Distractions aren’t the ultimate cause of our distractions. Although well-engineered, they’re ultimately just the place we go to seek relief from the discomfort of facing our limitations.
– Oliver Burkema, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
Snippets
Effective Meeting = 3 things, exactly 3 times, in 3 different ways
Whether it is a team meeting or one-to-one. List all the things you wanted to share arrange them (move small items as a sub-task to primary agenda item), then order them priority-wise, and now share only the first three things in that meeting. Repeat them thrice in three different ways.
Benefits
- Reduces ambiguity on instructions or ideas shared.
- High signal-to-noise ratio in your meetings.
- Saves everyone’s time
P.S. Remaining things on the list may wait for the next meeting.
3 simple rules of note-taking
- Always write for your “future stupid self”. (Consider the future version of you who is going to read the note is stupid.)
- Write/rephrase in your own words (understand it, before you write, you’ll understand better when you write)
- Always include more context to the idea/note (eg: time, date, person, place, the current state of mind, mood, source, etc)
Remember. Your notes should be self-sufficient. A well-written note should avoid the necessity of referring back to the source and references.
2 minute rule – to avoid procrastination
The 2-minute rule tricks your mind to see the tiny portion of a big task that can be completed in 2 minutes, which feels easy to accomplish. Focussing for the 2 minutes helps in suppressing mental resistance like anticipation/fear of unpleasant outcomes, and self-doubts.
The initial struggle is the most difficult one to pass and it only exists for up to two minutes. Bait your mind with only 2 minutes of genuine commitment.

No unique messages.
First post snippet.
There are no unique messages—only unique messengers.