeply and know that you have done a good
thing. Bask in your peacefulness.
A SYSTEM TO KEEP THINGS DECLUTTERED
Once you've gotten your work-space clutter to a minimum, and
have created a distraction-free zone, the challenge is to keep it
that way. If you go back to your old habits, it won't be long
before your desk is cluttered again (usually only takes a few
days).
So create a simple system and develop just a couple key hab-
its to keep the system in place. Here's what I suggest:
1. Keep an in-box for incoming papers. Don't let anything
get put on your desk_always put papers in the in-box, includ-
ing notes and phone messages.
2. Once a day, process the in-box to empty using the sys-
tem described in the section above_trash, forward, file, or
make a note on your action list for later. Always process to
empty.
3. Have a place for each item and type of paper. Don't al-
low things to pile on the desk or randomly in drawers. When
you're done with something, put it in its place immediately.
Just focus on those three habits for a week_putting stuff
in the in-box, processing to empty, and putting things imme-
diately where they belong_and your new, clean desk will re-
main that way for months to come. It takes time to learn these
habits. You'll slip. Just remind yourself, and then do it. Soon
you'll have habits that will be hard to break. And trust me,
once you're used to your desk being clear, you won't want to go
back.
One of the things that gives me the most peace in my life is hav-
ing a clean, simple home. When I wake in the morning and
walk out into a living room that has been decluttered, that has a
minimalist look, and where there isn't junk lying around, I start
my day with calm and joy. When, on the other hand, I walk out
into a living room cluttered with toys and books and extra things
all over the place, my mind is chaos.
I've been a simplifier and a declutterer for years now, and
I've discovered that a clean, simple home without a lot of clutter
makes a big difference when it comes to your state of mind,
your productivity, and your happiness. If you've got a cluttered
disorganized home, we'll look at some ways for you to conquer
that clutter and keep things as simple as possible, whether
you've got just a few problem areas or a huge, intimidating pile
of junk.
A SIMPLE HOME
Once you've decluttered your desk, you might want to declutter
your home as well. You can use the same techniques as above
to declutter your living space. Just a few benefits of a simple
home:
1. Less stressful. Clutter is a form of visual distraction, and
everything in our vision pulls at our attention. The less clutter,
the less visual stress we have. A simple home is calming.
2. More appealing. Think about photos of homes that are
cluttered and photos of simple homes. The ones with almost
nothing in them except some beautiful furniture, some nice
artwork, and a very few pretty decorations are the ones that ap-
peal to most of us. You can make your home more appealing by
decluttering.
3. Easier to clean. It's hard to clean a whole bunch of ob-
jects, or to sweep or vacuum around a bunch of furniture. The
more things you have, the more you have to keep clean, and the
more complicated it is to clean. Think about how easy it is to
clean an empty room compared to one with fifty objects in it.
That's an extreme example, of course, as I wouldn't recommend
you have an empty room, but it's just to illustrate the difference.
To declutter your home, use the same steps you used above
to declutter your desk, but focus on one room at a time, and
within that room, focus on one drawer or shelf or other space
at a time. Take everything out of the shelf or drawer, sort
through it mercilessly, and just keep the essential stuff. Get
rid of the rest. Then designate a home for the essential stuff
you're keeping.
Set aside some time for decluttering each day_even ten to
twenty minutes will do_and during that time just declutter
one small area. Alternatively, you could schedule a weekend and
do the entire house.
HOW TO KEEP YOUR HOME SIMPLE
Once you've gotten your house fairly decluttered, you'll want to
create a system to stop clutter from accumulating. There's a
reason you have tall stacks of papers all over the place, and big
piles of toys and books and clothes. It's because you don't have a
regular system to keep things in their place, and to get rid of
stuff you don't need. You'll never get to perfect, but if you think
more intelligently about how your house got cluttered, perhaps
you can find ways to stop it from happening again.
Here are some suggestions for keeping the clutter from ac-
cumulating again:
Designate a home for everything, and be fanatic. When
you find stuff on flat surfaces, or draped over a chair, it
might be because you don't have a designated spot for
that kind of thing. If you don't, designate a spot for it im-
mediately. If stuff doesn't have a home in your home,
you need to get rid of it, or it will forever wander around
the house. The other problem might be that you have al-
ready designated a spot for it, but you're just not good at
putting it away. In that case, take a month to build up the
habit of putting things where they belong immediately.
It'll make a huge difference.
Schedule regular decluttering sessions. Put them in your
calendar. Even the best of us need to declutter regularly.
If you've decluttered your home, things might be great
now, but you'll need to do clutter maintenance. Put it in
your calendar: perhaps once a month, once a week, or
once every few months. Experiment to see what interval
works for your life.
Reduce your desires for more. If clutter is coming into
your life at a rate that's too great for you to handle, you
might need to look at your buying habits. Do you go
shopping for clothes or gadgets or shoes or books every
week (or more)? Are you always buying stuff online? If
so, is it out of real necessity, or do you just like to buy
stuff? It's important that you take a look at these desires,
and see if you can address them. Reducing your desires
will go a long way to reducing your need to fight clutter.
Thirty-day list. This is really a way to control the desires
mentioned above. Make a list: Anytime you want to buy
something (other than absolute necessities), put it on the
list with the date you added it. Then, don't allow yourself
to buy the item until it's been on the list for thirty days.
By then, your desire for that item might have passed. It's
a great way to control that impulse to buy.
Change your habits. Clutter didn't create itself. It's there
because you put it there. What habits do you have that
created the clutter? There may be many of them, some of
them already mentioned above: You buy a lot, you don't
designate a home for things, you don't put things away,
you buy but don't remove things ... You may have other
habits that create clutter. Change those habits, one at a
time. Take thirty days and focus on the clutter habit, and
see if you can create a new habit that will reduce your
clutter.
sixteen
Slow Down
T
HESE DAYS WE consume information, food, and me-
dia at a breakneck pace that was unimagined even two
hundred years ago. We have every minute of our sched-
ules packed with errands and tasks and chores, we rush from
one place to another, we rush to get ready in the morning, and
then collapse into bed at the end of a long, rushed day.
