The meeting ran long. My phone buzzed. I checked it under the table. Was this distraction caused by the notification (external) or my boredom (internal)? Was I planning to check messages at this time (traction) or was this an unplanned detour (distraction)? These questions form the backbone of the Indistractable Grid—a deceptively simple tool that… Read More »The Indistractable Grid Method
According to cognitive psychology research, your brain has a strict capacity limit. Seven items. When you exceed this, your mental processor jams. You can’t think clearly. You can’t focus. You can’t sleep. The solution isn’t more coffee or better time management. It’s getting those thoughts out of your head completely. This is where mind sweeping… Read More »The mind sweep method for clearing your mental clutter
When you’re running late, always say you’ll be later than you think. If you think you’ll be 10 minutes late, tell your friend, colleague or partner you’ll be 15 minutes late. That way, they’ll only be disappointed once when you say you’re late, and they’ll be happy when you show up earlier than expected. Most… Read More »When late be late only once
There’s a standard rule in productivity circles: “Organize your tasks by project.” You hear it everywhere. It’s repeated in books, blogs, and productivity courses. The idea seems logical – group related tasks together so you can work on them efficiently. There’s just one problem with this approach: It completely ignores the fundamental constraint of human… Read More »The Time Sector Method
Last winter, I showed up to an important client meeting without my laptop. I had forgotten to charge it the night before and left it on my desk in my morning rush. As I sat there, embarrassed and unprepared, I realized this wasn’t just bad luck. It was the predictable outcome of a flawed system.… Read More »Tomorrow mapping
We’ve been thinking about days all wrong. Most of us view our waking hours as a single entity, a day, that either goes well or poorly. For me, one overlong breakfast meeting would cascade into a missed workout, which would turn into skipped work and takeout for dinner instead of cooking. By evening, I’d surrender… Read More »The Four Quarters Technique
One morning, I had to present a project but woke up twenty minutes behind schedule. I grabbed my notes and sprinted across campus, mentally reviewing my key points between gasps for air. When I burst through the classroom door, the professor immediately called me up to present. Still breathing hard, heart pounding, I launched into… Read More »The cardio speech hack
While watching a movie I’d waited months to see, I caught myself doing something strange. I was scrolling Instagram, responding to texts, and still felt weirdly empty. My brain was consuming three content streams simultaneously, yet somehow still bored. That’s when I realized what had happened. My mind no longer knew how to focus on… Read More »How to Do a Dopamine Detox
Traditional to-do lists lie flat on the page, but your work doesn’t. I spent years staring at traditional, linear task lists, wondering why I felt constantly overwhelmed. My tasks looked like separate islands with no prioritizations and connections between them. How could I choose between tasks when I couldn’t see how they related to each… Read More »The visual 1-3-Nexts to-do list method
According to a poll by Marks & Spencer, American women spend an average of about 17 minutes each day deciding what to wear (men are not far behind, spending an average of 13 minutes on their daily outfit choices). This amounts to approximately four days per year and six months over a lifetime spent on… Read More »Build Your Minimalist Wardrobe
