"Productivity" Tricks for the Neurotic, Manic-Depressive, and Crazy (Like Me) - The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss

advice. He said there are really only three types of things that cause stress to creep into our minds outside of work. The first is something you forgot to do. In this instance, write it down and resolve to do it first thing Monday morning. The second is something you realized you’d messed up. In this case, decide if it’s fixable. If yes, write it

Write and Speak About My Ideas Write blog post for this week. Write book chapter on to-do list. Set up meeting with speaking agent. Call Sally re: Hawaii conference. Be Present with Family and Friends Plan date night with Eleanor. Invite Stacy and Howie over for dinner. Call Jessica. Be home by 6 to put kids to bed. Have Fun and Take Care of Myself

PRINCIPLE #1: DO FEWER THINGS Strive to reduce your obligations to the point where you can easily imagine accomplishing them with time to spare. Leverage this reduced load to more fully embrace and advance the small number of projects that matter most.

Feeling overwhelmed usually means one of two things: either my blood’s trapped in my head and I need to go exercise, or, more likely, I’ve overcommitted myself and my brain knows there’s no way I can reasonably get done everything I’ve set out to do. Usually the solution is to take a deep breath, look at the calendar, and start canceling things or