1. Redefining Success
1.1. Why:
1.1.1. To set the "Thermostat" for your life at where you want.
1.1.1.1. Your life will inevitably move up or down toward your own success thermostat...
1.1.2. Having a vision written down that you can regularly re-visit, is one of the proven ways to achieve what you really want.
1.1.3. Create a habit of Daily Success Log (5x per week is fine)
1.2. Think long-term
1.2.1. 7 questions to brainstorm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjUQTO7vb9Y
1.3. Be an Essentialist
1.3.1. First say yes to any oppty, then as things get busier, and clearer about whom you best serve, practice essentialism...
1.3.2. See my notes here: http://j.mp/1gbTqmR
1.4. Do Deep Work: http://j.mp/1kwqpU7
1.5. Executive Toughness
1.5.1. Summary of concepts: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1286092547
1.5.2. Top 3 Priorities
1.5.3. Life Vision
1.5.4. KPGs
1.5.5. Daily Success Log
1.6. Focus on Systems, not Goals
1.6.1. https://plus.google.com/+GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/HB3Uyh8P96K
1.7. Success as Spiritual Growth
1.7.1. Redefining Success as Spiritual Growth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1eaZMWQMMs
1.7.2. Purpose of Life -- longterm, midterm, shortterm... https://medium.com/@georgekao/the-purpose-of-life-db94e6915b1c
1.8. How to not fear "hard work"
1.8.1. Practice Discomfort? Why and How: http://j.mp/1GKnmCp
1.8.2. The most important "hard work" is to make your work easy: http://j.mp/1WxrlEh
1.9. We are here for the sake of each other
1.9.1. Einstein quote: https://www.fb.com/GeorgeKao/posts/10103721911077173
1.10. Build Your Integrity Daily
1.10.1. https://medium.com/@georgekao/how-to-build-integrity-5b88f50556ff
1.11. When You Encounter Setbacks
1.11.1. Remember your destiny is secure: http://j.mp/1Jo2GAf
2. Time
2.1. Your Ideal Schedule & "Time Buckets"
2.1.1. Stop "spinning" by feeling like you should be working all the time. Think in terms of "time buckets".
2.1.2. Big Rocks
2.1.3. Ideal Day
2.1.3.1. A day is a good day if I've done my _____
2.1.3.1.1. Writing
2.1.3.1.2. Fitness
2.1.3.1.3. Spiritual practice
2.1.3.1.4. Reading
2.1.4. Ideal Week
2.1.4.1. My template: https://goo.gl/3Z9S0U
2.1.4.2. Have "theme days" where each day of the week is working on a different project, or several days per big project.
2.1.5. Ideal Year
2.1.5.1. It's important to determine your vacation (and maybe enrollment, or business trip) weeks so you can determine your weeks of consistent revenue-generation: https://goo.gl/1W5siF
2.1.6. Allow your "ideal" to compromise with your "flow
2.1.6.1. "Ideal" is an intentional design, but it's based on your limited human predictions
2.1.6.2. Throughout the day, watch your energy. As your energy strongly shifts to another productive activity -- including rest! -- heed your inner guidance system
2.1.6.3. And if you find a pattern (e.g. during a particular time of day you tend to feel a certain way) update your ideal schedule design accordingly!
2.1.7. "You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine." ~John Maxwell
2.1.7.1. So be intentional about designing your daily routine!
2.1.7.2. It's fine to have different routine on the weekend or whenever you break during the week.
2.2. 80/20 Rule -- try to eliminate 80% of your activities, and keep the 20% most effective, most fulfilling, and scale those...
2.2.1. This is a principle, not literal, but very helpful perspective
2.3. Consciously design your morning routine: http://j.mp/1RQBuKI
2.4. Daily Reviews: start & end the day with a clean slate. Amazing psychological benefits, and clarity / lack of overwhelm.
2.4.1. See Morning Review, End of Day Review, here: http://j.mp/1qfIrL1
2.5. Automated Scheduling
2.5.1. I use and love Acuity: http://AcuityScheduling.com
2.6. Practice Setting Appts with Self
2.6.1. http://j.mp/1GKnzpo
2.7. A better relationship with your alarm
2.7.1. Practice this at least 3 times -- set your phone alarm for 1 minute. When it goes off, move your body. Reprogram your muscle memory relationship with your alarm.
2.7.2. Use your alarm to help you manage your trances.
2.7.3. Get on your bed. Set alarm for 2 minutes. When it goes off, get up. Do this at least 3 times to practice muscle memory.
2.8. Time Logging
2.8.1. Know what you actually do... and what you want to keep doing or stop doing!
2.8.2. It's about creating more precision in your awareness about Time.
2.8.3. Because of lack of time awareness, try setting reminders each hour to notify you to check in on your Time Logging.
2.8.4. Do this for 2 weeks, like a food journal. Won't be perfect but it's like meditation, just keep coming back.
2.8.5. Tools:
2.8.5.1. www.toggl.com
2.8.5.2. www.atimelogger.com (I prefer this)
2.8.6. SIMPLER:
2.8.7. Every even hour (8am, 10am, 12pm etc), pause for 1 minute. Write down what did in past 2 hours, and what will do in the next 2 hours.
