Attention spans

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  • Time, Resource, Energy Attention, (or Focusing energy) is the most finite yet renewable entity of personal productivity.
  • Focus on managing/improving your energy cycles and effective utilization of your attention spans.
  • Have a list of energizing tasks to do intermittently during the low-energy cycle.

P.S. Batch tasks based on emotional state and “focus” it requires (for extensive task list full of equal priority tasks).

20+ thinking tools and mental frameworks

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  • untools.co has a collection of 20+ effective, modern, and proven mental models/frameworks for thinking, strategizing, communicating, and better decision-making.
  • Use cases: uncover the root cause of a problem, choose from the options considering multiple factors, understand complex concepts, estimate the long-term consequences of your decisions, conflict handling and give efficient communication without judgment

4-Step Instructions (memos)

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  • No instructions should have more than 4 steps.
    • If it has many steps (to follow), find the significant 4 that keep the other actions in alignment.
  • Give “enough” freedom to the team to develop their own ideas to improve the process while preserving the “four steps” that keep the standard and outcomes in line and prevent things from going wrong or bad.
P.S. 4 Steps to write an efficient memo
(1) Write/draft your instructions as action-steps, 
(2) Rewrite them for utmost clarity and simplicity, 
(3) Rephrase the sentences to make every step unambiguous and connected (adopt 3rd person's view or ask for feedback, if needed), and 
(4) Repeat steps (2) and (3) until you make the instructions as short as possible.

Magical- Text Expander

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  • Best in-browser text expander extension for Chrome browser.
  • Ability to extract/collect data from authoritative sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Slack, etc.
  • Insert date, time, timestamps, and other dynamic parameters with tiny shortcuts.
  • Reduce your keystrokes to a greater extent.
  • More on how it works

eesel: The new tab for work

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eesel, Chrome extension converts your new tab into an organized list of items based on type/app (picked up from your browsing history and apps you use in your browser) that you use frequently. This helps you access the specific resources/links from the new tab (or simply by pressing a keyboard shortcut).

eesel supports the creation of URL shortcuts with parameters, organizing links in folders, and sharing them with a team.

It reduces the extra few clicks every time you open a new tab for work.

Yes, and …

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When you have to reject say NO to an idea but to keep up the spirit, creativity, and integrity of your team while shaping a better decisions then start your reply with the words “Yes, but and…”.

““Yes, and” is a foundational improv technique, but it’s also a practical philosophy for generating ideas and building relationships.”

Dina Smith, How Leaders Can Escape Their Echo Chambers

Distractions aren’t distracting us. We seek distraction.

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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

Effective Meeting = 3 things, exactly 3 times, in 3 different ways

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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

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  1. Always write for your “future stupid self”. (Consider the future version of you who is going to read the note is stupid.)
  2. Write/rephrase in your own words (understand it, before you write, you’ll understand better when you write)
  3. 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.