The problem is that we were not made to function this way.
Our bodies and minds were made for a slower-paced life_per-
haps we can handle the huge stress of being chased by a preda-
tor, but we can't handle the stresses of constant overload, and a
constant hectic pace for every waking moment. As a result, we
become stressed out, burned out, and unhappy. Learn to move
at a slower pace and you will be happier, and just as importantly,
you will become more effective and productive.
You won't learn to do more in less time, but you'll learn to do
things better, and to do the right things. This simple combina-
tion can have a wondrous impact on your effectiveness, and how
much you accomplish. In the meantime, no matter what you
accomplish, you will be better off.
SLOW ATTENTION
Our attention is one of our most important assets. What we fo-
cus our attention on becomes our reality. The projects we focus
on are the projects that get completed.
Unfortunately, with the hectic pace of our lives, our atten-
tion is pulled in a million different directions all the time. We
switch our attention from one thing to the next and back again,
and then back to another thing, then to a new thing. As a result,
nothing gets enough attention.
Learn, instead, to focus your attention, to move it from one
thing to the next more reluctantly, more slowly, at a more re-
laxed pace. As a result, things will start getting done. You'll
start to notice things more. You'll be less stressed.
Here's how to do it:
Pick a simple task to start with. Try to keep your attention
on this task without switching. This could be something
like eating, gardening, washing dishes, ironing, or cook-
ing. Every time you switch your attention, take note of it.
After you become more aware of your attention, learn to
stop yourself when you begin to switch your attention.
Practice this method throughout your day, no matter
what you're doing. If you're showering, focus on your
showering. If you're eating, focus on your eating (see
below for more). Stop yourself when your attention wan-
dors.
If you'd like to try a very restful morning practice, try a
simple meditation technique (no chanting or anything
like that). Simply sit somewhere comfortable, early in the
morning, and close your eyes (don't fall asleep!). Then
focus your attention on your breathing. If your attention
wanders, simply become aware of it, acknowledge the
thoughts that come into your head, and return your at-
tention to your breathing. Feel your breath as it comes
into your body, and then as it exits. Keep your attention
on your breathing for as long as possible. It takes prac-
tice, but you'll get better at it.
SLOW WORKING
Along the same lines, working at a slower pace can be more
productive, as contradictory as that might sound. If you can fo-
cus on the important tasks and projects, and keep your focus on
those tasks, you will accomplish important things.
In contrast, someone can work frantically for twelve hours a
day, doing as many tasks as possible, and yet not accomplish
anything important. That's not just theory_many people do it
all the time. They work hard at a fast pace, and yet wonder why
they don't get anywhere, and nothing seems to get done. They
multitask and work as quickly as possible, getting stressed out
the whole time. It's not the most effective way to work.
Instead, try this method:
1. Choose work you love. If you dread a task, you'll have a
hard time losing yourself in it. If your job is made up of stuff
you hate, you might want to consider finding another job. Or
consider seeking projects you love to do within your current job.
At any rate, be sure that whatever task you choose is something
you can be passionate about.
2. Choose an important task. There's work you love that's
easy and unimportant, and then there's work you love that will
make a long-term impact on your career and life. Choose the
latter, as it will be a much better use of your time.
3. Make sure it's challenging, but not too hard. If a task
is too easy, you will be able to complete it without much thought
or effort. A task should be challenging enough to require your
full concentration. However, if it is too hard, you will find it dif-
ficult to lose yourself in it, as you will spend most of your con-
centration just trying to figure out how to do it_either that or
you'll end up discouraged. It may take some trial and error to
find tasks of the appropriate level of difficulty.
4. Find your quiet, peak time. This is actually two steps
grouped into one. First, you'll want to find a time that's quiet, or
you'll never be able to focus. For me, that's mornings, before the
hustle of everyday life builds to a dull roar. That might be early
morning, when you just wake, or early in the workday, when
most people haven't arrived yet or are still getting their coffee
and settling down. Or you might try the lunch hour, when peo-
ple are usually out of the office. Evenings also work well for
many people. Or, if you're lucky, you can do it at any time of the
day if you can find a quiet spot to work in. Whatever time you
choose, it should also be a peak energy time for you. Some peo-
ple get tired after lunch_that's not a good time for this method.
Find a time when you have lots of energy and can concentrate.
5. Clear away distractions, and focus. Aside from finding
a quiet time and place to work, you'll want to clear away all other
distractions. That means turning off distracting music (unless
you find music that helps you focus), turning off phones, e-mail,
and IM notifications, and anything else that might pop up or
make noise to interrupt your thoughts. Then learn to focus on
that task for as long as possible.
6. Enjoy yourself. Losing yourself in a task is an amazing
thing, in my experience. It feels great to be able to really pour
yourself into something worthwhile, to make great progress on
a project or important task, to do something you're passionate
about. Take the time to appreciate this feeling.
7. Keep practicing. Again, this takes practice. Each step
will take some practice, from finding a quiet, peak time for
yourself, to clearing distractions, to choosing the right task.
And especially keeping your focus on a task for a long time. But
each time you fail, try to learn from it. Each time you succeed,
you should also learn from it_what did you do right? And the
more you practice, the better you'll get.
8. Reap the rewards. Aside from the pleasure of immers-
ing yourself in a task, you'll also be happier with your work in
general. You'll get important projects done. You'll complete
tasks more often, rather than starting and stopping frequently.
All of this is hugely satisfying and rewarding. Take the time to
appreciate this, and to continue to practice it every day.
SLOW EATING
Many of us rush through the day, with no time for anything .. .
and when we have time to get a bite to eat, we gobble it down.
That leads to stressful, unhealthy living.
With the simple but powerful act of eating more slowly, we
can begin to reverse that lifestyle immediately. How hard is it?
You take smaller bites, you chew each bite slower and longer,
and you enjoy your meal longer. It takes only a few extra min-
utes each meal, and yet it can have profound effects.
