Create a Life Map and listen to it everyday.

A Life Map (similar to Cameron Herolds Painted Picture or Life Script) is an emotionally
charged declaration to the universe of the life that I want to and that I am committed to
creating. Its written in the present tense and covers all the areas of my life that are
important to me: my success habits, health, wealth, relationships, career, fun/adventures,
and most importantly my character and who I am consistently everyday. I normally write
and update my Life Map every few weeks in Evernote and then I use Evernotes cool feature
to turn all the text into speech. Then I take the audio file and sync it over a workout mix and
classical music. I listen to my Life Map and workout mix at the gym or while running or
biking outside in the mornings and I listen to the more relaxed version while sleeping,
walking around town, or waiting in line.

The magic of a Life Map is that is programs your subconscious mindwith all the
goals and things you want to come into your life, whether that be amazing health and
fitness, the perfect romantic partner, a new job or career, or success in business or your field
in expertise. Just like how you subconscious mind can drive you sometimes guide and drive
you home from work automatically without you really having to think about it, it can also be
powerfully used to guide you to your goals.

Here are some tips on creating your Life Map:

1. The first key is make sure that you only write the things in that you do want and
never write what you dont want, as your subconscious mind cant distinguish between the
two (only the conscious mind can) and it will bring what ever your write down and visualize
into your life.

2. The second key is to make sure that each sentence is emotionally charged with
positive feelings, as this provide feedback to your subconscious mind as to whether its
heading in the right direction. When reading your Life Map, it should be so emotionally
charged that you feel like youre right there in that moment and that its already happening
or a part of your life.

3.The third key is to make sure youre in a positive and peak state while youre
working on your life. So work on it at your favourite coffee shop or inspirational setting
like a park, beach, or retreat spot. I love working on it while either on a weekend retreat by
the water with my Mastermind buddies Gabe Padva and Ryan Thompson or after clearing
my mind with a yoga session.

Normally it takes a few sessions. Give yourself time, and know that your Life Map will only
get clearer and clearer.

Whether you believe in the power of the subconscious mind or not, I would suggest trying to
write out you Life Map as it will at least help you get clear on your goals. And if you have a
partner, spend a weekend away and work on your Life Maps separately and then merge
them together to get both you of in alignment with your goals and where you want to head
together. Its only when we know the goals of our partners and friends that we can truly
support them and vice versa.

Procrastination is a result of a person being unable to see the value of the task at hand.

A writer may procrastinate and stop writing the book halfway, but if he realizes that the
book can become a best seller, he will have the motivation and the urge to continue.

If you are procrastinating, take 2 minutes and think about why it is important for you to
complete the task? What are the benefits that will accrue to you if the task is completed?

Then imagine yourself as a person who has accomplished the task successfully. Motivate
yourself and procrastination will go away.

Well If I had read the question and decided to write a answer later :Procrastinator :D
But I am not so hence writing the answer ;)
So coming to the point how to tackle it ?
START valuing TIME .
You know it is so simple to understand that the single second gone is not going to come
back anyhow? So why to do delay as always until unless you are too busy with some other
important work ?

Well I am trying to put some suggestions in point form which could help you.(May be or
may not be ,depends upon you )

Steps to overcome procrastination with great success:


Break your work into little steps. Part of the reason why we procrastinate is because
subconsciously, we find the work too overwhelming for us. Break it down into little parts,
then focus on one part at the time. If you still procrastinate on the task after breaking it
down, then break it down even further. Soon, your task will be so simple that you will be
thinking gee, this is so simple that I might as well just do it now!.
Change your environment. Different environments have different impact on our
productivity. Look at your work desk and your room. Do they make you want to work or
do they make you want to snuggle and sleep? If its the latter, you should look into
changing your workspace. One thing to note is that an environment that makes us feel
inspired before may lose its effect after a period of time. If thats the case, then its time to
change things around.
Create a detailed timeline with specific deadlines. Having just 1 deadline for your
work is like an invitation to procrastinate. Thats because we get the impression that we
have time and keep pushing everything back, until its too late. Break down your project
(see tip #1), then create an overall timeline with specific deadlines for each small task.
This way, you know you have to finish each task by a certain date. Your timelines must be
robust, too i.e. if you dont finish this by today, its going to jeopardize everything else
you have planned after that. This way it creates the urgency to act. My goals are broken
down into monthly, weekly, right down to the daily task lists, and the list is a call to action
that I must accomplish this by the specified date, else my goals will be put off.
Eliminate your procrastination pit-stops. If you are procrastinating a little too
much, maybe thats because you make it easy to procrastinate. Identify your browser
bookmarks that take up a lot of your time and shift them into a separate folder that is less
accessible. Disable the automatic notification option in your email client. Get rid of the
distractions around you. I know some people will out of the way and delete/deactivate
their facebook accounts. I think its a little drastic/extreme as addressing procrastination
is more about being conscious of our actions than counteracting via self-binding methods,
but if you feel thats whats needed, go for it.
Hang out with people who inspire you to take action. Im pretty sure if you spend
just 10 minutes talking to Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, youll be more inspired to act than if
you spent the 10 minutes doing nothing. The people we are with influence our behaviors.
Of course spending time with Steve Jobs/Bill Gates every day is probably not a feasible
method, but the principle applies. Identify the people/friends/colleagues who trigger you
most likely the go-getters and hard workers and hang out with them more often. Soon
you will inculcate their drive and spirit too.
Tell others about your goals. This serves the same function as #6, on a larger scale.
Tell all your friends, colleagues, acquaintances and family about your projects. Now
whenever you see them, they are bound to ask you about your status on those projects.
Seek out someone who has already achieved the outcome. What is it you want to
accomplish here, and who are the people who have accomplished this already? Go seek
them out and connect with them. Seeing living proof that your goals are very well
achievable if you take action is one of the best triggers for action .
Stop over-complicating things. Are you waiting for a perfect time to do this? That
maybe now is not the best time because of X, Y, Z reasons? Ditch that thought because
theres never a perfect time. If you keep waiting for one, you are never going to
accomplish anything. Perfectionism is one of the biggest reasons for procrastination.
Get a grip and just do it. At the end, it boils down to taking action. You can do all the
strategics, planning and hypothesizing, but if you dont take action, nothings going to
happen. Occasionally, I get readers and clients who keep complaining about their
situations but they still refuse to take action at the end of the day. Reality check: I have
never heard anyone procrastinate their way to success before and I doubt its going to
change in the near future. Whatever it is you are procrastinating on, if you want to get it
done, you need to get a grip on yourself and do it.



Reverse procrastination: trick your (lazy, lazy) brain into thinking that you have
another thing that is even more loathsome.

This actually works for me.

Example: if you need to write an essay for school and find yourself
distracted/procrastinated, tell yourself that you also need to take an online course on
algebra (whatever, but it should be less appealing than the task at hand. Don't choose
"researching on Pinterest" or "cleaning the house", as these tasks are easy to tackle and
provide some escape routes). As you watch the 5 minutes video on algebra, you will
desperately want to do something else, so you pause your video and start researching topic
for your essay. Write the start of the essay. At that point, you are already doing the task you
need to do and will find that it's not as scary as you think it is.

This brings me to the second hack: eat the frog. Do the "worst" thing first. Straight off the
bat, just close your eyes and eat that goddamn frog! (a task that you do not want to do but
must do regardless). You'll find that it's actually ok. And when the worst thing is over, the
rest is child play.

1.) Use Parkinson's law to your advantage

Parkinson's Law states:


Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion




There's a reason why you wait until the last 5 hours before you write that paper or begin
researching for that project. It's because you're given that much time. It's amazing
how productive we get when we face an impending deadline.

Artificial way to beat procrastination? Give yourself a hard deadline.


2.) Break down big tasks into minuscule tasks

This, I feel, is a much more effective strategy than giving myself an imaginary deadline or
any other artificial motivation.

A big reason why we postpone a task is because when we think, "need to write that research
paper" or "need to plan that trip," those tasks actually contain so many sub-tasks that it
creates a mental overload, so we'd rather take the path of least resistance and wait until
Parkinson's Law kicks in. The way to beat this is to break down the task into micro-steps.

If I were to "write a paper," here's what it might look like:


1. come up with 5 ideas, write them down
2. come up with 5 more ideas, write them down
3. narrow down the list to 3 ideas
4. basic research (skim) for idea 1, take mental notes
5. basic research for idea 2, take mental notes
6. basic research for idea 3, take mental notes
7. pick most interesting/appropriate idea
8. find 3 articles/papers/studies on the topic
9. read the first paper, take some notes
10. read the second paper, take some notes
11. read the third paper, take some notes
12. review all the notes
13. formulate a general thesis
14. create simple outline of paper
15. write one paragraph
16. etc etc.

If you were to take it one step at a time, it's not daunting at all.

Come up with 5 ideas? Shoot, I could do that write now. It'd take me, what, one minute?
Two minutes tops? Easy. Low barrier of entry. Maybe if I'm feeling good, I'll come up with 7
ideas. What a baus.

Finding 3 articles or studies? Eh. Google is my friend. As long as I don't have to
find and read them all at the same time? Easy peasy.

Write one paragraph? Shoot, a second grader can do that. I can do that.

If you want to hack your procrastination, break your tasks down into minuscule tasks that
take very little effort to do. Instead of feeling obligated to dedicate 10 hours to a project
all at once, why not take it on 2-3 minutes at a time? Anyone can do 2-3 minutes.

This is exactly how I am studying Spanish on Duolingo, I take 1 or 2 lessons a day. That's
it! I do it everyday, it's part of my morning routine, I'll probably do it right after I finish this
post.

Instead of thinking of it as "I'm going to learn Spanish" and feeling intimidated by the task
because I feel like I have to be immersed, get a tutor, take classes on it, or study 3 hours a
day... I just spend 5 minutes... every day. Everyone has 5 minutes.

It might take me a year or more to learn Spanish, but it'll have felt easy and effortless.

This, actually, is my entire approach to life.

.Envision - observe - plan - act - reflect

repeat

brilliant is what other people will call you when your visions become reality.

I graduated from university, first in my class, with a near perfect grade-point average. I'm
not particularly smart. I know how to study, however. Here's a few things I did to propel my
academic performance ahead of my peers.

1) Immersion through multiple, different sources. Don't rely solely on repeated encounters
with the assigned text(s). Get a bunch of input from different sources. The basics will be
redundant, helping to solidify your learning foundation, but because the delivery of info is
varied, you're much more apt to remain an attentive audience.You're looking for "resonant"
descriptions that leave an imprint on you, like that oh-so-special teacher you had in grade
three. This is important because so many textbooks suck at delivery, but not all in the same
ways. A particular (or peculiar) diagram in a book you found on your own at the library
could be the answer to your dream of an intelligible exposition/illustration of Concept 'X'.