2.9. Use Timer For Time Suckers (manage your trances)
2.9.1. www.ggtimer.com
2.9.2. Set it for 5-15 minutes.
2.9.3. Examples
2.9.3.1. Facebook
2.9.3.2. Info consumption / learning
2.9.3.3. How much you are sitting
2.9.4. When done, gotta get up, take a deep breath, what is the Best thing to do now? Don't hesitate: do it.
2.9.5. Manage your trances: http://j.mp/1NrIlu6
2.10. Pomodoro Technique
2.10.1. This has been life-changing for some of my clients
2.10.2. Read all about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique
2.11. If I had more time, I would...
2.11.1. Try this exercise: http://fb.com/GeorgeKao/posts/10103853015917023
3. Ideas & Tasks
3.1. Thought Decluttering & Task Prioritization
3.1.1. ...so that you don't feel like in your business, your to-do list is never-ending. You need to know you don't have to do so much.
3.1.2. Write 7 lists, as long as you want, about:
3.1.2.1. What's on your mind for things that need to get done, changed, or followed up with
3.1.2.2. What you need help with
3.1.2.3. Priorities for this Year
3.1.2.4. Priorities for This Month
3.1.2.5. What activities energize you
3.1.2.6. What activities drain you
3.1.2.7. What else is coming to mind (can be stream of consciousness)
3.1.3. ...then associate the important activities with your Time Buckets.
3.2. Idea Capture System (your brain is not a storage device)
3.2.1. e.g. http://Todoist.com on mobile device & on computer.
3.2.2. Rhythm of putting ideas into the right buckets (or immediately)
3.2.3. If you don't do this, your brain will keep bugging you, all day long. It drains a *lot* of energy.
3.2.4. This is core to the "GTD" system.
3.2.5. Albert Einstein himself wouldn't bother to remember his own phone number -- he didn't want to waste his brain on that
3.3. Slim List vs a To-Do List
3.3.1. Why?
3.3.1.1. A to-do list is visually overwhelming and that surprisingly stops us in our tracks -- our brains are easily blocked by visual complexity.
3.3.1.2. Instead, a "slim list" only has 1 to 3 items on it ... the rest of the paper or document is totally blank, so there is visual simplicity and therefore, focus.
3.3.2. How
3.3.2.1. Start by opening a blank document or piece of paper. Title this "Slim List"
3.3.2.2. Then on your normal to-do list, write down everything else that is bugging you to get done today or soon
3.3.2.2.1. Writing things down signals to your brain to stop bugging you!
3.3.2.3. From your to-do list, ask yourself, "If I only got 3 things done today, what must they be?" Transfer those 3 things onto your Slim List
3.3.2.4. Now throughout the day you always first look at your Slim List. Get something done from there. And then if you run out of things to do, repeat the previous 2 steps.
3.3.2.5. You'll find your days being much more focused! Your life will be far more productive over time!
3.3.3. What if
3.3.3.1. If you find that day by day you keep writing the same item(s), then it's time to either of these 3 thins you need to do:
3.3.3.1.1. (1) break down the thing you're writing into more doable steps
3.3.3.1.2. (2) decide to eliminate it (we all need less to do!), or if it's really that important to you but you are energetically drained by it
3.3.3.1.3. (3) decide to delegate it!
3.3.4. Warren Buffet's prioritization strategy: http://j.mp/1K03qLV
3.4. Look at your task list daily, e.g. using Daily Reviews
3.5. Task Management Tools
3.5.1. http://Todoist.com
3.5.1.1. Bills to pay
3.5.1.2. Clients to follow up with
3.5.1.3. Projects & Tasks
3.5.2. Wunderlist
3.5.2.1. Collaborative shopping list
3.5.3. Google Docs for planning
3.5.4. http://Todoport.com
3.6. Temporal & Physical Placeholders
3.6.1. Brainstorm the 3-5 main areas of your business, e.g. Marketing, Client Services, Finances, Admin
3.6.2. Create temporal and physical placeholders for each of these areas.
3.6.3. Temporal Placeholders are your Time Buckets.
3.6.4. Physical placeholders are folders or areas of your office dedicated for each Topic.
3.7. Email Productivity
3.7.1. This is my most popular blog post: http://j.mp/1MScZdH
3.8. Using Google Drive
3.8.1. Frequently send files to others? Upload it to Google Drive, then get a link, then put it in a Draft email as a template.