Some good reasons you should consider the simple act of
eating more slowly:
1. Lose weight. A growing number of studies confirm that
just by eating more slowly, you'll consume fewer calories_in
fact, enough to lose twenty pounds a year without doing any-
thing different or eating anything different. The reason is that
it takes about twenty minutes for our brains to register that we're
full. If we eat quickly, we can continue eating past the point
where we're full. If we eat slowly, we have time to realize we're
full, and stop on time. Now, I still recommend that you eat
healthier foods, but if you're looking to lose weight, eating slowly
should also be a part of your new lifestyle.
2. Enjoy your food. This reason is just as powerful. It's hard
to enjoy your food if it goes by too quickly. In fact, I think it's fine
to eat sinful foods, if you eat a small amount slowly. Think about
it: You want to eat sinful foods (desserts, fried foods, pizza, etc.)
because they taste good. But if you eat them fast, what's the
point? If you eat them slowly, you can get the same amount of
great taste, but with less going straight into your stomach. That's
math that works for me. And that argument aside, I think you
are just happier by tasting great food and enjoying it fully_by
eating slowly. Make your meals a gastronomic pleasure, not a
thing you do in a rushed way, between stressful events.
3. Better digestion. If you eat slowly, you'll chew your food
better, which leads to better digestion. Digestion actually starts
in the mouth, so the more work you do up there, the less you'll
have to do in your stomach. This can help lead to fewer diges-
tive problems.
4. Less stress. Eating slowly, and paying attention to our
eating, can be a great form of mindfulness exercise. Be in the
moment, rather than rushing through a meal thinking about
what you need to do next. When you eat, you should eat. This
kind of mindfulness will lead to a less stressful life, and long-
term happiness. Give it a try.
5. Rebel against fast food and fast life. Our hectic, fast-
paced, stressful, chaotic lives_the fast life_leads to eating fast
food, and eating it quickly. This is a lifestyle that is dehuman-
izing us, making us unhealthy, stressed out, and unhappy. We
rush through our day, doing one mindless task after another,
without taking the time to live life, to enjoy life, to relate to each
other, to be human. That's not a good thing in my book. In-
stead, rebel against that entire lifestyle and philosophy .. . with
the small act of eating slowly. Don't eat fast food. Eat at a good
restaurant, or better yet, cook your own food and enjoy it fully.
Taste life itself.
SLOW DRIVING
I drive more slowly these days. While I used to be a bit of a driv-
ing maniac (ask my wife), passing everybody and stepping hard
on my accelerator, I would also get increasingly frustrated when
people would drive slowly and keep me from driving fast, or cut
me off. Driving was a stressful experience.
Not anymore. These days, driving is a much more calm, se-
rene experience, and I enjoy it much more.
I look around at other drivers and wonder whether they really
need to get to where they're going so fast, and whether they'll
slow down when they get there. I wonder if it's really worth
burning all that gas and getting so angry and risking so many
lives. And then I think about other things, because driving for
me has become a time of contemplation. I heartily recommend
driving more slowly_for many reasons, but one of the best rea-
sons is that it has made me a much happier person. It's such a
simple step to take, but it makes an incredibly big difference.
Here are just five reasons to drive slower:
1. Save gas. The best ways to save gas (besides driving less
or driving a fuel-efficient vehicle) are to avoid excessive idling,
to do more gradual accelerating and decelerating, and to drive
more slowly. With gas prices so high these days, wasting gas by
driving unnecessarily fast is something we can't afford.
2. Save lives. Driving fast can kill people (including the
driver). Two stats: Traffic accidents are the biggest single killer
of twelve- to sixteen-year-olds. Surprisingly, at thirty-five miles
per hour you are twice as likely to kill someone you hit as at
thirty miles per hour. Faster driving gives you a shorter amount
of time to respond to something in your path, and even a frac-
tion of a second can mean the difference between life and death.
Drive more slowly for your safety and that of those around
you ... and especially drive slowly around runners, cyclists,
schools, and neighborhoods with kids on the streets.
3. Save time? While you think you're saving time by driving
faster, it's not a lot of time. And that small amount of time
you're saving isn't worth it when you consider the other factors
on this list. Better yet, start out a few minutes early and you'll
arrive at the same time as someone who drove faster but started
later_and you'll arrive much happier than that person, to
boot.
4. Save your sanity. The above three reasons are very im-
portant ones, but for me the most noticeable difference has
been the huge drop in my stress level when I drive. Far from
being a crazy experience, driving is now actually a relaxing and
pleasant experience. I no longer get road rage, because I simply
don't care whether other drivers are going slowly or cutting
me off.
5. Simplify your life. This is related to the point above, but
expanded. In addition to improving your stress levels, driving
more slowly can reduce many other complications_the head-
ache of accidents and speeding tickets, for one; going to the gas
station too often, for another. It can also improve the hectic pace
of life. Why must we rush through life? Slow down and enjoy it
more. If we're always in a hurry to get places, when will we get
to our destination and finally be happy? Life is a journey—
make it a pleasant one.
Here are some of the slow-driving tips that have worked
for me:
Play relaxing music. Anything that relaxes you is good.
Ignore other drivers. This was my problem before. I cared
so much about what the other drivers were doing that it
would stress me out. At times, it would cause me to drive
faster to spite other drivers (awful, I know). Now I just
ignore them.
Leave early. If you speed because you're running late, make
it a habit of getting ready early and leaving early. This
way you don't have to worry about being late, and you can
enjoy the ride.
Brainstorm. I like to use my driving time for contempla-
tion. I come up with ideas for things to write about, I
think about my day (either the day to come or the day in
review), I think about my life as a whole and where I
want to go.
Keep to the right. If you drive slower than the other crazy
drivers out there, it's wise to keep out of their way if pos-
sible and keep to the right. While I tend to ignore other
drivers who might get mad at me for driving slow (I don't
care about them anymore), it's good to be polite.
Enjoy the drive. Most of all, make your drive a pleasant
experience_whether that's through music or contem-
plation or however you want to enjoy the ride, remember
that the ride is just as important as the destination.
seventeen
Simple Health
and Fitness
T
HE BENEFITS OF exercise and better fitness and
health are many, but among the best of these benefits is
greater energy and productivity. A good workout, for ex-
ample, can leave you feeling energetic all day, and put you in a
great frame of mind for achieving a lot at work. But while so
many of us want to get in shape and to live healthier lifestyles,
it's such an uphill struggle for so many people that they often
give up in disappointment and frustration, or don't even try in
the first place.
