#There is the perception that working more hours equals higher productivity levels. I hate to burst that bubble, but it’s simply not true. The number of hours we put into something has no correlation to the amount of work actually done or the amount of “value” produced by that work. So what can you do about this? Get focused and focus on the outcomes you want to achieve. The number of hours you put into a task or activity doesn’t really matter. Instead of tracking your day by hours, track it by outcomes instead. That‘s why I like the Rule of 3: 💡 Pick 3 things that you want to get done and focus in on them intensely until they are done. If you find that it takes you less time than you thought, congratulate yourself, take a break, and then if you have the energy left, pick some more outcomes to work on or call it a day. This is a huge inner game shift that most people have trouble implementing. The key is to really let go of the need to measure things by hours – in terms of real-world results, it really doesn’t matter.

#Featuring the concept of Minimal Viable Day. In software startups, there’s a famous concept called the Minimal Viable Product (MVP). The idea is to release your product as soon as it meets the basic needs of its users. From there, you iterate to improve performance, embellish the design, and add new features. We can take this step further and build our work routine around it. I call it the Minimal Viable Day (MVD). An MVD is the minimum amount of productive work that makes your workday feel worthwhile. For example: - Write 800 words - Complete one report - Organize the finance spreadsheet 💡 The main purpose of an MVD is to be so easy it makes any excuse to procrastinate sound ridiculous. It’s just a way to trick yourself into doing tasks that build up over time. The most effective way to stick to your MVD is to turn it into a habit. The science of habit-forming boils down to four laws James Clear explained in his best-selling book—Atomic Habits #1 Make your MVD obvious With the MVD you can use a sheet of paper as a cue. Make it visible in your work setup. For example, mine rests on the left side of my laptop. I see it every time my gaze wanders away from my screen. #2 Make your MVD attractive How do you add anticipation to something that’s supposed to be a chore? Easy. You mix the tasks you need to do with things you enjoy doing. For instance, I only listen to music when I write, read, cook or walk. It’s like a tradeoff: I get to enjoy my favorite artists only when doing something productive. Steal the pattern and create bundles of tasks to create anticipation. Here are some examples: - Listen to a podcast when doing manual work - Call a friend when cooking or cleaning - Go to your favorite café when you have a ton of emails to process #3 Make your MVD easy (super easy) Reduce any friction that may keep you from ticking the boxes of your MVD. Examples: - If you want to increase your chances of going for a long walk, put your sports shoes next to the door - If you want to read before bed, put a book on your nightstand - If you want to cook healthy food, make sure you have a variety of ingredients in your fridge and recipes on your phone

Making lists helps us corral information and get our heads around big tasks. But lists are still a tragically underused tool. They’re great for productivity and big goals, sure, but when you get creative with them, that’s where the magic really happens. Here are a few that you’re probably not making but that could make your life measurably better in ways you’ll be able to… list. 💡#1 Your (future) end-of-year accomplishments Picture yourself in November or December. What three to five things did you do over the course of the year, professionally, that made the year so amazing? Note: You can do this for your personal life too. Now, between these two end-of-year lists, you have six to 10 things that should be your top priorities for your year. Every time you plan your weeks or your days, make sure you’re taking some steps to bring at least one of them to fruition. 💡#2 A “done” list Make a “done” list each day listing the various things you’ve, well, done. If this list contains items beyond your original to-do list, then you can add these items to your to-do list and immediately cross them off. Is this a little silly? Sure, but it’s oh so satisfying. 💡#3 A “later” list If another task or idea or question occurs to you while you’re doing deep work, write it down on a “later” list. Later, when you take a scheduled break, you can do that task. But if you start looking in your inbox now, 20 minutes later, you’ll still be deleting newsletters you can’t remember subscribing to, and the “deep work” groove will be gone. 💡#4 A “do not buy” list You walk down the toothpaste aisle, see your brand of toothpaste, and think, “Hey, we use that toothpaste! I’ll just grab a tube.” Great. Except you’ve forgotten that you had that same thought during your last four visits to the grocery store, and you don’t go through a tube of toothpaste per week. This error gets magnified at warehouse-type stores where, “Hey, there’s our cooking spray!” results in eight spray cans piling up in your pantry.

Focusing on the negative helps us reflect on and cut out activities that don’t align with our broader goals. Has your working day become one long battle to wade through a to-do list? The multiple distractions of the modern workplace can make it near impossible to achieve your goals, or even get anything done at all. But, what if you’re going about things the wrong way? Perhaps you should be thinking more about what you shouldn’t be doing instead. This is called "Inversion": a strategy that looks at problems in reverse, to minimize the negatives instead of maximizing the positives For productivity, a hack you can use is creating a list of “anti-goals”. 💡 Come up with your worst possible workday: one filled with long meetings, a packed schedule dealing with people you don‘t like or trust. Then come up with your "anti-goals". Tim Ferriss, author, podcaster, and investor, believes in the power of a “not-to-do” list: “The reason is simple: What you don’t do determines what you can do.” Tim Ferriss‘ not-to-do list includes: - Don’t let people ramble - Don’t agree to meetings with no clear agenda - Work shouldn’t fill a void that should be filled elsewhere For you, it could mean no morning meetings, no more than two hours of scheduled time per day and not having to deal with people you don‘t like. Curious to hear your thoughts!!