Productivity & Time Management

Parkinston's Law said: "Work expands so as to fill the time available for it completion"

Create a checklist for all the tasks to do each day and estimate the time needed for each task

Eliminate distractions to focus on work

The secret to becoming more productive is not managing your time but your energy.

Perfectionism will kill your dreams. It is the one thing that separates the winners from the wannabes in almost every area of life.

Go for progress, not perfection! Always keep yourself in a growth oriented mindset, where you're focused on learning, experimentation and getting better!

Your brain is for having ideas, not storing them

الأهداف المرحلية التي تخدم تقدمك إلى الهدف الحقيقي لا تدخل في مشكل تعدد الإهتمامات

Self-control: is primarily rooted in the prefrontal cortex—the planning, problem-solving, and decision making center of the brain—which is significantly larger in humans than in other mammals.

The richness of nerve connections in the prefrontal cortex enables people to plan, evaluate alternative actions, and ideally avoid doing things they'll later regret, rather than immediately respond to every impulse as it arises.

“Focus isn’t a willpower effort one does in the midst of distractions; it’s the act of removing distractions and effortlessly doing what’s left.”

Untouchable hours: These are the hours where I protect my most precious asset; the hours where even the closest people in my life have a hard time reaching me. It’s when even my phone can’t get past the door of the room I’m working in — the rest of the world can wait.

Untouchable Hours: You don’t always have the luxury to choose, though. Some people have day jobs and their untouchable hours for their side projects happen in the early morning before everyone else wakes up. Others have kids and can lock down untouchable time for themselves only after the little ones go to bed.

A busy calendar and a busy mind will destroy your ability to create anything great. You should be too busy to do coffee while keeping an uncluttered calendar.” — Naval Ravikant

تعلم أن تقول لا للفرص الغير مناسبة لك ولا تتماشى مع أهدافك و طموحاتك ولا تخدم تقدمك نحو هدفك الأسمى

Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

The key to success is not working hard. It’s working smart.

Sometimes, working less can actually produce better results.

There’s a notable distinction between being busy and being productive. Being busy doesn’t always necessarily mean you’re being productive.

Being productive is less about time management and more on managing your energy. It’s the business of life. It’s learning how to spend the least amount of energy to get the most benefits.

The more you work, the less effective and productive you become over both the short and long term, states a 1980 report from The Business Roundtable titled “Scheduled Overtime Effect on Construction Projects.”

It’s important for us not to overwork ourselves and get enough sleep to maintain a high level of productivity. Next time you’re wondering why you may not be working productively, the reason may be simple as you being deprived of adequate sleep.

According to the Pareto principle, 20 percent of the effort produces 80 percent of the results; however, 20 percent of the results consumes 80 percent of the effort.

Instead of working harder, we should focus primarily on the efforts that produce the majority of the results and forgot the rest.

The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say “NO” to almost everything.

Lower the activation energy for habits you want to adopt and raise it for habits you want to avoid. The more we can lower or even eliminate the activation energy for our desired actions, the more we enhance our ability to jump-start positive change.

Stop doing everything yourself and start letting people help you. It’s important for us to realize we can seek help when we need it. Sometimes it’s impossible to do everything ourselves. It‘s better to let someone, or a team, share the work, giving you more time to focus on the most important tasks.

Just having friends nearby can push you toward productivity.

“Distractable people get more done when there is someone else there, even if he isn’t coaching or assisting them.”

If you’re facing a task that is dull or difficult, such as cleaning out your closets or pulling together your receipts for tax time, get a friend to be your body double.

Stop being a perfectionist!!! “We found that perfectionism trips up professors on the way to research productivity. The more perfectionistic the professor, the less productive they are,” Dr. Simon Sherry, a psychology professor at Dalhousie University

Perfectionist Problems: - They spend more time than required on a task. - They procrastinate and wait for the perfect moment. In business, if it is the perfect moment, you are too late. - They miss the big picture while focusing too much on the small details.

It’s also important to understand that we don’t become more productive overnight. Like everything in life, it requires effort and practice.

Change doesn’t happen just by sitting around and waiting for it. Instead, take the time to learn more about your body and find actionable ways to optimize your energy and time for a more successful and happier life.