The recipe for getting lean and fit and healthy is simple, of
course, and everyone knows it: Eat healthily and exercise regu-
larly. But while those basics are well known, how to actually ac-
complish them, with all the difficulties we face in our everyday
lives, is much more complicated.
Or at least it seems complicated if you haven't already fig-
ured it out. It doesn't have to be. In this chapter we'll first take
a quick look at some of the difficulties we all face with fitness,
then look at a simple fitness plan, and how to stay motivated to
stick to that plan. And as healthy eating is inextricably linked
to fitness, we'll look at some good ways to eat healthier as
well.
THE DIFFICULTIES OF FITNESS
Let's start with why it's so hard to eat healthy for most people,
and why they often fail after a week or two. From these reasons,
we'll be able to come up with some simple solutions.
Some of the more common reasons:
Their diets are too restrictive and they find it too hard to
stay on such a strict diet for long.
They starve themselves and then get so hungry they go
on binges.
They think they're eating healthily but often eat or drink
lots of "hidden" empty calories, such as those in sodas or
other drinks, high-fat dressings or toppings, and so on.
The lure of junk food and fast food is too tempting,
especially when they're on the road, busy at work, or
otherwise in a hurry.
Social situations, such as office parties, family get-
togethers, nights out with friends, anniversary dinners,
and the like often sabotage an otherwise healthy diet.
Those five reasons alone will cause almost anyone to stray
from healthy eating if they don't properly prepare themselves
and come up with a plan that can survive everyday life for lon-
ger than a month or two.
Sticking to an exercise program can be just as difficult, and
a good program will take into account these difficulties. Here
are some of the more common reasons people have trouble with
exercise:
They start out with a very challenging program or
increase the difficulty of their workouts rapidly, and then
burn out quickly or get injured.
They don't see results after a week or two and lose
motivation.
Life gets in the way, and they don't find time to work out
for a few days, and fall out of the habit.
Now let's use these difficulties to create our simple fitness
plan.
A SIMPLE FITNESS PLAN
What we want is a plan that isn't difficult to adopt, and even
more importantly, is something you can stick with for years. It
might not get you instant results, but those aren't the results
you want anyway. Any plan that gets you dramatic results within
a short time is a bad plan, because it is too drastic, and no one
can stick with a drastic plan for very long. Soon, you fall off
such a drastic plan, and those dramatic results you achieved are
reversed in just as dramatic a fashion.
Real health and fitness come over a period of months and
years. Lasting change is made gradually, in small increments,
in a way that you can sustain for life. And so our plan will be
something that will start out slowly, but will be sustainable for
much longer than more drastic plans.
Conventional wisdom says that diet is about 80 percent of
weight loss, and to a large extent that's true, because you can lose
weight with a good diet and no exercise, but it's really hard to
lose weight on a bad diet with exercise. But we're going to turn
that on its head for two reasons: 1)We're not just looking to lose
weight, but to get fit and in good shape, and for that you need
both exercise and diet; and 2) If you start out with exercise, the
diet will eventually follow. It's hard to exercise without at least
wanting to eat right, so we're going to start with exercise.
So our simple fitness plan is this:
1. Use the first month to focus exclusively on forming the
exercise habit. Don't worry about the diet at this point,
although you can start eating healthier foods if you like.
But the habit of exercise is our focus: We want to make it
as regular and as important as brushing our teeth. We
will start small and focus on making it a regular thing,
rather than going all out this first month.
2. The second month, while continuing the exercise habit,
we'll focus on making gradual, healthy changes to our
diet.
3. Every month thereafter, we will set short-term goals for
gradual improvements in our exercise and diet plans. We
will reward ourselves each month for our progress, and
stay accountable to others for our fitness plan.
STEP 1: FORMING THE EXERCISE HABIT
Forming the exercise habit doesn't have to be a monumental
task. It's like forming any other habit_you just need to be con-
sistent about it. The Spanish have a proverb, that habits start out
as cobwebs and grow to be cables. So we will start out by laying
thin strings, and gradually add to those strings until we have
cables.
Of course, if you have any health risks, such as heart or lung
problems or serious illness or pregnancy, please check with a
doctor before starting any exercise program.
Here's the plan:
1. Start light. Start your workout plan as easy as possible
until you've learned to stick to it. You can gradually increase
your exercise later, but at first it is vitally important that you
hold yourself back. The first week, just do five to ten minutes of
cardio_fast walking, running, cycling, or swimming. Only
five to ten minutes, and no more. You will want to do more,
most likely, but don't. The next week, increase your time by five
minutes, and do that every week for the first month, so that by
the end of the month you're doing twenty to twenty-five min-
utes each workout. If this seems like too little to you, don't
worry; after it becomes a habit you can do more. Focus on form-
ing the habit first.
2. Schedule your workout time. This is crucial_figure
out a time when you will be able to exercise, when nothing will
interfere. For most people, morning is the best time, because
evening workouts are often canceled due to social engagements
or other obligations. But for some people, working out right af-
ter work is best, and for others, a lunchtime workout works well.
Choose the time that works best for you, and create space in
your schedule for your workouts. The first week, you just need
to schedule three workouts_give yourself thirty minutes, as
the workout appointment always takes longer than the workout
itself. The second and third weeks, schedule four workouts,
and the fourth week, schedule five workouts. Try to stay with
five workouts a week from then on, as this is the best way to
get in good shape. This is important: Treat these workout ap-
pointments as your most important appointments of the day.
Don't let anything get in the way of them.
3. Don't allow yourself to miss a day. Just about the only
good reasons to miss a workout are sickness or injury. Other-
wise, don't let yourself skip a workout. These workouts are so
light, in the beginning, that they shouldn't be tiring you out too
much. If you're tired from a long day's work, just start the
workout_you'll be glad you did. If you start skipping workouts,
you will soon make a habit of not exercising, instead of the
other way around. When forming a habit, it's very important
that you be consistent. Remember, it's just like brushing your
teeth_do it for your health, do it regularly, and just do it.
