Tag: Getting Things Done

The best habits I started in 2019

I love building new habits. Also, breaking them. Here are the best ones I started in 2019:

Guided journaling
Every morning, I do guided journaling, using the Stoic Routine App. It helps me to reflect, letting off steam and re-focus on what is truly important. I’m practicing this for a full year now, and the benefits are great.

The two week project
I’ve started dividing my work into one or two week, singular projects. Having just one project is a great way to get meaningful work done. During a project, I don’t do anything else for the first 3-6 hours of a work day. Only after that do I take care of random busywork. This has helped me to tackle several things I have been dreading and putting off (some of them for months and years). And like with cleaning the basement, the hardest part is getting started.

Weekend planning
Each Friday evening, I take a blank sheet of paper, and make a plan for the weekend. What needs to get done or repaired in the household? What fun things could we do? What special wishes does anyone have? Unstructured weekends have been a major pain point for me, and this small habit fixed it: we clean, we repair, we have fun, we relax. What a great joy to spend weekends like this.

Saying no to inbox zero
I’ve stopped paying so much attention to my inboxes. I still clean them out occasionally, especially when I’m blocked, sick, or otherwise unmotivated. The rest of the time I cherry pick the most important things, and leave the rest. Instead, I focus on the most important tasks at hand and try to do them well. The bottom line is this: When you’re 80 years old, you won’t regret that you haven’t spent more time in your inbox.

Renegotiate my commitments
My task lists have a tendency to be full, and get fuller over time. It’s important to regularly review and renegotiate. Delete things. Move things to Someday/Maybe. Move the timeframe. The same is true for all other commitments: If you feel you lose control or are overwhelmed, then renegotiate. I have become much better at this, and want to improve even more.

What are the best habits that you recently started? Let me know on Twitter.

Image by vintagechica

Posted on by Remo Uherek

What I learned from Sam Zemurray, America’s Banana King

My learnings from The Fish That Ate The Whale about Sam Zemurray:

  • Fire people who can’t get the job done, and replace them by people who can.
  • Fast decisions. Don’t nibble. Get things done.
  • Get your hands dirty. Work hard. Go out to the fields with the machete. “We are here, they are there.”
  • Make gold out of other peoples trash (Sam did this with ripe bananas)
  • Invent things. Be innovative. The company missed to invent the banana box, because Sam was not there anymore. When Sam was there, they were the innovation leader.
  • Founder led companies are stronger than companies where the founding generation has already passed away.
  • Get creative with your solutions! E.g. Sam double purchased land that was owned by two different parties. His opponents hired lawyers. Sam just purchased it twice and got it done. (Effective vs. efficient)
  • Never complain. Just play the hand you are dealt.
  • Want to replace current management? Get enough proxies and fire the board.
  • Listen to the people on the front lines. They have the best information. Go to the docks. Talk to people (scuttlebutt method).
  • Companies have a lifecycle. Even the most innovative, most profitable or most powerful companies fade away. What are the characteristics of companies that survive for hundreds of years? They need to keep reinventing themselves. A young generation needs to take over and rebuild the business.
  • Keep a low profile. Don’t attract too much attention. Be a doer, not an attention seeker.
  • Give anonymously. If you don’t, you are not giving, you are trading (e.g. for status or reputation).

What have you learned? Let me know on Twitter.

(Thank you for recommending the book, Brent Beshore.)


Posted on by Remo Uherek