Our options may be things, but a choice—a choice is an action. It is not just something we have but something we do.
Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a workday, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work, they said. 5
Jack Dorsey, the cofounder of Twitter and founder of Square, has an interesting approach to his weekly routine. He has divided up his week into themes. Monday is for management meetings and running th...
In a moment of insight, Alex sees how this approach could also be applied to turning around his production plant. Instead of trying to improve every aspect of the facility he needs to identify the Her...
In George Orwell’s classic allegorical novel Animal Farm we are introduced to the fictional character Boxer the horse. He is described as faithful and strong. His answer to every setback and every pro...
If I had made an exception then I might have made it many times.2 Boundaries are a little like the walls of a sandcastle. The second we let one fall over, the rest of them come crashing down.
For one, there is a heavy price just in terms of human dynamics. The fact is, motivation and cooperation deteriorate when there is a lack of purpose. You can train leaders in communication and teamwor...
Editing our time and activities continuously allows us to make more minor but deliberate adjustments along the way. Becoming an Essentialist means making cutting, condensing, and correcting a natural...
Before you can evaluate what is and isn’t essential, you first need to explore your options. While non-Essentialists automatically react to the latest idea, jump on the latest opportunity, or respond...
1) What risks do we face and where? (2) What assets and populations are exposed and to what degree? (3) How vulnerable are they? (4) What financial burden do these risks place on individuals, business...
The faster and busier things get, the more we need to build thinking time into our schedule. And the noisier things get, the more we need to build quiet reflection spaces in which we can truly focus.
Es un editor?, hay dos preguntas básicas que el editor debería plantearle al autor: ¿Estás diciendo lo que quieres decir?, y ¿lo estás diciendo de la manera más clara y concisa posible?[7]
Choice is an action. It is not just something we have but something we do. This experience brought me to the liberating realisation that while we may not always have control over our options, we alway...
Certain ideas – and people peddling those ideas – constantly pull us toward the logic of non-Essentialism.
But Kelleher was totally clear about what the company was—a low-cost airline—and what they were not. And his trade-offs reflected as much.
When we don’t purposefully and deliberately choose where to focus our energies and time, other people – our bosses, our colleagues, our clients, and even our families – will choose for us, and before...
When teams are really clear about their purpose and their individual roles, on the other hand, it is amazing what happens to team dynamics. Formal momentum accelerates, adding up to a higher cumulativ...
We must simply expend a small amount of initial energy to create the routine, and then all that is left to do is follow it.
The term for this very common phenomenon is the planning fallacy.6 This term, coined by Daniel Kahneman in 1979, refers to people’s tendency to underestimate how long a task will take, even when they...
The moral of the story: ignoring the reality of trade-offs is a terrible strategy for organisations. It turns out to be a terrible strategy for people as well.