4. Don't give up. Even more important than not missing a
day is sticking with the program. If for some reason you do
miss a day or two, don't stop. Get back on the program. If you
miss more than a couple of days, back up the program a week or
two and start working on forming the habit again. If you get
discouraged and stop, motivate yourself and start again. Failure
is not as important as starting again after you fail, and sticking
with it for the long term.
5. Get a partner if you can. This isn't mandatory, but if you
can find a reliable partner, it makes it a bit easier. First, having
someone to talk to while you exercise makes the time go by
much more quickly. Second, if you make an appointment to
meet that person for your workout, you're more likely to stick
to the appointment rather than wimp out.
6.Be accountable to others. This is how you motivate yourself
to stick with the program_no one wants to look bad in
front of others. Commit publicly, to your friends or to the entire
world via a blog, to stick with the program. Keep a strict work-
out and eating log, and make it public. Share it with as many
people as possible. Let the light shine where once there was
darkness, and that accountability will motivate you.
7. Enjoy yourself. Very mandatory. If you don't enjoy your-
self, you'll never stick with it. So try to have as much fun as pos-
sible. Enjoy getting fit and healthy! Enjoy burning off your fat!
Enjoy the sweat! Enjoy the relaxation of burning off stress! Exer-
cise should be fun, not torture.
That's the plan to form the exercise habit. It's pretty simple
actually_create the time to work out, start easy, and stick with
it without fail. Soon, exercise will become such a regular part
of your life you'll never want to go back to being sedentary
again.
STEP 2: MAKING GRADUAL
HEALTHY DIET CHANGES
After your month of forming the exercise habit, it's time to start
focusing on your eating habits. If you already eat fairly healthily,
you can modify this to suit your needs, and try to make further
improvements in your diet gradually. If you don't eat too health-
ily now, you don't want to make drastic changes_small, grad-
ual changes over time are better and more sustainable.
Here's your plan:
1. Eat when you're lightly hungry. Not when you're raven-
ous. That means eating every three to four hours and paying
more attention to your hunger. If you're getting hungry, eat. Ac-
tion steps: Plan meals every three to four hours, be more aware
of your hunger, pack snacks or meals for on the road. This is
your plan for the first week_don't worry about the next steps
until after the first week.
2.Eat light foods. Nothing too heavy, except cheat meals
(schedule this once a week). Lots of fruits and veggies, whole
grains, beans, and nuts. Fresh food much better than processed.
Action steps: Make a list of healthy meals and snacks with real,
whole foods_things you like that are healthy. Turn them into
meal plans_several days' worth of meals and snacks. You'll
start on this the second week, but don't change your entire diet
overnight. This week, just try eating more fruits and veggies, or
cut out sodas and other sweet drinks. The next week, make an-
other change, perhaps eliminating some junk food you eat reg-
ularly, or cooking a healthier dinner. Aim to gradually have a
diet that consists of very little junk food or fast food, and mostly
combinations of the following: fruits and veggies, beans, nuts,
whole grains, low-fat dairy or soy milk products, and lean pro-
tein (lean meat, chicken, fish, tofu, or other vegetable protein).
Be sure to find foods you enjoy eating, or you'll have a difficult
time_this is very important.
3. Eat slowly. Savor the food. Don't cram it down. Eating
slowly will help you not to get overfull, and will help you enjoy
your food more. Focus on this step in the third week while con-
tinuing the first two steps.
4. Eat until you're lightly full. Not stuffed. Stop before
you're really full, and wait ten minutes to see if you're really still
hungry. This is a crucial step, and you'll focus on it in the
fourth week while continuing the progress you've made in the
first few weeks.
No dieting, no restricted foods, all good stuff. This plan is
really about learning how to eat healthier, and to feel lighter all
the time. Remember to take it one step at a time!
STEP 3: CONTINUATION, SHORT-TERM GOALS
AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Now that you've gotten started with the habits of exercise and
healthy eating, you'll want to continue the program and gradu-
ally improve both areas. This can be a dangerous time for many
people, as they lose motivation if they don't see big results. So to
keep you from losing motivation, and to keep you sticking to the
program to see the long-term results, we'll do the following:
1. Continue to gradually increase exercise, adding vari-
ety. Crank it up, but only slowly. Once you've gotten used to exer-
cise, you'll want to first lengthen your workouts to thirty to forty
minutes, and then do some higher intensity ones for better fit-
ness and fat-burning. For example, instead of running slowly and
steadily, for a long time, try doing shorter bursts of fast running,
with periods of rest in between. You can do this for any exercise.
Higher intensity increases the calorie burn, and improves perfor-
mance. But you can't do it as long, and you shouldn't do it every
workout. Mix it in with endurance workouts. Also try signing up
for a 5K or other type of short race_it adds motivation and fun.
2. Continue to eat healthier, also adding variety and
flavor. Each week, make one healthy change to your diet. Try
out a new healthy recipe. Pack healthy snacks for work. Pack
healthy lunches for work. Eat a healthier breakfast. Eat out less
and cook more. Pack healthy snacks when you go out on the
road. Drink more water. Cut out some type of unhealthy food.
One by one, change your eating habits to healthier ones. Doing
it gradually like this makes it much easier and much more
likely to stick. To add variety, be sure to try out new recipes and
new fruits and veggies and snacks, and when you find ones you
like, add them to your regular rotation. Never stop trying new
healthy foods and recipes!
3. Set short-term goals. Real, lasting change only happens
over a long period of time_months and years. But it's hard to
stay motivated for something that long. Instead, set a short-
term goal or two each month. Maybe set a goal each week if that
helps. Some examples of short-term goals: Increase your work-
outs by five minutes each day this week. Lose a pound a week.
Lose an inch off your waist. Run a 5K. Get your total workout
time to two-and-a-half hours this week. Do a long run of five
miles on Saturday. As you can see, the possibilities for short-
term goals are almost endless. Set one every week or two to
keep yourself motivated. Share your goals with others.
