Taking the time to think about, dream of, and look forward to future activities is an essential part of happiness and satisfaction in life. Research suggests that not only the memory of positive events, but also the anticipation of future events plays a significant role in our overall well-being. By consciously spending time planning and visualizing future activities, we can create a sense of excitement and anticipation that enriches our daily lives.

The process of anticipation offers us the opportunity to mentally prepare and enjoy the anticipation. This can range from planning a vacation to looking forward to a dinner with friends. It is important not to underestimate these moments of anticipation, as they make a significant contribution to our joy in life. By regularly taking the time to dream about future activities, we can provide ourselves with a source of constant joy and motivation.

Additionally, consciously thinking about future activities can help us to be more focused and purposeful. It allows us to determine our priorities and direct our time and energy towards what is truly important to us. This can lead to a more fulfilling and meaningful life, where we not only enjoy the activities themselves, but also the journey towards them. In short, taking the time to dream and look forward to the future is a valuable investment in our own happiness and well-being.

Related:

• The optimal amount of free time seems to be between 2 and 4 hours per day
• Well-rested people are more positive
• More money will make you happier
• Do things that makes you happy everyday, since happy workers are 12% more productive
• Monthly map
• Scatterfocus
• Gratitude
• Prevacation

Linking desired behavior to a clear cue is a smart way to change behavior. This idea is similar to making “if-then” plans, where you decide in advance what you will do in a particular situation. By choosing a clear cue that reminds you of the desired behavior, it becomes easier to exhibit this behavior automatically and regularly. This works like a habit: the cue triggers a routine that provides a reward, encouraging you to repeat the behavior.

Implementation intentions help you achieve your goals by making desired behavior happen automatically. By deciding in advance what you will do in a certain situation, it becomes easier to stick to your plans. For example, you might decide to meditate for five minutes every morning after brushing your teeth. Brushing your teeth then becomes the cue to start meditating, making it a fixed part of your daily routine.

By automating behavior with clear signals and specific plans, the process becomes more predictable and requires less mental energy. This leaves more room for other tasks, which can improve your productivity and effectiveness. By linking desired behavior to a clear signal, it becomes easier to develop and maintain positive habits. This increases the likelihood of achieving your personal and professional goals.

Related:

• Before you start (a task, a work session, a project…), set a time budget
• Do not set SMART goals
• Frog eating
• Environment
• Motivation
• Less mobile
• Attention residue
• Habit

The basic principle of the Getting Things Done (GTD) system, developed by David Allen, is that your memory is not the right tool for keeping track of your to-do list. As long as you have a good system that systematically gets tasks out of your head, your system meets this basic principle. This means that you don’t necessarily have to organize tasks by context, follow the five steps, or do weekly maintenance.

David Allen emphasizes that anything that helps to get something out of someone’s head and creates more cognitive space and freedom to be present and focus your attention where you want, without distraction, could also be GTD. For example, if you could hire 40 people to follow you everywhere and to whom you can entrust all ideas or future reminders, and who can guide you through every thinking process at the right time, then you don’t need any additional tool or process. That would also be GTD.

Related:

• Do the right thing, in the right way, and at the right moment
• Your own implementation is the correct way of doing GTD
• Keep essential information in your mind so you can access it quickly without having to look it up
• Monthly map

When people can easily understand information, for example through good sound quality, it positively influences their trust in that information. This is because smooth and clear communication creates a sense of reliability. When information is presented without glitches or disturbances, listeners experience less cognitive load, meaning they have to exert less effort to process the message. This ease leads people to more quickly consider the information as true and reliable.

Research has shown that when information is difficult to process, for example due to poor sound quality or a strong accent, people are more likely to judge the information as less true or convincing. This effect occurs even when the difficulty arises from insignificant features, such as the color of the text or the pronunciation of a name. The idea is that anything that makes processing information difficult creates a barrier to the trust people have in that information.

Good sound quality and clear communication thus play a crucial role in how information is received and evaluated. By ensuring that information is easy to understand, speakers and organizations can increase the trust of their audience. This underscores the importance of attention to detail in communication, such as the clarity of the audio and the articulation of the speaker, to have a positive impact on how the message is received.

