5 star reviews on Amazon

"Provides concrete techniques and tools"

"What's truly fascinating is how accessible these new approaches are"

From the book "You are Solving the Wrong Problem"

Chapter 18: Time Management

I don't have time to follow these techniques. This is a common objection. It turns out, though, that you probably do.

Recall the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle. 80% of outcomes result from 20% of causes. The question is which 20%? Data can help you determine this. If we apply the Pareto Principle to our average work week, 80% of the value created comes from 20% of the time. When we apply the 80/20 rule recursively a second time, we end up producing 64% of our total output in just over an hour and a half (1.6 hours).

Do you have an hour and a half this week?

Guard your most productive time

I am not a morning person, but my most productive time of the day starts about 30 minutes after I wake up. I have started to have my morning coffee and I feel fresh. I am ready to tackle whatever is the most important thing I have to do that day. By late afternoon, my ability and desire to tackle complex challenges has waned. I could do it, but I may not be as effective.

Figure out what your most productive hour is. Once you identify that time, guard it closely. You don't want to lose that time. Instead, you want to maximize it.

For the first few morning hours, I block my calendar time. I avoid having any meetings during that time. My cell phone notifications are turned off and the volume is down. I may still have a podcast running or music in the background, but these are distractions per se. You want to avoid the undesired distractions. You want to get the most out of that time. The idea is to have a focused work session for that ultradian cycle. Once that time is gone, I can't get it back, at least not on that day. I'll have to wait until the next day. But I don't want to do that, I want to get as much done as I can today.

This is the best single piece of advice I have ever gotten, to protect that valuable time. Once you build that habit, your productivity will increase and so will your problem-solving ability.

5 star reviews on Amazon

"Provides concrete techniques and tools"

"What's truly fascinating is how accessible these new approaches are"