4. Hold yourself accountable. Log your eating and ex-
ercise daily. This is the key habit. If you can log your workout,
you will start to see your progress, and it will motivate you to
keep going. And you have to make it a habit to log it right away.
Don't put it off and say you'll do it before you go to bed. As soon
as you're done working out, log it. No exceptions. And don't
make the log complicated_that will only make you resist doing
the log. Just the date, time, and what you did. This is also im-
portant: Put your log online, on a blog or through one of many
online logs available, so that others can see what you've been
doing. Give the address of your log to as many people as you
can, and encourage them to check on it and leave comments.
The accountability will keep you motivated to keep going.
5. Reward yourself. Rewards are best if they are frequent
in the beginning. Be self-indulgent! Even sweets are good re-
wards_get into the habit of exercise, and weight loss will come
eventually. Celebrate every little success.
30 EXERCISE MOTIVATIONS
There are a million ways to motivate yourself to exercise, actu-
ally, but these are a few that seem to work very well.
1. How you feel after a workout. A good workout is an
amazing feeling. Remember that feeling and let it motivate you
before your next workout.
2. Time for you. While many people make time to take care
of others (kids, spouse, other family, coworkers, boss), they
don't often make time to take care of themselves. Instead, make
your "you" time a priority, and don't miss that exercise appoint-
ment.
3. Calories burned. If you count calories (and it's really one
of the most effective ways to lose weight), you know that the
more you exercise, the more calories you burn_and the bigger
your calorie deficit.
4. Having fun. Exercise should be fun. If it isn't, try a differ-
ent kind of activity that you enjoy. As long as you're moving, it's
good for you.
5. How you're going to look. Imagine a slimmer, fitter you.
Now let that visualization drive you.
6. Magazines. It's very motivational to read fitness maga-
zines. When you read about something, you want to do it.
7. Cover models. Sure, they're genetically freaky, and prob-
ably Photoshopped to look perfect. But for some reason, looking
at how good a cover model looks helps motivate people to work
harder.
8.Blogs. It's fun to read blogs about people who are into ex-
ercising, or losing weight. It can show the ups and downs they
go through, and you can learn from their experiences.
9.Success stories. The success stories of others are incredibly
inspirational. If a fitness Web site has success stories, make
it a point to read them.
10. Forums. Do the monthly challenge on the Zen Habits
forums (http://zenhabits.net/forums/), or join another forum
full of like-minded peopled. Check in daily. It really helps.
11. Fitting into new clothes. Want to look good in a smaller
size? Work out!
12. Being attractive. That's always a good motivator, as we
all know.
13. Adrenaline rush. There is a rush when you exercise.
Ride that rush to complete the workout.
14. Stress relief. Wound up after a long day at the office?
Get out and work off that stress. It makes a world of differ-
ence.
15. Time for contemplation. The quiet time of exercise is
perfect for thinking about anything going on in your life.
16. A workout partner. One of the best motivators ever.
17. An exercise class. Sign up for a class, perhaps with a
friend, and you'll be motivated to get there and work out.
18. A coach or trainer. Worth the money, just for the moti-
vation.
19. An exercise log/graph. For some reason, writing it
down is extremely important. Do it for a week and you'll see the
power of the log.
20.Your before picture. You often don't realize how far
you've come. Take pictures.
21. A 5K race or triathlon. Just sign up for one and you'll
be motivated to train.
22. The dread of feeling "yuck" from not exercising. I
hate how I feel after not exercising. So I remind myself of that
when I feel tired.
23. Living long enough to see your grandkids ... and play
with them.
24. The scale. It's not motivating to weigh yourself every
day, as your weight fluctuates. But if you weigh yourself once a
week, you'll be motivated to have it keep going down, instead of
up. Combine the scale with the measuring tape, and measure
your waist.
25. Reaching a goal. Set a goal for weight, or your waist
measurement, or a number of days to work out, or a number of
miles to run this week. Setting and tracking a goal helps moti-
vate you to complete that goal. Make it easily achievable.
26. Posting it on your blog. Tell people you're going to lose
weight or exercise daily, and report to them. You'll make it hap-
pen.
27. Motivational quotes. Print out your favorite motiva-
tional quotes or put them on your computer desktop.
28. Books. Buy fitness or healthy cookbooks as a reward.
You'll get a renewed sense of purpose.
29. Others commenting on how good you look. When
someone notices the changes in your body, it feels good. And it
makes you want to work out more.
30. An upcoming day at the beach, or a reunion. You
can't help but want to look good.
eighteen
On Motivation
O
NE OF THE biggest challenges in meeting any goal,
whether it be related to productivity, waking early,
changing a habit, exercising, or just becoming happier,
is finding the motivation to stick with it. This chapter is de-
signed to help you meet the goals and build the habits of the
rest of this book_look at it as a keystone to all the other princi-
ples presented here.
If you can stick with a goal long enough, you'll get there. It
just takes patience and motivation.
Motivation is the key, but it's not always easy, day in and day
out, to find that motivation. What follows is a guide to motiva-
tion for anything you try to achieve using this book, because
there will always be points along your journey to success where
your motivation will falter, and you'll feel like giving up. Don't
quit. Sticking with something for the long term is the true path
to anything worthwhile.
HOW DOES MOTIVATION WORK?
Before we get into specific methods, it's useful to examine what
motivation is, what it does, and how it works.
Motivation is what drives you toward a goal, what keeps you
going when things get tough, the reason you get up early to ex-
ercise or work late to finish a project. There are all kinds of
motivations, of course, from positive to negative. Having a boss
threaten to fire you is motivation_you're likely to work harder
to complete a project with that kind of pressure. But I find that
positive motivation works better.
So motivation, in its best form, is a way for you to want to do
something. There may be times, for example, when you don't
feel like getting up early, and in those times you may just want
to sleep in (not that there's anything wrong with that). But if you
have a reason to want to get up early, something you really want
to do, you'll jump up out of bed with excitement.