2) MInd maps. Sketch, doodle, devise insane visual or auditory or tactile correlations. A
series of dry interrelated concepts could become a banana tree whose hanging fruit are
yellow trucks, high heels, jewels, and oak saw horses. Absurdity makes abstractions
memorable.

3) Frequent re-visits. Like with your sick friend, or mom, frequent, but brief touchdowns
signal the importance you place on the nearness of your inter-relationship, in this case, with
knowledge.

4) Sit in the room where you'll be examined...ahead of the scheduled exam time, with your
material. Connect details of the material with the room's character, its blinds, paint chips,
ceiling tiles, light switches, colour, ambience. Entering the examination room ought to be a
metaphorical return to the cozy comfort of the womb. Your material, will "be" the room and
it will feel "warm" because you took the time to make it so...ahead of time. You've prepared
your relation within the environment for your very best performance.

5) If in university, pick courses as early as possible, and start doing light, but frequent
readings on the subject every day through the summer, before fall semester starts. You
might even find a favorite author! Your relaxed familiarity with the upcoming material, on
day one, class one, will deliver you huge momentum to help carry you throughout the term.
You're on your bike, accelerating well before the foot of that big hill you're about to ascend.
Get a running start.

Interact with the material. The more connections your brain makes with the information,
the more likely it will stick in your mind.

During college I found that I could read a whole page of a textbook and then not be able to
recall what I had read a minute ago. It was a lot easier for me to retain the information if I
actively thought about how I could apply it to some problems. Textbook authors know this
so they put those review questions at the end of chapters/sections. Do them!

Some people try outlining chapters, but eventually they get too good at outlining that it
becomes a passive activity. Actually trying to solve problems makes your brain think about
the material in a novel way that helps you remember it.

There's some pretty detailed stuff here so I'll keep it short.

When I studied engineering many years ago I found that the best way to learn was to teach.
So I would stick large sheets of lining paper to the wall then lecture the cat. He was very
attentive though I'm not sure how much he understood. But it really helped to clarify the
more difficult concepts.

I also kept very neat colour-coded notes which helped me recall information visually when I
needed it.

With the tricky maths (Laplace Transforms in my case) you just keep doing them and one
day it all just falls into place. As you do more and more difficult stuff you wonder why the
earlier problems seemed so hard.

Simply put, REPETITION IS THE MOTHER OF ALL LEARNING The more you go over
something using the right methods, you will master your topic better.
Note that I said methods no one method is the best, depending on which subject you are
learning.
Below is something I wrote for students on preparing for exams. I have edited it to answer
the question asked.

THE MIND IS A POWERFUL TOOL
Psychologists like David Waitley say the mind is a powerful thing. (Thank God for that.)
When you set your mind on achieving something and are ready to pay the price for it, your
psyche affects your body and it adjusts itself to go where you want to go.
Adopt that mindset. Aim to do well in whatever you are studying. Do not leave anything to
chance.

STUDY WITH PEN AND PAPER
Most of us do not have photographic memory and therefore we have to study with pen and
paper. Attempting to memorise details from notes is not as effective as writing brief notes
on a piece of paper - or in another notebook used solely for revision.

SUMMARISE NOTES
Summarise chunks of notes into bits that you can easily remember. In summarising you are
applying a number of skills: reading, comprehending, analysing, re-organising and writing.
The more skills that you apply, the better your mind will retain facts. That skill is useful in
subjects like Language, History, Social Science and Biology where a lot of reading is
required.

DRAW DIAGRAMS
Draw diagrams to summarise concepts also, as a picture paints a thousand words. In
Science, a good diagram can summarise the concepts of photosynthesis or water cycle and
impress the concepts in your mind.
Try colouring what you draw. An expert said the brain remembers diagrams better in
colour.

FOR MATHS, PHYSICS, ENGINEERING
In subjects that involve a lot of calculations like mathematics, physics, chemistry,
accounting, economics and engineering, you must do as many exercises possibly spend
one hour a day for each of them.
My Indian Grade 12 Maths teacher gave me the secret to mastering Maths. She said: If you
continue the one hour of practice every day, when exam time comes, your hand will already
be solving the problem even before you are conscious of what you are doing.
She told us to spend one hour a day on Maths.
When I first heard that I was shocked because I was used to spending twenty minutes or
less, depending on my mood. I could spend more than one hour reading books, but not
doing Maths.
That little tip helped me it worked wonders and pulled up my marks in other subjects in
Science that required a lot of Maths skills.
If you want to be really on top of what you are doing, consider spending more than one hour
a day on Maths. (But note that you must not rob yourself of the time you should be giving to
other subjects too.)

FOR MUSIC AND SPORTS
In these two areas, Repetition is the mother of all learning is the key.
Those who master skills in Music or a Sport usually spend more time refining skills than
their other course or team mates.
There is no substitute for more practice.
Additional point: Special techniques as learned from and guided by coaches/masters will
also greatly advance the learner.
Learning a special technique can help a learner reach his/her goals faster.

IN WORKING WITH BOOKS, QUIETNESS AND OTHER BITS
For most academic subjects which require revising from textbooks, find a desk to work on -
not your bed. Be prepared ... if you have to shower and shave to be mentally alert, do those.
And find a quiet place to do your studies e.g. in the library.
And, do not study with your headphones on with your favourite song playing ... that will
distract you.

Ahmad Ali gives a concise answer on memorization and revision.

The first part of memorization can be done best in the following way:

img source: internet

Teaching is the best way to share knowledge and to grow knowledge. I remember some of
things I taught even after 10 years without any revision!

For pure memorization you can use Association techniques
Lets say you are learning spanish
1. gracias = thanks (Associate that gracias sounds similar to gratitude which is being
thankful)
2. qu = what ( qu looks like queue . When you see a long queue you wonder "what " the
queue is for)
Similarly make associations to what you already know. The funnier the association, the
better you will remember.

To remember a list of items, mnemonics help a lot
To remember the planets in our solar system in the correct order we used the following
mnemonic in our childhood
"My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas"
(for MercuryVenus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto).

Most important of all, enjoy what you are learning. Best of luck in your studies.

At high school I routinely scored over 95% in most subjects, at a highly competitive private
school I was at the top of my class for every subject I took at one time or another, often most
of my subjects, most of the time. All the while barely paying attention in class, and not doing
my homework. I had a lot of piano practice to do (I was aiming to be a professional pianist),
so "ain't nobody got time for that"!

What I did do though, was spent hours every night, weekend, and often during class time
trying to prove everything I was taught wrong. When we were taught relativity, for example,
I spent literally hundreds of hours tearing apart the equations to find out "where Einstein
got it wrong", or trying to devise alternate explanations, or when we were doing electricity
and magnetism, I spent hours designing an earth-sized electrical generator, figuring out
how much copper would be required to generate enough electricity for the whole world, how
fast it would need to rotate, how to get the electricity back to the ground, etc. For biology, I
wrote short novels based on fantasy worlds, where I described in great details the
ecosystems and drew animals and described their biology and evolution. I invented a new
model for light (neither wave nor particle) when we were learning about that. I invented a
new language and alphabet (was a massive Tolkien fan!), etc, Etc.

So, by only using my textbooks and teacher as a resource when I needed to know something
for my next design, invention or "proof wrong", I ended up knowing all the work far more
intimately than anyone, often including my teachers :)

That was my only "study" method - it came naturally to me. I wasn't trying to do anything, I
was just ridiculously curious and couldn't help myself...

When I went to university, studying piano, I had a one hour commute on the train. While on
the train I would memorize my scores (as a concert pianist you must play just about
everything from memory). Visualizing / "auralizing" every note until I knew the whole piece
by heart, before ever touching the keys. To achieve this, I would set a strict timetable,
mapping out the piece before starting to learn it, with a certain amount to be learned every
day. I would switch between 3-4 pieces, spending several minutes on each one alternately.

In (mostly) this way I memorized over 24 hours of complex classical piano music in four
years, along with countless popular songs.

At 30, I stopped being a musician and became a programmer. I applied the same approach
to learning this. I examined and played with source code, not so much reading tutorials, and
definitely no attending school again to learn stuff. There was no "study", only trying to
quench my curiosity.

Now, I'm directing a non-profit, developing a new model to eliminate poverty through
entrepreneurship - I'm learning about how to chair a meeting by chairing meetings (and
noticing how others do it well), how to fundraise by actually fundraising, etc. When
problems arise - I find someone (or a book, or a website) and look for the answer to the
problem.

My personal view is that if it feels like "study", then you're doing it wrong. It has to be so
much fun that you jump out of bed each day, breathless to learn more, wishing you could
sleep less so that you could find out the answers sooner...

The two types of courses are knowledge courses and Math related courses.

For courses that are heavy on memorizing knowledge:

Use the memory palace or Method of Loci, to commit new information to memory faster
and reduce the repetition needed to remember it. To understand concepts faster, try to
relate it to everyday things and try to teach it. To review everything you learn and only study
what you have forgotten, use flashcard apps that have the forgetting curve algorithm built
in, like Anki.

1) The memory palace method, of Method of Loci, is a fantastic way to store hundreds of
pieces of information. Joshua Foer's book Moonwalking with Einstein is a good book to read
on how to utilize a memory palace. The general principle is to have a layout of place you
know well (like your home) and put information in different places.
The reason why it works so well is that our brain is built to remember spatial memory
(memory for orientation and environment). For example when you walked into your high
school or college the first time you probably had no clue where stuff was. But after a few
days it was second nature. There wasn't really a time where you had to sit down and study
the entire campus for hours to nail down where everything was. Your brain just memorized
it without too much effort. Even after years without going to a place you could probably still
remember the layout of the place.
So using this method you can not only remember the information but recall it at will. If
you need the name of something, you can simply walk down your memory palace and find
the name without any external cues. This comes in handy when having to answer free
response questions where there are no multiple choice answers to jog your memory.
To actually memorize a piece of information, take the name of the concept and try to
make an image out of it. For example, in General Chemistry 2, we learned about Van der
Waals Interactions so to remember that I would place it at the front of the Science building
at my college and imagine a Van hitting a Wall. Then out of the back molecules would fall
out reminding me that it is the force between molecules.
Even though initially it will take more time to brainstorm the images, the amount of
repetition needed to remember information will sharply decrease. Instead of rereading a
definition 12 times to make it stick, this will reduce that to once or twice. You could do this
without laying the images in a order, but putting them in a memory palace really cements
the knowledge and gives you the ability to instantly recall any definition at will.

