Over the past 6 months as COVID has raged around the world, millions and millions of people have had to switch abruptly from working in an office, to working from home. Even if you had previous experience occasionally working remotely, you’ve probably noticed that doing it FULL-TIME is a completely different experience. You need a radically higher level of…
I rage quit my consulting job in June of 2013. I had had enough of the consulting world. Enough of the overwork and burnout, enough of the lack of guidance and support, and enough of working on other people’s goals instead of my own. A couple weeks later, on my first day newly unemployed, I…
It is NOT easy OR cheap to “hire a VA.” But if done right, it is profoundly transformational not just for your daily workload but for your quality of life. I recently hosted a comprehensive, two-hour online workshop with the founder of Great Assistant, Tim Francis. Tim’s company is a three-part hydra: one part recruiting service, one part…
By Kathryn Tongg 1. Establish the preferred method of communication right away. Everyone has a way they prefer to communicate. Whether this is via phone, text, email or other app such as Slack, determine upfront what your client prefers. This will ensure you’re both on the same page with clear expectations. 2. Be patient in…
The most important practice that I recommend everyone adopt for their personal productivity is a Weekly Review – a regular reflection on their priorities and goals designed to give them a sense of clarity for the upcoming week. Whether you adopt the Getting Things Done method or something else isn’t important. It doesn’t matter whether you…
In The Weekly Review is an Operating System, I detailed the process I go through each week to capture any new open loops, clear my workspaces, and nail down the events and commitments for the week. In this article, I’d like to do the same for my Monthly Review (MR). Because the MR touches on…
Matthew Crawford’s book The World Beyond Your Head (Affiliate Link) is the most important book I’ve read in quite some time. It makes a sweeping argument about what it means to be an ethical, autonomous human in the digital age. Crawford draws a strong connection from the distractions buzzing on our phones, to the evolving…
I believe that moods (or less colloquially, states of mind) can be used not just defensively, making the best of whatever mood you’re in (as I described in Productivity for Precious Snowflakes). They can also be used offensively, to proactively create the conditions for rapid acceleration and value creation. Let’s begin with a simple question:…
Originally published on the Evernote blog To learn more, check out our online bootcamp on Personal Knowledge Management, Building a Second Brain. Consider a typical working session of a couple hours. You set aside the time, silence your phone, and clear your desk, determined to finish some Work of Real Value. We know that time…
This is my review of Cal Newport’s new book Deep Work (affiliate link), in which he makes the case that cultivating a capacity for intense concentration is the key competitive skill in the new knowledge economy. First, this is a well-written, thoughtful book with relevant stories and practical how-to’s for cultivating focus. I’m a fan…
By Tiago Forte of Forte Labs To learn more, check out our online bootcamp on Personal Knowledge Management, Building a Second Brain. I recently had the privilege of joining David Allen on his members-only In Conversation podcast. This is the only public place you can listen to it (1 hour, download available): Our main subject…
Mapping my habits using network theory By Tiago Forte of Forte Labs The modern science of network theory can be traced directly back to Königsberg, the prosperous 16th century capital of the Duchy of Prussia. Specifically, it can be traced to its seven bridges, which connected two islands in the river Pregel to each other and…