The best kind of motivation, then, is for you to really want
something, to get excited about it, to be passionate about it. Re-
member that, as there are many other types of motivation (espe-
cially negative), but in my experience, this is the kind that works
the best. There is only so long that you can go on trying to mo-
tivate yourself to do something you don't like to do, something
you don't want to do. But if you find ways to really want to do
something, you can sustain your effort for long enough to
achieve your goal.
8 WAYS TO MOTIVATE YOURSELF
FROM THE BEGINNING
It's important to start out with the right motivation, because a
good start can build momentum that you can sustain for a long
time. If you start out right, you have a much better chance of
succeeding. Here are some tips for starting out:
1. Start small. I've said this before, but that's because it's
one of the most important tips in motivating yourself toward a
goal. Don't start out big! Start out with a ridiculously easy goal,
and then grow from there.
2. One goal. Too many people start with too many goals at
once, and try to do too much. And it saps energy and motivation.
It's probably the most common mistake that people make. You
have to choose one goal, for now, and focus on it completely.
3. Examine your motivation. Know your reasons. Give
them some thought... and write them down. If you have loved
ones, and you are doing it for them, that is more powerful than
just doing it for self-interest. Doing it for yourself is good too,
but you should do it for something that you really want to hap-
pen, for really good reasons.
4. Really, really want it. This is essentially the same as the
above tip, but I want to emphasize it: It's not enough to think it
would be cool to achieve something. It has to be something
you're passionate about, something you're super excited about,
something you want deeply. Make sure that your goal meets
these criteria, or you won't stick with it for long.
5. Commit publicly. None of us likes to look bad in front of
others. We will go the extra mile to do something we've said
publicly.
6. Get excited. Well, it starts with inspiration from others
(see above), but you have to take that excitement and build on it.
For me, I've learned that by talking to my wife about it, and to
others, and reading as much about it as possible, and visualizing
what it would be like to be successful (seeing the benefits of the
goal in my head), I get excited about a goal. Once I've done that,
it's just a matter of carrying that energy forward and keeping it
going.
7. Build anticipation. This will sound hard, and many peo-
ple will skip this tip. But it really works. It helped me quit smok-
ing after many failed attempts. If you find inspiration and want
to achieve a goal, don't start right away. Many of us will get ex-
cited and want to start today. That's a mistake. Set a date in the
future_a week or two, or even a month_and make that your
Start Date. Mark it on the calendar. Get excited about that date.
Make it the most important date in your life. By delaying your
start, you are building anticipation, and increasing your focus
and energy for your goal.
8. Print it out, post it up. Print out your goal in big words.
Make your goal just a few words long, like a mantra ("Exercise
15 mins. Daily"), and post it up on your wall or refrigerator. Post
it at home and work. Put it on your computer desktop. You want
to have big reminders about your goal, to keep your focus and
keep your excitement going. A picture of your goal (like a model
with sexy abs, for example) also helps.
20 WAYS TO SUSTAIN MOTIVATION
WHEN YOU'RE STRUGGLING
The second half of motivation is to keep yourself going when
you don't feel the same excitement as you did in the beginning.
Perhaps something new has come into your life and your old
goal isn't as much of a priority anymore. Perhaps you skipped a
day or two and now you can't get back into it. Perhaps you
screwed up and got discouraged.
If you can get yourself excited again, and keep going, you'll
get there, eventually. But if you give up, you won't. It's your
choice_accomplish the goal, or quit. Here's how you can stop
from quitting, and get to your goal:
1. Hold yourself back. When we start a new exercise pro-
gram, or any new goal really, we are usually raring to go. We are
full of excitement, and our enthusiasm knows no boundaries.
Nor does our sense of self-limitation. We think we can do any-
thing. It's not long, though, before we learn that we do have limi-
tations, and our enthusiasm begins to wane. Well, a great motivator
when you have so much energy at the beginning of a program,
and want to go all out is_to hold yourself back! Don't let yourself
do everything you want to do. Only let yourself do 50 to 75 percent
of what you want to do. And plan out a course of action where you
slowly increase over time. For example, if I want to go running, I
might think I can run three miles at first. But instead of letting
myself do that, I start by only running one mile. When I'm run-
ning that mile, I'll be telling myself that I can do more! But I don't
let myself. After that workout, I'll be looking forward to the next
workout, when I'll let myself do a mile and a half. I keep that en-
ergy reined in, harness it, so that I can ride it even further.
2. Just start. There are some days when you don't feel like
heading out the door for a run, or figuring out your budget, or
whatever it is you're supposed to do that day for your goal. Well,
instead of thinking about how hard it is, and how long it will
take, tell yourself that you just have to start. I have a rule that I
just have to put on my running shoes and close the door be-
hind me. After that, it all flows naturally. It's when you're sit-
ting in your house, thinking about running and feeling tired,
that it seems hard. Once you start, it is never as hard as you
thought it would be. This tip works for me every time.
3. Stay accountable. If you committed yourself publicly,
through an online forum, on a blog, by e-mail, or in person ...
stay accountable to that group of people. Commit to report back
to them daily, or something like that, and stick to it! That ac-
countability will help you to want to do well, because you don't
want to report that you've failed.
4. Squash negative thoughts and replace them with
positive ones. This is one of the most important motivation
skills, and I suggest you practice it daily. It's important to start
monitoring your thoughts, and to recognize negative self-talk.
Just spend a few days becoming aware of every negative thought.
Then, after a few days, try squashing those negative thoughts
like a bug, and replacing them with a corresponding positive
thought. Squash, "This is too hard!" and replace it with, "I can
do this! If that wimp Leo can do it, so can I!" It sounds corny,
but it works. Really.
5. Think about the benefits. Thinking about how hard
something is is a big problem for most people. Waking early
sounds so hard! Just thinking about it makes you tired. But in-
stead of thinking about how hard something is, think about
what you will get out of it. For example, instead of thinking
about how hard it is to wake early, focus on how good you'll feel
when you're done, and how your day will be so much better. The
benefits of something will help energize you.
6. Get excited again! Think about why you lost your excite-
ment ... then think about why you were excited in the first
place. Can you get that back? What made you want to do the
goal? What made you passionate about it? Try to build that up
again, refocus yourself, get energized.