2) The memory palace is good for remembering definitions and facts but understanding a
concept is different than just remembering a name. To understand concepts try to find at
least 10 metaphors for that concept. Try to relate it to things you see in real life.
Try to teach the concept, for example, try explaining it to your friends and seeing if they
understand. If you can teach it, you mostly likely understand it. I make Youtube videos for
concepts I don't understand because trying to teach it to someone else always reveals the
gaps in your knowledge. Then I go back and once I can fully complete a video I understand
it.
Also, always ask questions. If you think you understand it try to see what else could
happen. Taking an example from chemistry again, we understand that raising the
temperature will cause water to boil. But what happens if you decrease the pressure? It will
cause the water to boil at a lower temperature. That's what you should think about for
concepts. If I change variable X what happens to Y. When you ask these questions you will
realize that even though you thought that you understood a concept you actually didn't.


3) Flashcards are good for reviewing your memory palace. Use smartphone flashcard apps
such as Anki, which are built in with the forgetting curve algorithm. Why I suggest
flashcards is due to the fact that they can be studied anywhere. A common complaint is that
we lack the time to study in large blocks so this solves that problem. Throughout the day,
there are plenty of moments that we are not being productive; waiting for class to start,
waiting in line for food...etc. These small pockets of time can be used to study just with your
phone which is accessible at nearly all times and convenient. All these small times can add
up to 2 hours of studying or more when you thought you had none. Also since it's built in
with the forgetting curve, your only studying what you have forgotten so you're maximizing
efficiency.


For courses that are Math related:

Practice.

Do hundreds of problems. Do every problem in your book and be able to explain every
single one. When we practice, we don't only do it to get better; we do it to also see the
potential mistakes we could make. Every mistake you do while you practice is one less
mistake you'll make on the test. Even if you understand the concept of something in the
class, it takes practice to see mistake you made on a test. Even if you understand something,
there's always a situation that you makes you implement that concept in a way you hadn't
thought about, which is not what you want to encounter on an exam. Every time you make a
mistake, record the type of mistake and reread that list before an exam so you'll see all the
potential places you could make an error.

One of the most difficult aspect while studying is 'self-diversion'. Generally, we are good
starters but we don't finish what we start. We tend to divert ourselves by inventing frivolous
reasons inside our head. Some reasons that comes to mind are:

Checking the clock and telling oneself that we will study at a particular time (rounded
number 15/30/45)
Reading little and feeling dejected if the concept is tough.
Reading little and feeling very satisfied as if the whole chapter is easy.
Checking some diagrams/pictures and getting diverted.
Hearing some tv noise, mobile phone call, listening to what others talk, feeling hungry,
drinking water, making frequent trips to fridge/loo....and so on...

Hence, I wish to share a small advise my grandfather used to repeatedly tell me. He would
ask me to take "Sankalpa" ( Sanskrit: : means conception or idea or notion formed in
the heart or mind, solemn vow or determination to perform, desire, definite intention,
volition or will ). In practical terms, the word, Sankalpa, means the one-pointed resolve to
do something from beginning to end. That is to harness the will-power and the tool to focus
and harmonize the complex body-mind apparatus (Sankalpa (Hindu thought).)

SANKALPA MUDRA*



In short, it is a commitment to start an activity with a "self promise" that one will
continue till the end of it. (Image: Sankalpa Mudra Source: Internet).

Hence, the biggest challenge would be to take "sankalpa". Without committing to oneself,
however small and easy it might seem, one cannot finish anything.

Having said that about the right attitude, here are two effective Psychologically proven study
methods:


PQRST method (Preview, Question, Read, Self-recitation & Test)
SQ3R method (Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review)


The PQRST Method of Studying

PREVIEW an assignment by scanning it. Read the chapter outline at the beginning of the
chapter. Pay attention to the headings of the sections and subsections. Read the
summary. The point is to get an idea of the main topics and sections of the chapter.
(Numbers 2, 3, and 4 are done at the same time)
QUESTION yourself by making questions of the headings of each section and subsection.
As you READ the assignment, look for the answers to the questions you have made.
SELF-RECITATION requires that you try to remember the main points of each section
and that you say them out loud (if possible) to yourself.
You TEST yourself after you have finished the entire chapter. How many of the main ideas
from the chapter can you remember?

Now you are really starting to store your studies into long-term memory!



The SQ3R Method of Studying

If you're looking to be a more efficient reader, try the SQ3R Method. It's designed to help
you read faster and retain more. SQ3R stands for the steps in reading: Survey, Question,
Read, Recite & Review.

Survey
Before reading, survey the material. Glance through the topic headings and try to get an
overview of the reading. Skim the sections and read the final summary paragraph to get an
idea of where the chapter is going. Only spend a few minutes surveying the reading to get a
background knowledge, an initial orientation that will help you to organize the material as
you read it. It eases you into the reading assignment

Question
Look at the first heading in the chapter. Turn it into a question. Ask questions to be
answered in your reading. This step requires conscious effort, but is worth it as it leads to
active reading, the best way to retain written material. Asking questions focuses your
concentration on what you need to learn or get out of your reading.

Read
Read the first section of your reading assignment to answer your question. Actively search
for the answer to your question. If you finish the section and haven't answered the question,
reread it. Read reflectively. Consider what the author is trying to say, and think about how
you can use that information.

Recite
Once you've read an initial section, look away and try to recite the answer to your question,
using your own words and examples. If you can do this, it means that you understand the
material. If you can't, glance over the section again. Once you have the answers to your
questions, write them down.

Review
After reading the entire assignment, test your memory by asking yourself the questions that
you've identified. Review your notes for an overview the chapter. Consider how it fits with
what you know from the course, experience, and other classes. What is the material's
significance? What are the implications or applications of this material? What questions are
you left with?

How many of the steps you follow is up to you. As you become more efficient you may find
that you can read more - and retain more - with less effort. Regardless, if an assignment is
important, be sure to take notes so that you don't have to reread it later.

Source: Want to Read Faster and with Better Retention? Try the SQ3R Method
The PQRST Method of Studying

Some additional tips to study in terms of relevance is also mentioned in this answer:

Prasanna Madhavan's answer to Tips and Hacks for Everyday Life: What can I learn right
now in just 10 minutes that could be useful for the rest of my life?

* Mudr is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism

For anything with formulas, a great way to understand the formulas and theorems
(especially math) is to learn how to prove them. That way, you don't actually have to
memorize some random theorem - you just need to know how to prove the theorem!

And memorizing how to prove a theorem is (I think) easier than memorizing the theorem
because when you memorize it, there may be specifics that you miss, but if you prove it, you
don't miss anything.

Feyman Technique

Take one chapter and subject at a time. Thinking about everything at once makes the
problem look bigger than it is.

Avoid social networking sites, movies, comics, mobile and TV.

Don't procrastinate studying. Postponement multiplies pressure and anxiety.

The best stress buster can be drawing diagrams, making formulae charts, and reading the
newspaper for a few minutes. Even meditation can help immensely.

Don't discuss nervousness with friends. It will only multiply your anxiety and stress.

Don't compare yourself with others. Plan according to your strengths and weakness.

Live a normal life. Don't skip meals and exercises.

Ignore useless advice. Just remind yourself "This is the time to do, not to ponder upon
philosophies".

1. Preparation. Make sure you have all the material and equipment you need before you
start so you do not have to break up your study period.
2. Study in a place where there are no distractions and not likely to be disturbed.
3. Make sure you are comfortable.
4. Study when it is the best period for you. You might work best early or late in the day.
5. Have a clear cut objective to study, and be able to test it as soon as you have learnt it.
6. Work in small blocks of material that you can assimilate in short sessions.
7. Have a work pattern. Work for short periods and take regular rests. Do not work if
you feel tired or if the material is not making sense.
8. If something is difficult to grasp then move to something else that is easier to deal
with, then come back the difficult subject later.
9. Reinforce what you are learning by writing it out and saying it aloud.
10. If you are learning from a book it is a good idea to print out the relevant page and
highlight the significant material.
11. If you are learning from the computer screen it helps to have two monitors. One with
the lesson and the other with the progam or your notes.
12. When you take breaks either have a rest (sleep if possible in short naps) or do
something totally different. Short walks help.
13. Make diagrams where these are appropriate.
14. If learning from video tutorials then keep the relevant lesson in a file so it is easy to
access quickly. This might be a desktop icon.
15. If working from a page on the screen, use a highlighter to mark out the relevant
items.
16. Cut and paste items that are important and make up your own teaching pages.
17. It is very useful to be able to touch type as this will speed up your work considerably.


The study method that I developed for studying for technical certifications.

Start by skimming the book. Get pictures of important points, charts, tables, etc. If it is a
digital book or pdf, I do screen captures. If it a physical book, I take pictures. Once I have
the pictures, I make a screensaver. The screensaver is just a quick way to have it constantly
in my face for the time period I am studying.

I then read the book with highlighting and writing notes. I retype all the handwritten notes
into a single document. I prepare a series of mind maps of the relevant material. I add the
mind maps to the screensaver.

I read my single document of handwritten notes into a tape recording or mp3 file.
Finally, I play the recordings through about five times and schedule the test. I have
generally had long commutes to work so I could listen for an hour at a time while driving.

The day before and the day of the exam, I review all the screenshots, mind maps, and give
one more listen as I drive to the testing center.

This method has worked for me with a 100% pass rate. I believe the reasons it works is the
interaction with the material as well as the constant reinforcement through the viewing the
screensaver and listening.

Many good answers, but I am surprised nobody mentioned memo techniques. The most
famous one being the Loki method, apparently already used to great effect in ancient
Greece. I would recommend picking up a book by a famous memory artist at least once.
There are also specialized techniques for many things, for example for learning a new
language.

Sure, memorizing is not everything, many subjects also require understanding. But I suspect
many fields also benefit from good techniques for memorizing things (like medicine or
biology).

Maybe also look at Tim Ferris' writing. He took a crack at mastering several arts in a very
short time (like weeks instead of years), also by employing the right tricks.

I suspect many of the other answers also simply have in common that they make the "user"
spend time learning. Writing things down, drawing mind maps, drawing flash cards, maybe
in the end it all boils down to the same thing...

But seriously, at least give the Loki method a try, it takes only a minute to learn (for a loki
list that enable you to learn 20 "items"). For more than 20 "items" you have to create longer
lists, but at least that takes the form of taking pleasant walks looking at the scenery with a
new reason.

