One of the most remarkable abilities of Elon Musk is to get things done. To accomplish seemingly impossible things. Like landing two orbital rocket boosters at the same time. What is the secret to Elon Musk’s productivity? How can he get so many things done? Here’s a look at the Elon Musk method: Be a…
Tag: Productivity
How to Balance Creative Work vs. Inspiration: Jim Collins’s Simple Life Tracking Spreadsheet
Last year, I started tracking my creative hours with the help of Jim Collins’s simple life tracking spreadsheet: How many hours spent doing creative work A quality score for the day (+2, +1, 0, -1, -2) A note of what happened that day Here’s how my sheet looks like: Download Excel Template Number of Creative…
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 journalingEvery 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…
The efficiency trap
Efficiency is often confused with effectiveness. It can be a trap. “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” Peter Drucker You can be efficient in doing the wrong things. You can be efficient in doing things you shouldn’t even do. You can efficiently waste your time. Too often, I make the…
Automate your invoice payments
Paying invoices manually is a waste of time. Instead, I apply the principle “eliminate or automate” to get rid of as many invoice payments as possible. Whenever I get an invoice, I do a quick check: Can I add a credit card? Do they offer a direct debit option? (When in doubt, I ask customer…
Disable your notifications
For many years of iPhone usage, I became a victim of The Power of Defaults. I didn’t question the notification settings. Then it dawned on me: I can change them! So I did. My new default is inspired by Zero-based budgeting. I went through all notifications and disabled most of them: Sounds? Gone. Badges? Gone….
How to solve the email problem
Recently, a friend asked: “How do you deal with email? I get more than I can handle. Maybe I don’t invest enough time, focus or attention?” First of all, I don’t have a final solution. It’s a work in progress, as for most of you. Let’s use the principle of Inversion. How can we make…
Zero-based budgeting
Simplify your life by using this powerful principle: Remove something completely. Then add back what you miss. Instead of “I want to use Facebook less often”, remove it completely and then add the elements back that you miss. Instead of “Let’s keep this, because I might need it someday”, get rid of it now and…
How I got my emails under control
Preface Until November 2007 my e-mail-handling was a MESS! My inbox was full of JUNK and I had no SYSTEM. So basically I started hating e-mail. But then on my trip to Silicon Valley I finally read David Allen’s Getting Things Done and things started changing. I’m using the system for almost 4 months now…