Related:

• When helping someone, give that person enough information and boost their confidence by showing how that information can help others

A Zettelkasten is a flexible system in which you write down and connect ideas and thoughts in an organized way. This helps you think better by combining reading and writing. By putting your thoughts on paper, you build a network of knowledge that helps you rediscover and use old insights.

The idea of a Zettelkasten as a conversation partner means that you have an equal relationship with your notes. Your Zettelkasten is a reliable partner that helps you organize and develop your thoughts. In turn, you add new information and insights to the system. This collaboration ensures that your Zettelkasten is not just a place to store things, but also an active part of your thinking process that helps you explore and understand complex ideas.

According to Niklas Luhmann, one cannot think well without writing. Writing helps to clarify differences and important points that are embedded in ideas. By writing, you create a reliable partner in your notes that helps process information consistently. This forms a solid foundation for further developing knowledge. In this way, your Zettelkasten becomes a living archive that helps you grow intellectually.

Related:

• Use your own words to express your own thoughts
• Rephrasing a text helps me to better understand what the author means
• Connect notes to start a conversation with your own thoughts
• Keep essential information in your mind so you can access it quickly without having to look it up
• When helping someone, give that person enough information and boost their confidence by showing how that information can help others
• Reserve quality time for reading; only with full attention can you make the shift from ‘reading for information’ to ‘reading for knowledge’
• Self-talk
• Fleeting notes

Large organizations often try to place employees in fixed roles. These roles are usually intended for the average employee and not for people driven by passion and the desire to excel. As a result, passionate employees may feel limited in their ability to fully utilize their talents. The structures and processes within large organizations are often focused on efficiency and predictability, which can lead to an environment where innovation and personal involvement are less encouraged.

Sometimes the organization and an enthusiastic employee have different goals. What a manager may find unimportant can be very important to the employee. This difference can cause the employee to feel frustrated and undervalued. If their hard work is not noticed or appreciated, it can reduce their motivation and engagement.

Finally, enthusiastic employees may feel excluded in large companies. They may think that their ideas are ignored or viewed with suspicion. This can cause them to withdraw or even leave to find a place where their enthusiasm is appreciated. Therefore, it is important for large companies to create an environment where passion and innovation are encouraged, so that employees can develop and contribute to the company’s success.

Related:

• Choose a workplace where you can see other people focused on their tasks. This will help you concentrate better.
• Professionals lose an average of three hours per week on unnecessary meetings
• Working outside of normal working hours can undermine intrinsic motivation, as it prompts people to reflect on how they could have spent their day better if they had not worked
• The expectation that you check email outside of working hours can lead to health problems, relationship issues, and anxiety
• A four-day workweek improves employee well-being without reducing productivity
• Open-plan office
• Hard work
• Private offices

Use a large screen on which you can see both your work document and your reference material side by side. This way, you need to switch between windows less often. This makes it easier to concentrate and helps you work more efficiently.

The idea that a larger screen can increase your productivity comes from being able to see more information at once. This helps you work faster and better, especially if the information is important for what you are doing. With a larger screen, you can, for example, view a document and other necessary information side by side. This allows you to look things up more quickly and reduces the need to search for what you need.

Related:

• Avoid excessive task switching to increase efficiency
• A standing desk does not appear to impact productivity
• Switch costs

Feedback is a useful tool that helps people and organizations improve and grow. It is important to see feedback as an opportunity to learn, even if it sometimes feels uncomfortable or difficult. By appreciating feedback, you create a safe environment where people dare to express their opinions without fear of negative reactions. This ensures good communication and collaboration, which is important for success.

When giving feedback, it is important to do so in a positive and thoughtful manner. Feedback should be intended to help the other person and should be practical so that the recipient can actually do something with it. Also, consider the right timing and manner of giving feedback so that it is well received. By carefully considering the feedback you give, you show respect for the other person and contribute to a culture of understanding and improvement.

It is also important to remember that feedback is just a suggestion and you can choose what to do with it. It is normal to sometimes feel attacked when receiving feedback, but try to understand that the other person wants to help you. By being open to feedback and appreciating it, even if you disagree with it, you can grow and improve your skills. The ability to accept and use feedback is a sign of maturity and an important step in your personal development.