My preferred method is to summarize. First summarize to a sheet of A3. Then to A4. Then
to A5. Then to a post-it. Then to a sentence or acronym. Then I can work back, expanding as
I go.

And rewriting something again and again, more summarised really embeds it in the
memory. You will lose some detail, but that should be hanging around, unspoken. At least
for me...

Here is a quote, which is far more than just a study method, it helps us understand what it is
to be human in a rapidly changing world. A world in which people have forgotten their
worth, and have lost sight of what is truly great about being human.

"Read; Learn; Mark; Digest Inwardly)

This quote basically sums up the learning process in such a way that, utilizing all of these
words, and the ideas that they represent. But first one needs to understand, how they are
connected.

Let's start with that with which you are familiar. To really read something would mean to
read it critically, and think ones way through it, and if you understand the role thinking
plays in learning (which if you don't you can look up on quora, ha ha), you will understand
that one learns by reading effectively.

So now we learn from reading, a good way to learn from reading is to take notes whilst
reading. Either in a book which you own, as this is what it means to take ownership of a
book ( what I mean here is that purchasing and having a book in your name is not enough,
you must "mark" it, mark your property, mark your territory. Just like real humans, which
are just more intelligent animals, do), or you can take notes, the note taking method must
be fluid but more conducive to your understanding what you read.

Now you understand how the first three are connected, because for you to digest inwardly,
you ought to understand how to go about it, you need to think critically about what your
reading. What this means is if you don't understand what your reading you should think
your way through the book, this will help you come to terms with the author and make it
much easier to understand, if you do you should learn what the book has to teach and take it
in as your own.

This part is a bit more difficult to explain than the others, but it means than you taste the
food, you know what you enjoy about the food, you understand how it smells well enough to
sum up the dish in a few words, and you now eat the dish on rare occasions, if it is a really
good dish, you will be satisfied with it in this way because eating a meal that is really good, is
made memorable in this way.

Hope the metaphor clears up any confusion, and that you can grow to appreciate the ideas,
that I've shown this quote can offer. But I'm assuming this quote is easy to understand, I
just wanted to help you understand better, so you can enjoy it for yourself. Since reading is
disintered leisure when you know how to read and think, so you can enjoy your humanity,
as that is what separates us from other animals, and this is what will seperate you from the
sheeple, as the name suggests they are not free. If you think about Good Will Hunting you
will better understand what I mean.

he only common thread I can see was what my father told me when I was very little. You
need "ass-ability," the ability to sit on your ass and study, so spend the time necessary. Like
any activity, you get better with practice. It is helpful to like the subject you're studying. Try
to do that. Remember, everything is interesting to someone. After all, they're spending a
lifetime studying and teaching that subject. Try to find the reason why, and really get into
the subject. Then "studying" turns into just reading what you're interested in. If
you're really into that subject, you'll find that remembering the material becomes easier -
and so does spending the necessary time.

Don't study if you're not feeling it. Don't force yourself to study. Don't overstudy. Do all the
things you need to do before studying. This works for me. I'm a third year Electronics
Engineering student and I haven't fail a single subject yet and I'm not even that smart.

(personal experience)

What works for me. This method is normally for informal learning on material I am not
familiar at all with.

1. I pick the material I am going to study and set a fixed time a day.

2. I read the material for 10 minutes. This isn't reading for 10 minutes, it is actually
understanding what I am reading within those 10 minutes. I don't go on until I understand
it.

3. After 10 minutes I ask myself "Am I bored?". If the answer is yes then I stop.

4. If the answer is no, I continue on for 10 minutes.

5. After 10 minutes I repeat this process except lower the interval to 5 minutes.

I try not to go over 30 minutes before taking a break. I may revisit it later the same day but I
tell myself it will continue tomorrow if I feel anyway stressed.

Encoding...... If you want to learn something well you must first encode it; you
must relate it to some aspect of your own life! For example, let's say that an individual was
studying for an exam in a history course and needed to remember a fact such as; one of the
primary causes of the Civil War was that the North and the South differed on how to treat
Negroes. Doing such a thing one could visualize one of his or her parents dressed up in a
Yankee uniform and the other dressed up in a Southern uniform arguing over what do with
a Negroe slave standing to the side of them! In this way one would have "encoded" such an
idea into that of one's own life in essence understanding such an idea in one's own way,......
preparing one for a test thrrough the process of encoding..

It comes down to 3 words for me motivation, interest and study habit.
I put everything together here in an app
WeCram - study coach in your pocket

Do this free course on study. Study Trouble? Difficulty Learning and Retaining Things? It
is given as a public service, not to change anyone's religion or beliefs. It will only take you
hours but I believe if you use it, it will raise your ability to study a great deal and study will
become a lot more fun. Your IQ is likely to rise, you may have less headaches, better grades
and most importantly be more able to APPLY what you study in life and work. It can help
with studying any subject whether you are doing post doctoral or independent study or in
middle school. It is about the BASICS of how people learn, not some tricks.

The great wall of china started with 1 brick.
The great pyramids started with 1 stone.

Michael Jordan started by throwing one basketball through a hoop. He probably missed a
handful of shots before he made his next shot.

Tiger Woods started by watching someone else play golf before he took his first swing. He
swung once, and again, and again, and again.

You read a book by starting with the first word.
You run a marathon by taking the first step.

Warren Buffett had to learn how to make $1 before he made $1000, $10,000 before he
made $100,000, $1,000,000 before $10,000,000, and $100,000,000 before
$1,000,000,000.

If you want to write a book, just start with 1 page. Maybe even 1 page a week.

Consistency is what changes the game.

Small wins over a long period of time payoff more than just 1 big win.

It's less exciting, but it works.

Learning bit by bit to get more and more definition.

Pixel by pixel, stroke by stroke to create a masterpiece of art.

Word by word, line by line to craft a monologue or the State of the Union Address.

Realizing that every great composition started with just a single note, or every billionaire
started by making a few dollars makes it seem like a lot less of a challenge than making a
goal like "one day I'll write a book" or "one day I'll write a song" or "one day I'll start a
business."

100 small steps seems much less daunting than taking one GINORMOUS step.

When you take 100 small steps, there's time between each step. It's slow, steady, more
calculated, there's less risk of missing the main point altogether because you can adjust your
course as you go.

When you try to take a step as large as 100 small ones, there's a big chance you might miss
the goal -- just a little wind might change the angle -- and you exert a LOT more energy.
Chances are, you've never taken a step this large either, so you might even hurt yourself.

Everyone can take a small step.

Everyone can take a second step.

It takes being able to see the bigger picture to have the tenacity to continue until you hit the
100,000th step.



SAD FACTS ABOUT LIFE
"We spend money we don't have, to buy things we don't need, to impress people we don't
like."

-Tyler Durden, Fight Club.

That so many of us spend most of our lives crippled with fear of what other people think of
us, when in reality, those other people aren't making judgments on us, but rather, are
worried about what we think of them...

To me, the saddest fact of life is that most people will find out too late that their priorities
were wrong. Despite only being in my forties, I'm severely limited in what I can do due to an
illness. I wish I had spent my time of health differently. I could have worked less hard, done
more recreation, and still provided well for my family. We should have taken that trip to
Egypt we had talked about. I utterly failed to live life to the fullest while I could, and deeply
regret it.

If you were to be disabled tomorrow, would you still think you had spent the preceding time
appropriately? Or have you been putting off the things you really want to do, assuming that
there's always tomorrow? The sad fact is that for many people, for one reason or another,
tomorrow may not offer the same opportunities. Yet so many of us fail to seize the day.
Some people won't realize this until they are very old because of good health, and it's hard to
know if they are any luckier for learning it so late.




Whenever I am feeling low, this quote fills me with positivity. It reminds me that life isn't
about waiting for the storm to pass, but about learning to dance in the rain. It tells me that I
should not be worried about the past and the present, instead I should trust myself and
continue to work hard to achieve my dreams because some years down the lane I would
realize that these testing moments taught me so much, made me so strong, that this was the
best thing that could have happened to me at this point of time.
It reminds me to work relentlessly and follow my passion, without worrying in the present
about the outcome of the future, because as Shelley said, if winter comes, can spring be far
behind?





Watch your thoughts, they become words.
Watch your words, they become actions.
Watch your actions, they become habits.
Watch your habits, they become your character.
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.
"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice
will be silenced."
All birds find shelter during rain. But eagle avoids rain by flying above the
clouds. Problems are common, but attitude makes the difference!!

Whenever I feel like quitting and whenever I start thinking about the failures in my past, I
just remember this sentence:

"Keep moving forward!"

This reminds me not to cling to failures, to let them go and accept them as well because they
are part of my life now. Just a part of it. But life doesn't end there. I have to keep learning
new things, set new goals, try to get to new heights, I'll always have to keep moving
forward! Because life is about moving, flowing, wandering and you only stop when you die.
So if you stop trying new things, you're no more alive.


Today is not the day to back down, it is always tomorrow.

"You can do anything, if you stop trying to do everything"

You need to put your hardwork every single minute towards your dream and it will come
true no matter what.
But one very very important thing to remember and understand the life positively is:


"What is freedom, if not the victory of man over himself"

We will only be truly free, if we overcome the obstacles that are built in in ourselves. The
only thing holding you back is yourself
"EVER TRIED.
EVER FAILED.
NO MATTER.
TRY AGAIN.
FAIL AGAIN.
FAIL BETTER."


"No matter what has happened to you in your life, or no matter what hasn't happened to
you in your life, you are whole right now." - Terry McMillan
"You live out the confusions until they become clear." - Anais Nin
"When you are going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill
"We wait, starving for moments of high magic to inspire us, but life is full of common
enchantments waiting for our alchemist's eye to notice." - Jacob Nordby
"I am rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined." - 1 Peter 5:9
"See the light in others, and treat them as if that is all you see." - Wayne Dyer
Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure.
When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. When life is bitter, say thank you and
grow.
Be gentle with yourself, for you are doing the best that you can.




There's no other option but to be positive. Being negative won't do anything but pull you
back down.

You can do anything if you stop trying to do everything
ALL THAT PORN ISN'T HELPING YOU.

Productivity porn, that is. How to get more hours from your day. What to-do app to use.
What cute quote to share on Facebook. Waste. Of. Time.

It's actually quite simple. The most accomplished people are simply experts atwhat they
choose to do, not how they do it. Spend most of your time on the right things and
the rest takes care of itself.

