Compressing Execution
Category: Execution
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Major Techniques
- Run Task Management System (Hierarchical Goals - Yearly-Monthly-Weekly-Daily)
- Plan each day in advance
- Schedule on a calendar in addition to a to-do list
- Build streaks / habits / momentum
- Triage (80/20, Pareto Principle)
- Single, clear task at a time
- Most important task in the morning with focus
- Do the most difficult task first
- Cut off all distractions
- Enter the appropriate mental state
- Music
- Visualization
- Create Large Chunks of Time
- Social Accountability
- Precommitment
- Feedback
- Bite off the smallest action step possible
- Break large projects into small projects - overlarge projects kill morale
- Time Tracking
- Metrics as a reward system
- Set Deadlines
- Conversation activates a social mode that can make it very hard to focus. Don’t talk to people until after deep work is over for the day.
- Liberally use timers. Predict the duration that each task will take and try to complete it under time.
- Timeboxing
Major Models
- Momentum
- Process Focus vs. Outcome Focus (Growth vs. Product)
- Goal clarity / fuzziness, level of abstraction of goals (lower the better)
- Focus / Attention
- Determination / Courage
- Self Sabotage
- Social Norms
- Habits (Cue, Routine, Reward)
- Metrics associated with clear goals
- Parkinson’s Principle
- Willpower
Minor Models
- Metrics Drive Behavior
- Attention Switching Costs / Impact of multitasking
Minor Techniques
- Say no to everything misaligned with goals
- Hell yes or no.
- Focus Tracking
- Meditation
- Cold Shower
- Decompose your workflow into tasks, sub-tasks and sub-sub-tasks, and then optimize every aspect of the decomposed workflow.
- Take Breaks
- Stop Doing list or Not To Do list
- Batch tasks
- Ex, email/messages 2x a day
- If an action takes less than 5m to complete, do it immediately
- Be Well Rested
- Stopping Time
- Have tiers to your daily tasks, don’t stop a tier until that tier is done.
- Do the hardest thing first
Source: Original Google Doc