Related:

• Fleeting notes
• Social values

It is important to connect your notes with each other so that you can build a network of ideas and insights. This helps you not only to store information but also to truly understand and integrate it into your own thought patterns. By linking notes together, you create a system where ideas are related rather than isolated. This ensures that you understand things better and generate new ideas because you actively seek connections and patterns between different pieces of information.

Connecting notes is like having a conversation with your own thoughts. This is similar to the Zettelkasten method, where notes serve as building blocks for a larger whole. By linking notes together, you create a network that helps you organize and deepen your thoughts. This network works like a memory palace, where you can always return to earlier ideas to expand or adjust them. It is a way to actively maintain your knowledge and ensure that it remains useful and applicable.

Connecting notes helps you deepen your knowledge. When you truly understand a new idea and add it to what you already know, it becomes a useful tool in your daily life. This requires discipline and perseverance, as you need to look beyond just first impressions and superficial connections. By actively seeking related notes and merging them, you create a system that ensures important ideas and insights remain vibrant and easily accessible.

Related:

• A Zettelkasten is an intelligent conversation with my past thoughts
• Fleeting notes

When you help someone, it is important to provide them with enough information so they can move forward. This doesn’t mean overwhelming them with details, but sharing the key points and useful knowledge they need to progress.

In addition to providing information, it is important to boost the person’s confidence. This can be done by showing how the knowledge they gain can help not only them but also others. When people see that their knowledge and skills can positively impact others, they often feel more motivated and confident. This can be achieved, for example, by encouraging them to give advice to friends, which not only deepens their own understanding but also increases their confidence.

In training sessions and workshops, encouraging mutual advice can be a powerful way to enhance participants' confidence and motivation. By giving participants the opportunity to share their knowledge and help others, they discover their own skills and the value they can offer. This not only aids their own learning process but also fosters a culture of collaboration and support, ultimately leading to a more engaged and confident group of people.

Related:

• Use your own words to express your own thoughts
• Rephrasing a text helps me to better understand what the author means
• A Zettelkasten is an intelligent conversation with my past thoughts
• Reserve quality time for reading; only with full attention can you make the shift from ‘reading for information’ to ‘reading for knowledge’
• When information is easy to understand, people are more likely to trust it
• Self-talk

Most decisions in life are not final. These decisions, also known as Type 2 decisions, can easily be reversed if they do not yield the desired result. This is different from Type 1 decisions, which have consequences that are difficult or impossible to reverse. By acting quickly on decisions that can be reversed, we can save time and resources that would otherwise be spent on overthinking and analyzing.

The Pareto principle, which states that 80% of results come from 20% of efforts, can help with this. Instead of striving for complete certainty, which is often not possible, we can make decisions based on the most important 20% of information we have. This makes the decision-making process faster and allows us to act and learn from the results more quickly.

Taking quick decisions that can easily be reversed gives us the opportunity to test what works and what doesn’t in practice. Often, you only truly know if a decision is good when you try it out. If the result is not good, you can easily adjust or reverse the decision. This process of deciding, testing, and adjusting allows for a flexible approach, enabling us to make progress faster and respond better to changes.

Related:

• Take the time before doing something you can’t undo
• Try to complete new tasks on the day you receive them
• Start with as little as possible and add complexity as you go

When you rewrite a text in your own words, you have to think carefully about what is written and what it means. This helps you to understand the main ideas and arguments of the writer and to express them in a way that is clear to you. By doing this, you gain a better understanding of the text because you are not just reading, but also actively engaging with the information.

Rephrasing helps you to better understand a text. Just like with modern art, it is important to know what the writer means and in what context the text was written. By repeating a text in your own words, you think about the context and how it connects to what you already know. This can give you new insights and help you to better understand the writer’s message.

Finally, rewriting a text helps you to learn better and understand its meaning. It gives you the opportunity to engage in a conversation with the writer and discover what he or she means. By actively engaging with the text, you cannot only understand it better but also appreciate it and add it to what you already know. This makes reading an engaging and educational experience, where you not only absorb information but also build new knowledge.

Related:

• Use your own words to express your own thoughts
• A Zettelkasten is an intelligent conversation with my past thoughts
• When helping someone, give that person enough information and boost their confidence by showing how that information can help others
• Keep essential information in your mind so you can access it quickly without having to look it up
• Reserve quality time for reading; only with full attention can you make the shift from ‘reading for information’ to ‘reading for knowledge’

During the mornings, work in 90-minute cycles separated by 20-minute breaks.