Lets break it into three:



1. Focus on your flairs

What does it mean to have a flair for something? It means time you invest yields higher
returns:



Say youre Tiger Woods, aged 10. Playing golf is a pretty good use of your time, right? Bill
Gates probably wasnt wasting his evenings on the computer.

Yet equally we all have areas where we struggle - our anti-flair, if you will. It took me 18
months and four attempts to pass my driving test. I hated every squirming, soul-sucking
minute, but still - if you throw enough time at something youll get results eventually.

The problem is, too many of us lead lives like those driving lessons: ceaselessly doing
something we hate, solely to get through it. You cant avoid every chore of course, but know
that how you spend your time compounds itself, so youd best be putting most of it where it
matters:



DO NOT FOR A SECOND believe it is enough to work hard. Hard work is not inherently
a good thing. Hard work is a disgusting waste of your life when its thrown at the wrong
things.




2. Defy permission

But wait! No-one will pay me to follow my dreams!

Well of course. The problem here is youre looking for a convenient, readymade route to
prosperity that exists for your particular passion. Most of the time, we call that a job.

Take a hard look at almost anyone who is really successful, and consider: did they apply for
an existing position by winning an interview? Or did they bypass the system and start
something entirely by themselves?



If youre a wannabe musician, you dont necessarily need to be discovered by a label
anymore. You need to be discovered by the public. Yearn to be a writer? Blog or self-publish.
An entrepreneur? Build a damn company in your garage. If youre good enough at
something, theres a way to make it work by yourself.But dont expect anyone to tell you
what to do or give you permission.

One caveat: you have to be good enough, and you have to persist. The best way to do that, of
course, is to focus relentlessly on your flairs (see #1).

Good jobs are disappearing in todays world, but theres never been so many great ones.



3. Embrace your sociopathic shield

Getting something done can be like surviving a meteor storm of distractions. We surrender
much of our life to the most vapid crap imaginable, simply because someone else asks us
to.



To survive, you need a shield. A slightly sociopathic one, in fact:



The default response of your shield to anything that requires time is no. Automatic no.
The trick is not to think of the new thing being proposed (ooh - a squirrel), but to think of
the existing priority youre defending (oh - my dreams). And if your brain thinks you can
do both, treat that thought with the skepticism of Richard Dawkins being shown some holy
toast.

This isnt easy, so its best to avoid relying on your shield in the first place. Flat out ignore as
many potential distractions as possible - at least for long enough for you to focus on
meaningful work. Seal yourself in a bubble when you can. If your emails go unanswered -
well - tough. The payoff is you get done what matters.



It demands a certain courage or naivety to accomplish all this, which is probably why so few
do. Being young helps. Being hungry helps. Being a bit of an arse helps. One of the great
advantages of the young is theyre blissfully ignorant or dismissive of the stupid rules theyre
not supposed to break.

Spend most of your time on the right things. Dont wait for permission. And get comfortable
with declining everything by default.

Its harder than posting a cute quote on Facebook, but it works.

I'm 24, for the last 5 years I've solely focused on understanding who I am, what I want, and
developing relationships with all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds.

I started my own business about almost 2 years ago and have regularly spent 10-12 hours a
day building it.

Since I started the business, I put a pause on 90% of the other things in my life and I don't
intend for that to change for another 2-3 years.

Reason being is because I'm building the business to the point where I can take my hands
off so I won't have to work for the rest of life.

I'm building my financial foundation/literacy, developing myself as a person, developing my
network, and learning all sorts of soft skills that will be relevant for the rest of my life
(negotiating, storytelling, speaking, leading, communication, persuasion).

I would rather build and invest in these things very seriously in a few years rather than wait
to figure it out while I'm in my 30's. To me, drinking, partying, and romance can wait... I
have a whole lifetime ahead of me.

There is no "wrong" or "right" in your situation, it ultimately comes down to what you
want, what you deem to be most important, and what it is all leading to.

I'm doing what I'm doing because I know everything I build in these next few years will
impact the next 70+ years of my life for the better. 5 years of the grind pales in
comparison to the ROI I'm going get for it.
What are the best daily routines of highly productive
people?
I don't know if I'm very productive. I take naps during the day. Sometimes I start businesses
that fail. I often go down paths that lead to dead ends.

At the same time, I'm on the board of some very successful companies. I'm a successful
investor. I write a lot. I have a top podcast.

I look at my calendar for next week and everything I'm doing is something I love doing. It
took me a long time to build up to this level of productivity but that's because I wasn't doing
so well the things I list below.

Most important: I love my wife and I think she loves me. Sometimes I don't know if she
loves me. Perhaps my most unproductive time is when I am wondering if she loves me.

I also get annoyed at my kids sometimes. This is very unproductive. Like, if one is late and
I'm just sitting in the car. But I have a trick for making that time in my life productive as
long as I'm not yelling at her or getting angry.

Anger is never productive. Some people are foolish and think that anger drives them
forward but it doesn't. Anger stabs at your heart and then your heart closes. You need your
heart to be open.

How come? Because neurons transmit messages from your gut to your heart to your head.
Everything needs to be open so your neurochemicals transmit messages effeciently.

So the first question is: what is productive?

I like to be in love with people and my favorite hobbies. Then I like to be successful at those
things. And all other times I like to be sleeping or thinking of nothing.

That is success for me.

What are side effects of success? Kissing and sex and smiling. Some laughing. Talking
to people who make me think. Reading about interesting things.

Feeling that fire-like feeling in my chest when I'm doing something I'm proud of. And
money is a side-effect. Note that money is not a goal.

Having money as a goal makes it very hard to make money. Money is a side effect of the
daily routine I am about to tell you.

These are all just side effects. And they are all happening in my life right now.

MY ROUTINE:

First off, I'm going to love you today. I picture you, the reader, and I'm in love with you. I'm
grateful you are reading this. This makes a flood of oxytocin trigger in my brain so I can
keep writing this and I'm happy doing it.

I woke up at 5:30am. I read books and had coffee. Oh, and I did about 30 pushups but then
it got too hard for me so I'll do more later.

What books did I read?

"I, Mammal"
"The Untethered Soul"
"The Last Girlfriend on Earth"
"Podcast Launch"
"The Hidden Tools of Comedy"

I try to read 5-10% of each book when I sit down to read. I rotate through books so
tomorrow might repeat this list or might be new books.

Then I write. I'm writing right now.

I'll shower and brush my teeth. It's good to be clean. 8 hours of sleep last night. Some
exercise. Cleaning. Reading. Writing. I'll be done with all of this by 10am today.

I'll eat well. For me that means less carbs. Some people that means more carbs. Some people
it means less calories. Some people will eat food they enjoy and it doesn't matter what it is.
It makes them happy.

I eat at 10am and then around 3pm and that's it.

I'm only going to be around people I love today. I'll call some friends. I'll be with my wife.
Spend time with kids.

I'll respond to emails but only people who I love and respect and want to help and I hope
they feel the same way about me.

I NEVER respond to people I don't like. Why should I? Someone, for instance, wrote me last
night an email that was insulting. He got instantly deleted and blocked. Not that I need to
avoid him to be happy but there's just no point in interacting with him.

I have a couple of email tricks I do every day:

a. I'll find someone from 3-10 years ago that I will send an email to. Someone I miss
but have always liked. I'll act as if we just spoke yesterday. It will be fun. 100% of the time
they respond.
b. I'll find two people I think should meet each other. I'll first ask permission from
both: "can I introduce you to so-and-so?" If they both say "yes" then I'll make the
connection.

I call this "permission networking". My network is not the list of how many people I know.
The strength of my network is how well everyone on the list of people I know, knows each
other. Most people don't know this important principle.

c. Finally, I'll write to someone I want to meet. To do this I need to offer them
something of value. So I have to be creative in my email.

Most of the time I get no response on these emails because most people I want to meet have
no clue who I am and don't want to meet me. About one out of ten respond.

You know who I wrote to so far today? I wrote to Coolio, the rapper. And Morgan Spurlock
who directed Supersize Me. I'll let you know if they ever write me back.

Next I'll try to be creative. I'm writing but that's not enough. I need to come up with a list of
ideas. It's ok if they are bad ideas. It doesnt matter to me. Just lots of ideas.

If I don't exercise my idea muscle every day I get less creative. I can actually feel the creative
connections start to weaken from one side of my brain to the other.

I might take an idea from the other day and combine it with an idea from today.

I was thinking of making a sitcom revolving around Jewish Neanderthals. Maybe I will
make a list of episodes. I don't know. We'll see.

I will kiss Claudia. I will bow down and try to kiss her feet but she'll reach down and say, "no
no no" and laugh. She's so predictable!

And then I will end the day much like I begin it.

I'll be grateful for the things happening in my life. I won't just say "thanks." I'll think why I
am grateful. I'll even think of the things that are negative and be grateful that I can spend
time looking for the positive in them.

I call this being "creatively grateful". The more negative something is, the more
creatively grateful I have to be.

And hopefully the end of my day ends in sex. Either sex or a good book. Or a good
conversation. Or good sleep.

This is not my ideal routine. This is basically what I did yesterday.

The best indicator of having a good day tomorrow is to have a good day today.

Highly productive people often have unusual routines that are personal to them. For
example, some people are able to get by on only a small amount of sleep for long periods of
time, or stick to strange diets--the great baseball hitter Wade Boggs ate only chicken.

But all the research indicates that the following factors best support the brain in its work:


1. Get enough sleep every night, at least six hours, and preferably nine;
2. Drink water frequently during the day
3. Avoid sugar, alcohol, and other unwholesome substances, except in moderation
4. Eat a diet rich in complex carbohydrates, and spread meals throughout the day--six
small samplings are healthier than one or two big meals and a couple of snacks.
5. Get aerobic exercise every day--at least 20 minutes. This can just be a walk or climbing
some stairs, or even doing housework--the main idea is to make sure to elevate the
pulse and respiration.
6. Avoid sitting for too long at any one time, and in general, avoid sitting and lying as
much as possible. Your body needs to be active for your brain to be active.
7. Make a habit of having a time each day to consider your work, your goals, and your
plans, and to organize your coming schedule around your priorities--this is sort of
mental exercise that can help you stay focused on large ambitions rather than small,
local tasks, even while you make sure you take care of those tasks
8. Incorporate a period of meditation or mindfulness into each day, preferably in the
morning after you wake, or in the evening before you sleep, where you quiet your mind
and become as fully aware of your being as you can

One important point is that the discipline is not to be perfect, but instead, to have a clear
sense of what your goal is, and make sure everything you do supports that goal--including
things like sleep and diet. But it does not have to be perfect--the key is to get to a level where
it is working for you and you are advancing your aims.