3.9. When Overwhelmed, what to do:
3.9.1. See "Energy" then the "Overwhelm" node
4. Energy
4.1. Getting better sleep
4.1.1. Try these 3 techniques http://fb.com/GeorgeKao/videos/vb.1234621/10104431945637223/?type=2&theater
4.2. Eat healthier
4.2.1. Breakfast: http://j.mp/1J55hhC
4.2.2. Whenever possible, low glycemic snacks
4.3. More time in nature
4.3.1. Has your doctor prescribed it? :)
4.4. Rhythms of Renewal
4.4.1. Yearly renewal (vacation weeks punctuated throughout the year)
4.4.2. Weekly renewal (weekends off or a few other days a week)
4.4.3. Daily renewal -- evening routines and breaks throughout the day
4.5. Micro-routines to help you enjoy work
4.5.1. http://j.mp/1PkLxc1
4.6. Visualization
4.6.1. Picture the ideal vision
4.6.2. Feel what it feels like
4.6.3. See yourself doing the thing you want to be doing
4.6.4. See yourself doing the thing you need to do today/tomorrow to realize the vision
4.7. Overcoming Overwhelm
4.7.1. Write Doable Steps
4.7.1.1. “The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks, and then starting on that first one.” ~ Mark Twain
4.7.2. Apply Temporary Constraints: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/overwhelmed
4.7.3. Brainstorm, Prioritize, Experiment: https://www.fb.com/GeorgeKao/videos/10104399411271353
4.8. Bless anything that annoys you...
4.8.1. https://plus.google.com/u/0/+GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/V7kVmiK29WP
4.9. Energy Awareness & Recovery
4.9.1. Green Yellow Red: http://j.mp/1tZ47IL -- everytime you see a traffic light, let it be a trigger to ask yourself the question what color am I in, and what can I do to move to green right now?
4.9.2. Breathe Gratitude Smile Play: http://j.mp/1GwlFEW
4.9.3. Notice your facial expression: http://j.mp/1CkWrKV
4.10. Reminders for Energy Awareness
4.10.1. Post-it Notes
4.10.2. Doorways
4.10.3. Recurring phone alarm. iPhone app "Alarmed" Dayminder option
4.11. Plug Up Energy Sinks
4.11.1. Turn off Notifications!
4.11.1.1. Facebook sounds
4.11.1.2. Phone sounds
4.11.1.3. Computer notifications
4.11.1.4. Email notifications
4.11.1.5. Other things that ping or visually bug you
4.11.2. Visual Simplicity when using the browser
4.11.2.1. Try using http://One-Tab.com
4.11.2.2. Try your browser’s “Presentation Mode”
4.11.3. Unsubscribe from all email lists except the top 3 you actually read... http://www.Unroll.me
4.11.4. Clear your desktop regularly
4.12. Increase Intelligence Via Daily Content Creation
4.12.1. Let's design a daily content habit that will get your ideas & energy moving... it will make you smarter by building your Thought Leader muscles.
4.12.2. It's got to be at a time you enjoy, and a reasonable part of your schedule.
4.12.3. For me it's daily short videos on my dog walks then quick summary in writing.
4.12.4. 5 ideas: http://j.mp/1LjQDVd
4.13. Altucher's "Idea Machine"
4.13.1. Here's my resource about it: http://j.mp/1TB0IQ0
4.13.2. This exercise has had profound impact on some of my clients.
4.14. Thought Replacement
4.14.1. To notice certain limiting thoughts e.g. “we are isolated here” -- and replace them with Truth
4.14.2. This is like meditation, except it happens all throughout the day and night.
4.14.3. Just keep coming back to Truth.
4.15. Enjoying your work
4.15.1. Notice the pleasurable details of the task before you
4.15.2. Eliminate distractions
4.15.2.1. See "plug up energy sinks"
4.15.3. See "overcoming overwhelm" > write doable stepes
4.15.3.1. here
4.15.4. See the bigger spiritual picture
4.16. When you encounter a "failure" or setback...
4.16.1. Remember the bigger spiritual truth: https://www.fb.com/GeorgeKao/posts/10103862574880783
4.16.2. And remember that Life is about Experiments: https://www.fb.com/GeorgeKao/posts/10103811427675193
4.17. Virtual Co-Working
4.17.1. http://georgekao.com/coworking
5. Habits
5.1. Use questions: https://medium.com/@georgekao/use-questions-to-form-habits-b6c1837ebb35
5.2. "Better than Before" by Gretchen Rubin: http://j.mp/1BJONKi
5.3. 27 Foundational Habits for Success: http://j.mp/1KktGeW -- use a "habit waiting list"!
5.4. Epic List of Business Habits: http://j.mp/1QJRAWt
6. Affordable Outsourcing
6.1. For anything technical, design-related, content (writing, video, audio), or even keeping you accountable.
6.2. http://Fiverr.com -- how to use it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHjhlsuROLE
6.3. http://Upwork.com (previously called oDesk) -- how to use it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep5Dnhm9jsQ
6.4. Tips on hiring: https://www.mindmeister.com/436857741
6.5. Be open to having volunteers help spread your message
6.5.1. Put up a page on your site welcoming volunteers and specifying what you'd like help with
7. Additional Productivity Tools
7.1. Desktop Productivity
7.1.1. 3 Folders only
7.1.1.1. To File
7.1.1.2. Frequent
7.1.1.3. Reference
7.1.2. Everyday, clear To File
7.1.3. Every Monday, clear "Frequent"
7.2. Learn how to search better
7.2.1. https://medium.com/@georgekao/internet-search-tips-d74d59367021
7.3. Google Chrome Tools
7.3.1. One-Tab
7.3.2. Momentum
7.3.3. Pin all tabs
7.3.3.1. http://j.mp/1K05mnK
7.3.4. Open-all-bookmarks