7. Read about it. When I lose motivation, I just read a book
or blog about my goal. It inspires me and reinvigorates me. For
some reason, reading helps motivate and focus you on whatever
you're reading about. So read about your goal every day, if you
can, especially when you're not feeling motivated.
8. Find like-minded friends. Staying motivated on your
own is tough. But if you find someone with similar goals (run-
ning, dieting, finances, etc.), see if they'd like to partner with
you. Or partner with your spouse, sibling, or best friend on
whatever goals they're trying to achieve. You don't have to be
going after the same goals_as long as you are both pushing
and encouraging each other to succeed. Other good options are
groups in your area (I'm part of a running club, for example) or
online forums where you can find people to talk to about your
goals.
9. Read inspiring stories. Inspiration, for me, comes from
others who have achieved what I want to achieve, or who are
currently doing it. I read other blogs, books, magazines. I Google
my goal, and read success stories. Zen Habits is just one place
for inspiration, not only from me but from many readers who
have achieved amazing things. I love, love, love reading success
stories too.
10. Build on your successes. Every little step along the way
is a success_celebrate the fact that you even started! And then
did it for two days! Celebrate every little milestone. Then take
that successful feeling and build on it with another baby step.
Add two to three minutes to your exercise routine, for example.
With each step (and each step should last about a week), you
will feel even more successful. Make each step really, really
small, and you won't fail. After a couple of months, your tiny
steps will add up to a lot of progress and a lot of success.
11. Just get through the low points. Motivation is not a
constant thing that is always there for you. It comes and goes,
and comes and goes again, like the tide. But realize that while it
may go away, it doesn't do so permanently. It will come back.
Just stick it out and wait for that motivation to come back. In the
meantime, read about your goal, ask for help, and do some of
the other things listed here until your motivation comes back.
12. Get help. It's hard to accomplish something alone. When
I decided to run my marathon, I had the help of friends and
family, and I had a great running community on Guam who
encouraged me at 5K races and did long runs with me. When I
decided to quit smoking, I joined an online forum and that
helped tremendously. And of course, my wife, Eva, helped every
step of the way. I couldn't have reached these goals without her,
or without the others who supported me. Find your support
network, either in the real world or online, or both.
13. Chart your progress. This can be as simple as marking
an X on your calendar or creating a simple spreadsheet, or logging
your goal using online software. But it can be vastly rewarding
to look back on your progress and to see how far you've come,
and it can help you to keep going_you don't want to have too
many days without an X! Now, you will have some bad marks on
your chart. That's OK. Don't let a few bad marks stop you from
continuing. Strive instead to get the good marks next time.
14. Reward yourself often. For every little step along the
way, celebrate your success, and give yourself a reward. It helps to
write down appropriate rewards for each step, so that you can
look forward to those rewards. By appropriate, I mean 1) it's pro-
portionate to the size of the goal (don't reward going on a one-
mile run with a luxury cruise in the Bahamas); and 2) it doesn't
ruin your goal_if you are trying to lose weight, don't reward a
day of healthy eating with a dessert binge. It's self defeating.
15. Go for mini-goals. Sometimes large or longer-term goals
can be overwhelming. After a couple weeks, we may lose moti-
vation, because we still have several months or a year or more
left to accomplish the goal. It's hard to maintain motivation for
a single goal for such a long time. Solution: Have smaller goals
along the way.
16. Get a coach or take a class. These will motivate you to
at least show up and to take action. They can be applied to any
goal. This might be one of the more expensive ways of motivat-
ing yourself, but it works. And if you do some research, you
might find some cheap classes in your area, or you might know
a friend who will provide coaching or counseling for free.
17. Never skip two days in a row. This rule takes into ac-
count our natural tendency to miss days now and then. We are
not perfect. So, you missed one day... now the second day is
upon you and you are feeling lazy. Tell yourself, "No! You will
not miss two days in a row!"
18. Use visualization. Visualize your successful outcome in
great detail. Close your eyes and think about exactly how your
successful outcome will look, will feel, will smell and taste and
sound. Where are you when you become successful? How do
you look? What are you wearing? Form as clear a mental picture
as possible. Now here's the next key: Do it every day. For at least
a few minutes each day. This is the only way to keep that moti-
vation going over a long period of time.
19. Be aware of your urges to quit, and overcome them.
We all have urges to stop, but they are mostly unconscious. One
of the most powerful things you can do is to start being more
conscious of those urges. A good exercise is to go through the day
with a little piece of paper and put a tally mark for each time you
get an urge. It simply makes you aware of the urges. Then have a
plan for when those urges hit, and plan for it beforehand_and
write down your plan, because once those urges hit, you will not
feel like coming up with a plan.
20. Find pleasure again. No one can stick to something for
long if they find it unpleasant and are only rewarded after
months of toil. There has to be fun, pleasure, joy in it, every day,
or you won't want to do it. Find those pleasurable things_the
beauty of a morning run, for example, or the satisfaction in re-
porting to people that you finished another step along the way,
or the deliciousness of a healthy meal.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I'd like to acknowledge the invaluable help of the many people
who contributed to this book, including Holly and Brendan,
who had great patience for this first-time author. The readers of
Zen Habits inspired and encouraged me every step of the way.
My mom, Shannon, who has been the rock upon which my life
has been built. My father, Joe, whose wit and humor have in-
fused everything I do. My sister Katrina, who is both my run-
ning partner and confidant, and my beautiful sisters Ana and
Tiara, and my wonderful brothers Joseph, Brandon, and Austin.
My incredible children, the reasons for everything I do: Chloe,
Justin, Rain, Maia, Seth, and Noelle.
And of course my wife, Eva, my greatest supporter.
About the Author
Leo Babauta has been a reporter, editor, speechwriter, and freelance
writer for the last 17 years. He founded ZenHabits.net with no
funding in January 2007, and one year later it is a top 50 blog
with about a million unique visitors per month. Using the methods he
shares in THE POWER OF LESS over the last two years, he's trained
and successfully completed a marathon, he's doubled his income, he's
eliminated his debt, he's quit smoking, and he's written a novel.
Credits
Book design by Nicola Ferguson