There's no one best routine, but I can offer advice as to what has made me maximally
productive and outline the routine I've settled on.

I wrote an article titled: How to Become an Early Riser: The 12 Techniques I Used to Go
from a Night Owl to Waking up at 4 AM Daily, in which I detailed the techniques I used to
create the habit of waking up at, you guessed it, 4 AM on a daily basis.

This is a cornerstone of my daily routine. I'm more productive in the morning vs. any other
time of day. By the way while most days I wake up at 4 AM I don't hold myself strictly to 4
AM. Sometimes I wake up at 4:30 AM or 5 and occasionally I sleep in if I feel really
exhausted.

It's not healthy to push yourself up if you haven't had enough sleep. Some days you might go
to bed late and it's more important to get ample sleep so you're at your best for the entirety
of the day.

So, I wake up at 4. I then:


1. Water trick - Immediately upon waking up I usually go into the restroom and splash
water over my head and on my face. The reason I do this is because it immediately
wakes me up. It's really, really effective.
2. Meditate (30-45 mins) - I also do this because the first activity I do upon waking is to
meditate. This is the most ideal thing to do first thing in the morning in my opinion. It
really sets you up for the rest of the day. I meditate for reasons much more important to
me than increasing my productivity, but this is also an effect of doing so. Right now I
prefer 45 minutes, but once I can get to the point of blogging/running my own company
full time I'd like to increase that. As it stands I need to get to work (GM at the family
business) at 8 AM.
3. Write (2-3 hrs) - I take my time getting up once I'm done meditating to really relish the
feeling of peace and quiet. But once I'm up, I immediately go to the computer and begin
writing. Occasionally I'll replace this with updating something on my website since I do
everything myself right now. But for the most part on the majority of days I write for the
entire time. I do not check email yet, social networks, my rss feed, or any other websites
I follow. I wait to check these things after I'm done writing around 7-7:30. I'm currently
alternating between writing my next (weekly) blog post and my first book which will be
completed this month.
4. Work (7:30-4:30) - At this point I get ready for work, and if my kids get up before I
leave which happens on most days, I get them started for their day (my oldest is almost
3 and his brother is 7 months). I then head to the office and only get time to work on my
blog during breaks (and I squeeze in time if I finish early). But at work, being the GM,
things that I've done to increase my own productivity while at work have been to
delegate tasks to others, only check my email once an hour or two and to cut down time
on menial tasks like packing, processing and charging credit cards. Throughout the day
I may have ideas for articles, a book idea, an upgrade to my blog or something else.
When I do I pop open my Evernote (my favorite program for housing all of my ideas),
which I keep open on my desktop at work, and quickly write the idea down.
5. Dinner and Time with Family (4:30- 7:30/8 PM) - This time is reserved for my
family. Occasionally when sitting at the kitchen table I'll pop open my iPad (which I use
with a Bluetooth keyboard to write- which I LOVE) and write a bit, maybe read an
article or two or something. For the most part though, electronic devices are off and I
am 100% fully in the moment of enjoying my meal and then enjoying time with my
sons. Bedtime is around 8 PM. It takes a while on some days for both of my sons to fall
asleep, and sometimes my youngest wakes up multiple times throughout the night. This
can be really difficult, but we just make it work. It's temporary and I keep my focus on
long term vision which helps me push forward everyday.

A few notes:


Driving - When I'm driving, I'm often listening to audio books. I often consider this my
"dharma talk" time, since my spiritual practice is so important to me (and what I write
about as well, so it gives me ideas) and I'm not an actual monk living in a monastery
listening to dharma talks each day so it's important for me to get that daily dose
somehow. I read around 3 books a month like this. I often re-read books 2-3 times to fully
absorb the information. Sometimes I just practice mindfulness while driving, I call it
driving meditation. This is a very rewarding practice.
Restroom - Honestly if I'm sitting in the restroom I pop my phone out and do
something productive (no, not that...) like read an article or look over my book progress.
Either that or I pull out this little pocket book I keep on me which I call "The Book of
Mindfulness". It has little phrases which are meant to send the person into a state of
mindfulness. In this case I'd be practicing following my breath.
Putting my baby son to sleep - If I'm walking him around putting him to sleep at
night then I practice walking meditation. In fact I try to remember to practice walking
meditation anytime I'm walking. Doesn't happen, but it helps to stay conscious of it (the
physical presence of the book in my pocket helps me remember to do this). The reason I
do things like this is because I'm constantly conscious of the fact that while a monk has all
24 hours in a day to devote to their practice, I have mostly just moments strewn
throughout my day (aside for the morning). At least for now, I'm excited to eventually be
able to blog full time and control my schedule better. Also, as my kids get older,
particularly once my 7 month old gets to be 1 1/2-2 years old, things will become even
easier.
Weekends - I tend to get more time here. I'm home when my boys take their nap, I don't
have to go to work and occasionally my wife drives in which case I pop out my trusty
iPad/keyboard combo and get to work. I don't always do this though, if we're going to do
something fun I keep it bagged and put my complete attention on enjoying the experience
with my family.

I used to do a bunch of things in the morning. I really tried to pack it in. This wasn't a good
idea as I'd just end up distracting myself and getting less done. By revisiting my priorities
and realizing what was most important (meditating and writing) I've greatly improved both
my meditation practice and my writing ability, quality and quantity written. Two weeks
ago it hit me that I wrote some 6000-7000 words in that one week despite
having work, two kids, my wife and other responsibilities to attend to each day.

I originally got the idea of waking up at 4 AM (and immediately meditating) from an article
I read (which I mention in the blog post I linked above) that mentioned the sleep schedules
of Buddhist monks. I was putting my kids to sleep at night, getting up as soon as they were
asleep, and getting to work until 2-3 AM since I was always a night owl (I had the hardest
time waking up early a few years ago). I saw the article as an opportunity to get more time
and better quality time as well.

I also recently watched an interview Oprah did on her "Super Soul Sunday" program with
Deepak Chopra. Apparently he does the same. That is, wakes up at 4 AM and meditates. He
meditates for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the late afternoon/evening.

My husband is so productive & has such full, rich days that I will describe some of his
habits.

He combines several components at once often so I guess you could say he is a good multi-
tasker. Every morning before work he is up at 5:00, has a cup of coffee in bed, in the dark,
while he lets his mind wander. He doesn't read or force it onto any subject or look at his
schedue on his phone; he does that the night before.

He lets his mind lightly touch on any subject it wants to or if it starts to think deep thoughts-
-deep thoughts it is. He does not exert control over it.

He has a very set ROUTINE. After this time of flight of mind, he has a yogurt; takes a cup of
coffee w/him; dressed in his tennis clothes; carrying his work clothes & drives to the tennis
club that is on the way to work & plays hard tennis matches every morning of the week.

His tennis is vigorous & requires full concentration so his mind is not thinking of the work
day ahead or any other topics that might be worrisome. The physical exercise is strenuous
(plays singles) & the level of play requires quick reflexes & a fixed focus. Therefore, he is
getting his daily dose of cardio & "mindfulness."

His routine is the same at the tennis club, too. He is a very good player & lots of the men
there vie to against him so if it is Jerry he's playing it must be Monday. Tuesday is
Bill. Wednesday is Mark, etc. If one of his rivals is not available to play, he puts in one of
his alternates or just works out at the gym.

After the tennis workout he will shower, shave, etc. & dress for the day. When we built our
current house, he hadn't "christened" the shower for months as he was always preparing for
the day at the tennis club. One fellow told him, "We put in running water when we built our
house!"

Saturday & Sunday he sleeps in for an hour & plays at 6:00 a.m. & then goes out to breakfast
w/a couple of his friends & often they have compelling conversations as one is a physician, a
psychologist, golf pro, stock broker...

They will enchange books to read & these friendships have been long-lasting (most over 20
years). When a water pipe bursts in the middle of the night, he has many close friends to
calll upon to help.

I think the question holds half the answer: DAILY ROUTINE. Each person must determine
which routines are important for him/her to imprint so they are HABITS that do not require
planning or much thinking about--like the absent-minded state you are in when you drive to
work every morning (for example). The coffee, yogurt, tennis clothes, work clothes, shaving
kit, etc. are all automatic to my husband. When he does have to shower & shave at home, he
is always searching for something or missing a step as this is not his ROUTINE or HABIT &
he has to THINK!

I have found the book by Charles Duhigg ("The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in
Life & Business") an excellent resource to learn how to form new habits that enhance my life
& lessen the detrimental effects of the already engrained ones that are not healthy or
productive. Just observing my husband's fantastic modeling is a seminar in itself in
improving my habits!

As an aside, I have a terrible time getting distracted from a task I am trying to finish. I often
set the timer on my phone to go off in 30 minutes so I can stop & ask myself, "Am I doing
the job or task I planned to do at this time or have I veered off to reading every link in the
N.Y. Times or all the answers onquora.com? Am I making the best use of my time right
now?"

By checking in w/myself every 30 minutes or so (especially when I am at home alone), I can
reassess what I am doing & put into practice any routines or habits I am trying to instill.

I consider myself a very productive person, in the sense that I rarely in anytime of my life
found myself drowned in responsabilities or work, like you see many people (probably not
as productive?) complaining about. I'm not talking about "success in my carrer" or anything.
I don't think this is the topic of the question. The topic is productivity, right? Getting done
what needs to be done in a timely fashion. How much you get paid for it, if you are happy
doing it, if you get paid for it at all - is a whole other issue.

We can only consider ourselves "productive" in relation to other productive and non-
productive people. You will meet people that gets shit done and people who just "go by"
getting "some" done, or "a bare minimum" done. At work it is all too easy to identifiy each of
those.

So, from my experience as a productive person, I have some things to say, and I can't
really prove I'm a very productive person (can anyone, really?) so you'll have to trust me on
this. I think each person achieves this in different ways, so these are not rules, just my
perception.

First: organize yourself. You can't be productive if you can't organize your
responsabilities and prioritize them. If you feel you get "lost" with so much stuff, create lists
to see how much stuff needs your attention. Create reminders not to forget an important
task. In the moment you are reminded of something, create a reminder RIGHT THERE,
don't think "I should create a reminder", just do it NOW. Don't postpone.