Related:

• Before you start (a task, a work session, a project…), set a time budget
• Avoid excessive task switching to increase efficiency
• A 5-minute unstructured break is enough to regain your focus
• Schedule two hours every day for important work that doesn’t need to be completed immediately; this helps you become happier and more productive
• Creative tasks are best done while low on energy
• Spend a little attention on planning and organizing your tasks, but not more than necessary; then, get to work
• Monthly map
• Environment
• Time to flow
• Morning productivity
• Time buckets

Give your mind time to wander.

Related:

• A videoconference provokes a narrow focus on the screen, which hinders divergent thinking
• Any personal effectiveness system that helps to get tasks out of your mind is Getting Things Done
• Doing nothing is more fun than we think
• People with a wandering mind (ADHD) are motivated by actions that captivate, create, compete, or complete
• Take the time to think about, dream of, and look forward to future activities
• Do the right thing, in the right way, and at the right moment
• Creative tasks are best done while low on energy
• Messy work environments have no effect on either creativity or executive functions
• Mindfulness meditation reduces the size of your amygdala, making you less prone to distractions and procrastination
• Monthly map
• Inspiration
• Fleeting notes
• Even a single guided meditation of ten minutes can help you concentrate better

Multitasking means trying to do multiple things at once. This causes your attention to be divided, making it harder to focus on one task. When your attention is divided, you are more likely to make mistakes or miss important details. As a result, you often have to spend more time correcting these mistakes, which makes you less productive. Research shows that most people are not good at multitasking without their work suffering.

Multitasking can also lead to “attention residue.” This means that when you switch from one task to another, part of your attention remains on the previous task. This makes it harder to fully concentrate on the new task, reducing your efficiency. Constantly switching between tasks can also be tiring, making it harder to think clearly and make good decisions.

To be more productive, it is often better to focus on one task at a time, also known as monotasking. By giving your full attention to one task, you can complete it faster and with fewer errors. This means not only finishing faster but also producing higher quality work. Although some people are good at multitasking, this is not true for most people. Therefore, it is usually better to avoid multitasking for tasks that require a lot of attention..

Related:

• Avoid excessive task switching to increase efficiency
• A small part of the population is able to multitask without performance reduction
• Do the right thing, in the right way, and at the right moment
• Attention residue
• Singletasking
• Responsiveness
• Switch costs

Capture your mind wandering while reading; get into a conversation with the author.

Related:

• Use your own words to express your own thoughts
• A Zettelkasten is an intelligent conversation with my past thoughts
• Connect notes to start a conversation with your own thoughts
• Appreciate the feedback you receive and be deliberate about the feedback you give
• Reserve quality time for reading; only with full attention can you make the shift from ‘reading for information’ to ‘reading for knowledge’
• Scatterfocus
• Motive

When you write information in your own words, you really need to understand what it is about. This helps you remember the information better and form your own opinion. It is an active way to engage with new ideas, rather than just reading what others have written.

It is important to use your own words because there is a big difference between highlighting text and writing down your own thoughts. Highlighting and making notes usually happens while reading, but taking notes happens while thinking. By using your own words, you move from passive reading to active thinking. This helps you think more deeply about what you read and gain new ideas and insights that you might otherwise miss.

Additionally, writing down your thoughts in your own words can help you clarify and better understand your ideas. Writing forces you to organize your thoughts, which can lead to a better understanding of difficult topics. It also helps you convey your own opinions and arguments more clearly. In short, using your own words to express your thoughts is important for personal and intellectual growth.

Related:

• To get better ideas, group members first write down their own ideas
• Rephrasing a text helps me to better understand what the author means
• A Zettelkasten is an intelligent conversation with my past thoughts
• When helping someone, give that person enough information and boost their confidence by showing how that information can help others
• Fleeting notes
• Think

This happens because the things you see influence how you feel. Seeing others working hard reminds you to stay focused yourself. This idea is often used in places like libraries and cafes, where people work together and create a productive atmosphere.