Second: don't let stuff pile up. I'm always amazed to see people's mail inbox and find
that they have 2.000 unread emails. WTF is that, anyway? Let's face it. You will not read
them. Stop pretending that in the future, someday, you will. I've seen this over and over and
over. This "future" never comes. Stop lying to yourself. Mark everything as read and try to
keep your inbox with less than a dozen unred. This of course is a metaphor for other stuff in
your life. Email is just a symptom of a larger issue. You keep telling yourself that "one day I
will read/do that/the other/call her/call him/climb that mountain". If you keep adding a
bunch of stuff that you will "someday" do, chances are you are never going to do any of it.

Third: be open and learn. If you find yourself constantly giving excuses like "I have too
much work", "sorry I didn't call you back, I was swamped", and at the same time, secretly
envy that friend in the same position as you who are doing much better balancing his leisure
and labor - try to be open about it, and learn. This is the hardest part, I think. Of course
people are so very different and the way people organize themselves is very particular, but
you can always use hints, and don't be ashamed to ask for advice.

Last: you can't be productive if you suck at what you do or hate it.This should be
obvious, but unfortunately is not. People take years to realize this. You don't have to loooove
what do, but you need at least a little passion. You need to feel you are improving and that
you are getting something out of it other than a paycheck. If you don't, you'll suck at it, or
hate it, and there will be no incentive whatsoever to get shit done. You will conform yourself
to the tedious life of the bare minimum. And that, well... that sucks. :)

Oh, I forgot: my routine.

1) I wake up
2) Prepare coffee for me and my wife
3) Water the plants
4) Go to work, lunch (sometimes divide my time to head to a store to fix something or buy
something I need), come back to work
5) A few times a week I go the gym to pratice indoor climbing (I'm going today, woohoo!)
6) At night my wife prepares dinner, we talk a lot, sometimes have a glass of wine,
sometimes watch a movie (no TV!!)
7) At the weekends we're always busy: sometimes I will climb, or we travel, or do other stuff
together. If I have a personal project I will work on it most of the day and only have nights to
enjoy some rest.

Need I be more detailed than that? I find my routine pretty ordinary.

How does one judge productivity?

The question implies quantity over quality

Producing the most of what?

Is an artist who produces the most works superior to one who produces the best?

Is the scientist who has the most successful ideas more productive than the one who carries
out daily routines in the field of science?

Is the writer of long novels more productive than the one who writes short poems?

Though it is likely that those with lots of energy produce more than others, it is not
necessarily so, as much of that energy may be used in unproductive pursuits.

It is only meaningful to consider the term 'highly productive' if the output is of acceptable
quality.

There are people who are highly productive in the sense that they are able to produce a lot of
work directly due to the effort they put into it.

On the other hand someone might be highly productive because they have a unique talent
that allows them to produce works without much effort.

There are people who have great ideas but require others to actually produce the work. Such
people might be considered to be highly productive when they make very little effort.

The only way this question can be answered is to offer examples of 'high productivity' and to
look at who is involved and how they work.

Decide on the one, two or, at most three most valuable Outcomes for tomorrow.

List the Activities you will need to pursue to deliver those outcomes.

Estimate how much Time each will take.

Finally, Schedule those activities into your day - putting the biggest, most complex and
mentally demanding into the best spots first, and then filling the gaps with the rest.

First thing the next day (and for most, getting an early night and then getting up early offers
more 'prime productivity time'), review your list and then dive into the first big activity.

This, by the way, is what I describe in my books as the OATS method.

Not having a daily routine is the first thing a productive person should have. Daily routines
tire your mind and make you numb. They also easily block a productive activity by
prioritizing scheduled or habitual activities over more productive activities.

I can list some best practices instead:

Never have routines.
When you catch a productivity stream don't let anything, or anyone, or any scheduled
activity to cut it in the half.
So arrange your life style and relationships to be flexible and more simultaneous. (This
works both ways, cancel things if you are in a productive stream, or if you are not
productive invent a simultaneous activity, party...etc.)
Be comfortable turning off your cellphone. If you expect emergency calls (a sick relative,
child in school ...etc) then not answer every call. Return them later. This is not rude. On
the contrary people expecting you to be available all the time is rude.
Listen to your body, produce when you have energy, get rest when you don't have any.
Do exercise and keep your metabolism high. Also stay healthy.
Train yourself to have a self-discipline or you will be indirectly paying three times of your
salary to a manager just to do that for you.
Don't develop warmup habits. They will become consuming more time and energy over
time. Just jump in to the work, get it done.
If you can't get it done, don't spare your time and energy. Go do something else anything
but your work.
This brings having hobbies. Get some hobbies and spend time for them.
Also get creative hobbies. They will spark your brain all the time.
Speaking of hobbies, if your hobby is also your job, which is pretty nice, go get some other
hobby as well.
If you really need to do something in a short time but you can't do anything, take a walk.
If you feel stuck between everything, take a journey. Bus and train ride is cool because for
long hours you will have nothing to do but sit and think.
Keep two lists, first is very general and very long term, second is daily. Do the daily list
before going to bed so that your brain will do half of the job while you are sleeping.
Never feel guilty for not spending time on something you need to do. Feeling of guiltiness
kills a productive mind. Carpe diem!
Every year spend a month or two to get a really good rest and think about your life in
general.

The biggest problem with people is that we feel guilty to relax, unwind, enter into casual talk
with people for fear that it may eat into our so- called productive time. First therefore
remove that guilt feeling- all the above are forms of rest and refit which enhances your
productivity in the long run.
Secondly, please stop fretting if you are unable to wade through your so- called daily to- do
list. In fact such lists are meaningless in todays environment.What one must concentrate on
is to complete one or two" BIG ROCKS" a day( ie major tasks). Your other , relatively minor
tasks can be fillers in your daily accomplishment requirements. Your big rocks should give
you a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment.

Thirdly communication is the essence of all productive interactions.Communication
involves use of appropriate language, adding value to interactions, smoothing over potential
conflicts, holding productive and meaningful meetings and thinking outcomes from every
interaction.
You can find good traits in the routine of highly productive people. Here are some of them:

* Good sleep and body rest : In order to keep the body function optimally, it needs rest
from time to time. Highly productive people understand this really well and make it a point
to follow it consistently.

* Respect time : of others as well as manage theirs.

* Amazing concentration & Dodge distractions : once they take up a task, they are
completely into it. They handle distractions really well or are never affected by them.

* Filled with positivity : They try to keep themselves mentally healthy all the time. They
are extremely driven. If their day is going haywire, rather than mourning over it, they figure
out a way to make it work. They also have this ability to absorb or embrace positivity from
their vicinity.

* Ability to filter noise : Allow me to quote an excerpt from The CompleteSherlock
Holmes[1] by Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle

Ch 2. The Science of Deduction.

I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it
with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes
across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is
jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it.
Now, the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He
will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a
large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is of the highest importance, therefore,
not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.
The paragraph sums it all. They have an ability to allow in, only what is useful and scrap the
junk or invaluable. It is a difficult thing to learn and master but not impossible.

* Ability to prioritise tasks : A highly productive person is able to prioritise tasks really
well. And the priority of those tasks keep changing/ evolving as and when required.

There are other good qualities of a highly productive person. I will update this answer if I
happen to think of more such traits.

P.S. - All the above points are my personal observations of people, of whom I think are
relatively productive.

[1] The Complete Sherlock Holmes





We were probably doing 80 when the car in front of us indicating right, turned left.
Swerving right into our path. He couldn't stop the bike in time and we ran into it's side.

As I tumble rolled over the hood of the car, flying in the air I realized I did not want to die.
Not today.

I hadn't loved enough. I hadn't lived enough. I hadn't traveled enough. I did not want to die.

I hit the road and started rolling toward the pavement. The only thought in my mind was
'I'm not wearing a helmet and the pavement is fast approaching me'. 'Don't die today!'

I stopped mere inches before I hit the pavement. My clothes ripped, my knees and elbow
bleeding. Thankfully I had rolled as I'd fallen on the road, so no bones were broken.

I realized than, just for a split second. I mattered.

It was the most valuable lesson I learned about life. I matter. I matter to myself. I matter
that I live. I matter that I do the things that I want to do.

And in this same light, I want to share with you - You Matter. Don't wait for a near death
experience for you to understand this.

You Matter.

Even if no one else cares, no one else notices you, no one else hears what you say.

You Matter.

Remember that - and do things knowing that you matter. What you say matters, what you
do matters, every thing about you matters.

Take 10 minutes to Learn why you procrastinate will be helpful

I was a very bad Procrastinator for a very long time, until i really understood the basics of
why i procrastinate.

In order to understand why you procrastinate, first you should have a strong desire to
eliminate procrastination in your life and following the methods mentioned below will be
helpful.

I. Track down your everyday activity

When i first started writing down the list of activities that i do everyday, it felt like a waste
of time. But later while analyzing the one month data i clearly understood why i don't have
enough time to do the necessary activities and it narrowed down to the bad habits that i had
created over time.



I was spending most of my time in Facebook and was affected by the "Chain-clicking curse"
where watching a video from Facebook will lead to YouTube in-turn to Twitter to see the
trend and it goes on and on into loads of unnecessary browsing wasting your precious time

II.Understanding why we procrastinate

We procrastinate because of the habits that we create over time. When we work some
random thought strikes our mind, it might be as simple as,

where to go for the next vacation?

and I go to online to check details of it.
it doesn't stop there, then to Facebook to see where my friends went?
and something else catches up my eyes and the clicks goes endlessly

III. How we create Habits

I have been following this routine every day which let me do overtime to complete my work
and had no time for the essential things in life. All of these made sense to me when i read
the Power of habit by Charles Duhigg.


understanding the basic of habit was big help to me. I starts with acue/Signal in my case it
was the random thought and my routine was tosearch about it and reward that i get
is leaving a stressful work for that moment/satisfaction by answering my
random thought which sucks my time endlessly leaving only a very short period of time to
do the necessary.

Now the trick it to replace the bad routine with a good routine which will lead to greater
productivity in life, which could be understood by looking at how runners reward
themselves


Here the cue is the Running shoe and it lets you to the routine of running which was created
over time, running leads to the reward which is sense of accomplishment on completing a
run also satisfying the Endorphin craving that you get by looking at the running shoe

IV. How I cured myself by changing my routine

1. Keeping myself distraction free

a. Turn off internet: Most of my work doesn't need internet so turned
off my WiFi whenever i work.

b. Note pad: Whenever some random thoughts strike rather than
searching it online i started recording them down in a small notepad and
researched about them later

c. Setting Time limits: Started setting a duration to complete my work
which helped me to focus more on my work, Even had set time on
socializing with my colleagues spending not more than 5 minutes on
unnecessary talks.

2. Sustaining the habits

a. Tracking your activities: Its quite tough for me to write every activity
now and then, so i spent half an hour every day before sleeping to write
down the activities of the whole day splitting into hourly activities and
do a quick analysis on where to improve next day. It looks something
like this,

9:00 - 10:00 : Forecast Meeting
10:00 - 11:00 : Project#1 - Prepared the procedure

b. Prioritizing activities for tomorrow: This summary helps me in
prioritizing the activities that i should be concentrating more tomorrow
and I write down top 3 things that should be completed tomorrow

c. Monthly and Quarterly Review: then i started analyzing my monthly
and quarterly data's to continuously improve my productivity

The methods mentioned above worked perfectly for me and I started finding more time to
do the necessary things in life. Hope it will be useful for you as well, Let me know if it was
helpful :)
1. Streamus (Beta!) is a chrome extension which turns YouTube into a music player. You
can create your own playlists and it saves them to your google account. Don't have to open a
new tab every time to listen to a new song:




2. Like an article, but want to save it for later? Use Pocket. Available on all platforms (
chrome, firefox, android, iOS). Just a tap and the article will be saved on all of your devices

3. StayFocusd is a chrome extension which limits your activity on a particular website (for
ex. you cannot spend more than say 15 mins per day on Facebook). Once the daily quota is
finished, you can no longer open the website unless you complete a challenge posted by the
app. You can also control how lenient the challenge should be:




4. You probably know this. Dictionary.com's chrome extension helps to know the meaning
of any word by just a double click on the word.

5. Vocabulary.com helps you to build your vocabulary by keeping track of your progress.

6. Swipe Gesture is a chrome extension which adds OSX-style two-finger multitouch
gestures. Ever wondered to just flick away from a page rather than to press the backspace
button or back button on the toolbar. Try this.

7. Settle Up and expense manager(or dollar bird) are pretty good apps to keep track of your
expenditure and accounts.

8. SimplyNoise - Listen to brown noise while working.

9. Smooth Key Scroll is a chrome extension which enables smooth and responsive
scrolling with the keyboard, on every page you go.

10. A list of educational websites, which can aid you in being more productive


Most of us feel like we have too much to do and not enough time to do it all. This
combination often leaves you feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Learning how to prioritize
a schedule for optimal time management can help you gain control of your life by focusing
on what's important and getting it done.


1. Write down all of the appointments and tasks you want to accomplish in any
given day or week.


Lists are an important first step in prioritizing and time management.
Prioritized schedules must allow time for family. When you ignore family, everyone's
unhappy.
Don't forget yourself. What's an important personal goal you want to accomplish this
week?

2. Number or prioritize tasks in order of importance. A common time management
tool often used to prioritize tasks and schedules is to:

Give each activity that is important and urgent an A.
Finally, place a C by anything you would like to do but doesn't carry any urgency or
importance.
3. Choose what tasks can be removed from your list or that you can delegate to
someone else. Then do it.

4. Note which quick tasks you can accomplish during wait times.Perhaps the time
you spend on a mass transit commute or at your child's soccer practice can be used for tasks
like checking email and voice mail, making phone calls or revising a report.

5. Check email once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and that's it. This
is a popular time management tool used to deal with one of our biggest time wasters.

When you stop what you're doing every time your computer chimes with a new email, you
get off task.
6. Decide what needs to be completed first. A prioritized schedule means completing
A tasks first. Completing your most important tasks contributes to a feeling of
accomplishment.

If you have a meeting with others scheduled first thing in the morning that you've decided
is a B task, obviously it takes priority in your daily schedule, unless you can switch it for
later in the day.
Consider what time of the day is best for you in terms of thinking clearly and
accomplishing more. For many, it's first thing in the morning, but you may be different. If
you know that you're in the zone in the late afternoon, then make certain you're
scheduling your A tasks for that time.
C tasks should never be worked on during your high energy time. It's a waste of your
resources.
7. Create a daily prioritized schedule from your list.

Display your daily schedule where you will always see it.
8. Establish a reasonable goal of what your want to accomplish in a single day.

While you may only want to concentrate on A tasks, these often take a lot of time. Instead,
look at a mix, such as three As two Bs, and one C in a prioritized schedule.
Say "no." No matter how full your daily schedule is or how well you prioritize tasks,
someone will ask more of you. Politely say no instead of feeling like this is the apple that
will upset the apple cart.
Chances are the person doing the asking will be surprised when you turn him down. You
may feel a little guilty, but persevere.
The more your turn down requests when you don't have the time, the more you send out
the message that you're not a "yes" person.
Sometimes you will want to say yes. If you have the time, fine; if not, look at your
prioritized schedule and decide what you're willing to give up.
Emergencies happen, but they occur far less often than we think they do.













Real life is the game that literally
everyone is playing. But it can be tough. This
is your guide.
Basics
You might not realise, but real life is a game of strategy. There are
some fun mini-games like dancing, driving, running, and sex but
the key to winning is simply managing your resources.
Most importantly, successful players put their time into the right
things. Later in the game money comes into play, but your top priority
should always be mastering where your time goes.
Childhood
Life begins when youre assigned a random character and
circumstances:

The first 15 years or so of life are just tutorial missions, which suck.
Theres no way to skip these.
Young adult stage
As a young player, youll have lots of time and energy, but almost no
experience. Youll find most things like the best jobs, possessions
and partners are locked until you get some.
This is the time to level up your skills quickly. You will never have so
much time and energy again.
Now that youre playing properly, your top priority is to assign your
time as well as possible. Every single thing you do affects your state
and your skills:

This may sound simple, but the problem is you wont always know
what tasks to choose, and your body wont always obey your
commands. Lets break it down.
How to obey your own commands
Many players find that when they choose to do something say go to
the gym their body ignores them completely.
This is not a bug. Everybody has a state, which you cant see directly,
but looks something like this:

If your state gets too low in one area, your body will disobey your own
instructions until your needs are met. Try studying when youre
exhausted and hungry, and watch your concentration switch to
Twitter.
Your willpower level is especially important. Willpower fades
throughout the day, and is replenished slightly by eating, and
completely by a good nights sleep. When your willpower is low, you
are only able to do things you really want to.
Every decision you have to make costs willpower, and decisions
where you have to suppress an appealing option for a less appealing
one (e.g. exercise instead of watch TV) require a lot of willpower.
There are various tricks to keep your behaviour in line:
1. Keep your state high. If youre hungry, exhausted, or utterly
deprived of fun, your willpower will collapse. Ensure you take
consistently good care of yourself.
2. Dont demand too much willpower from one day. Spread your
most demanding tasks over multiple days, and mix them in with
less demanding ones.
3. Attempt the most important tasks first. This makes other tasks
more difficult, but makes your top task more likely.
4. Reduce the need to use willpower by reducing choices. If
youre trying to work on a computer that can access Facebook,
youll need more willpower because youre constantly choosing
the hard task over the easy one. Eliminate such distractions.
A key part of playing the game is balancing your competing priorities
with the state of your body. Just dont leave yourself on autopilot, or
youll never get anything done.
Choosing the right tasks
Choosing the right tasks at the right time is most of the game. Some
tasks mostly affect your state, e.g.

Others mostly affect your skills:

You need to put time into things that ensure a healthy state like food
and sleep to keep your willpower high. And then you need to
develop your skills with what you have left.
Some skills are more valuable than others. Good ones can open up
whole paths like a tech tree:

Others are dead ends:

Combinations of skills are the most effective. Its very hard to max out
one skill to be the best in fact, thats often impossible. But its much
easier to get pretty decent at lots of related skills that amount to
something bigger, e.g.


See how psychology just helped you become both rich and attractive?
You should study that.
Where you live
Your environment has a constant impact on your stats, skills, and your
chances of levelling up.
Its possible to play the game well almost anywhere, but its a lot
easier in certain places. If youre female and in the wrong country, for
example, you cant unlock many achievements.
The odds of anyone being born in their optimal location are virtually
zero, so research your options, and consider moving early. Location is
a multiplier to all of your skills and states.
Finding a partner
Attraction is a complex mini-game in itself, but mostly a byproduct of
how youre already playing. If you have excellent state and high skills,
youre far more attractive already. A tired, irritable, unskilled player is
not appealing, and probably shouldnt be looking for a relationship.

Early in the game it can be common to reject and be rejected by other
players. This is normal, but unfortunately it can drain your state, as
most players dont handle rejection or rejecting well. Youll need to
expend willpower to keep going, and willpower is replenished by
sleep, so give it time.
80% of finding someone comes down to being your most attractive
self, which like so much in life just means putting your time in the
right places. If youre exercising, socialising, well nourished and
growing in your career, you will radiate attraction automatically. The
remaining 20% is simply putting yourself in places where you can
meet the right people.
Money money money
Later in the game youll have to manage a new resource called
money. Most players will find money increases throughout the early
game, but that this actually introduces more problems, not less.

The most important rule of money is never to borrow it, except for
things that earn you more back. For example, education or a mortgage
can be worthwhile (but are not necessarily so, depending on the
education or the mortgage). Borrowing to buy new shoes is not.
Depending on your financial ambitions, here are a few strategies to
bear in mind:
1. Not fussed about money. The low-stress strategy: simply live
within your means and save a little for a rainy day. Be sure to
make the best of all the time you save though, or youll regret it.
2. Well off. Choose a career and environment carefully, and be
prepared to move often to move up. Youll need to invest heavily
in matching skills, which will cost you time, and be careful not
to abuse your state or youll burn out.
3. Mega rich. Start your own business. Its almost impossible to
get rich working for someone else. Riches do not come from
work alone, they come from owning things assets that pay
back more than they cost, and your own company is a powerful
asset you can create from scratch. Compound your winnings into
more assets, and eventually they can remove your need to work
at all.
Later life
Your options change as the game progresses. Marriage and children
will reduce your time and energy, and introduce more random
elements into the game (Emergency diaper change!). This makes it
harder to develop yourself as quickly.
Older characters usually have more skills, resources and experience,
unlocking quests that were previously impossible, like owning a
house, or writing a (good) novel.

All players die after about 29,000 days, or 80 years. If your stats and
skills are good, you might last a little longer. There is no cheat code to
extend this.
At the start of the game, you had no control over who you were or
your environment. By the end of the game that becomes true again.
Your past decisions drastically shape where you end up, and if youre
happy, healthy, fulfilled or not in your final days theres far less
you can do about it.
Thats why your strategy is important. Because by the time most of us
have figured life out, weve used up too much of the best parts.
Now youd best get playing.