When you see others working hard, it can make you feel like you need to work harder too. This is because you feel responsible and experience social pressure. Research shows that people try harder when they see others performing a difficult task. Working in an environment with focused people can help you concentrate better and be more productive. Therefore, try working in a coffee shop or library, where you are surrounded by others who are also working.

Related:

• A videoconference provokes a narrow focus on the screen, which hinders divergent thinking
• Add some art to your workplace for reduced stress and increased creativity and productivity
• Large organizations extinguish employees' passion
• Environment

Skip the easy wins and tackle the hard task first.

Related:

• Do the right thing, in the right way, and at the right moment
• Link the desired behavior to a clear signal
• Mindfulness meditation reduces the size of your amygdala, making you less prone to distractions and procrastination
• Time to flow
• Responsiveness
• Time buckets

Research into the use of sit-stand desks shows that these desks do not directly lead to higher productivity at work. Although they are popular for reducing the drawbacks of prolonged sitting, they have little impact on how well people perform their tasks.

However, sit-stand desks can help create a healthier work environment by offering the option to alternate between sitting and standing. This can lead to a better work experience and well-being, which may have a positive impact on productivity in the long term. For immediate productivity improvement, other factors such as work processes and technology are likely more important.

Related:

• Ensure that your computer screen is large enough so that you can view both the work document and the reference material at the same time

When you get stuck, talk to the duck.

Related:

• Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right
• A Zettelkasten is an intelligent conversation with my past thoughts
• When helping someone, give that person enough information and boost their confidence by showing how that information can help others
• Environment
• Motivation
• Gratitude
• Interruptions
• Word choice

Physical cues affect our state of mind and can be used to switch between different productive modes.

Related:

• Add some art to your workplace for reduced stress and increased creativity and productivity
• An increase of 10 dB noise in the workplace reduces productivity by 5%
• Choose a workplace where you can see other people focused on their tasks. This will help you concentrate better.
• Clean air boosts your mental power
• Take regular ‘thinking walks’ to change your brain to enhance thinking, creativity and memory
• Do the right thing, in the right way, and at the right moment
• Link the desired behavior to a clear signal
• Work in a daylit workspace
• Messy work environments have no effect on either creativity or executive functions
• A moderate level of background noise enhances creativity
• Work cycle
• Self-talk
• Ventilate
• Interruptions
• Less mobile
• Habit

Three core principles of effectiveness and productivity. It starts with identifying the right tasks that contribute to your goals and priorities. This means being able to distinguish what is truly important from what merely seems urgent. The concept of “do the right things” comes into play here, where you focus on tasks that have the greatest impact on your long-term goals.

Next, it is crucial to execute these tasks in the right way. This involves using methods and techniques that are efficient and effective. For example, by starting with simple steps and gradually adding complexity, you can better manage and complete the task. It is also important to minimize interruptions and focus on one task at a time, as multitasking reduces productivity.

Finally, you need to find the right timing to perform these tasks. This means planning your workday so that you tackle the most demanding tasks when your energy and concentration are at their peak. It is also helpful to group tasks and complete them in batches to increase efficiency. By finding a balance between focused work and adequate free time, you can maximize your productivity without burnout. Finding the right timing helps you to be consistently and sustainably productive.

Related:

• Any personal effectiveness system that helps to get tasks out of your mind is Getting Things Done
• High carb meals slow reactions, but high protein meals can make you more distracted
• Your own implementation is the correct way of doing GTD
• Our (productivity) issues are not new. Read the great masters and find answers to current issues
• Try to complete new tasks on the day you receive them
• Spend a little attention on planning and organizing your tasks, but not more than necessary; then, get to work
• Attempting to do two or more attention-demanding tasks simultaneously reduces productivity
• Scatterfocus
• Monthly map
• Frog eating
• Environment
• Interruptions
• Time to flow
• Eufriction
• Time buckets

Explore a map for each month’s cycle that not only includes things to do, but also things to avoid.

Related:

• Any personal effectiveness system that helps to get tasks out of your mind is Getting Things Done
• Take the time to think about, dream of, and look forward to future activities
• Do the right thing, in the right way, and at the right moment
• Modern work is unconfined work
• Take the time before doing something you can’t undo
• Spend a little attention on planning and organizing your tasks, but not more than necessary; then, get to work
• Scatterfocus
• Work cycle
• Hard work