The Healing Power of Sleep! New science shows that sleep is essential to our mental and physical health — and most of us aren’t getting enough.

If you are in problem solving business, such as software development, it is very important to get your heartbeat up at least few times a week. You should do this not only for physical reasons, but for the mental boost it gives you.

Interactions with people usually open totally new ways to see the problem and help you find a solution.

When you have so much to learn, it gets VERY hard to stay focused.

The idea of saying, "Yes, but not right now" is really powerful. 

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method that can be used for any task.

The anxiety triggered by “the ticking clock”, especially when it involves a deadline, leads to ineffective work and study habits which in turn lead to procrastination.

You should always work really hard, and put in your very best effort, but not for endless tweaking and perfection, that is a manifestation of procrastination and fear.

If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you have launched too late

No matter how perfect you think you've gotten, you're probably going to change it, there is no shame in growing and improving your work.

Starting small and sucky beats staying stucky.

المثالية أوطلب الكمال - مشكل نفسي يكمن في الرغبة في انجاز أعمال بلا عيوب، يعاني منه ، الكثير لكن بدرجات متفاوتة، حيث قد يصل تأثيره إلى حرمان المصاب به من أي إنجاز في الحياة

التأثيرات السلبية للمثالية: 1- تجنب بدأ العمل بسبب رفع مستوى التوقعات من النتيجة النهائية، حيث يبدو العمل اكثر صعوبة وفي غير المتناول مما يؤدي إلى التسويف المتواصل أو إلغائه تماما.

التأثيرات السلبية للمثالية: 2- عدم إكمال العمل عند مواجهة أي صعوبة بسبب الإحساس بعدم القدرة على إكمال العمل بصفة مثالية مما يسبب الإحباط و ترك العمل

كيف تتخلص من المثالية: 1- إسع لإحراز تقدم وليس الوصول إلى المثالية، فالبعمل الميداني تكتسب الخبرة التي تمكنك من إنجاز أعمال ذات جودة عالية

علاج المثالية: المحاولة المستمرة و التعلم من الأخطاء هي أفضل استراتيجية لتحقيق نتائج رائعة و مميزة

علاج المثالية: - بدأ العمل مع القدر الكافي من التفكير و البحث وتعلم من الأخطاء أفضل من التسويف و عدم البدأ أساسا، فطول التفكير و البحث المستمر عن كل الحلول غير مجدي قبل بداية العمل، فهناك تفاصيل لا تظهر إلى أثناء ممارسة العمل الميداني.

علاج المثالية: - الخبرة العملية هي التي تمكنك من تحويل الفكرة و التصور الذهني إلى عمل حقيقي، و الخبرة لا تحصل عليها إلا بالتجربة و التعلم من الأخطاء

علاج المثالية: - إحراز تقدم و لو بسيط هو الطريق الصحيح، فلا داعي للإحباط من عدم مثالية النتائج

علاج المثالية: 2- إبدأ أي عمل على مسودة أو نموذج أولي و توقع أن يكون مستواه سيء و مليء بالأخطاء، والهدف إكتشاف العقبات و الأخطاء بسرعة وتفاديها في العمل النهائي

علاج المثالية: 3- حدد مواعيد انتهاء لكل عمل و لكل مرحلة، وخاصة مرحلة البحث و التخطيط و العمل على النموذج الأولي، ثم قم بتسليم العمل في الموعد مهما كانت النتائج -في حدود المقبول طبعا-، لأن هناك دائما مجال للتطوير والتحسين و التعلم من الأخطاء.

علاج المثالية: 4- تقبل القليل من عدم الرضى على مستوى أعمالك و الذي ينشأ بسبب ظاهرة فجوة الإبداع، التي قد تؤدي إلى الإحباط و ترك العمل نهائيا.

علاج المثالية: 5- لا يجب ان يكون العمل مثاليا ليكون نافعا، فالمثالية تسبب الإحباط و العجز و عدم الرغبة في إنجاز أعمال نافعة بحجة عدم القدرة على انجاز أعمال خالية من العيوب، و في الحقيقة بعض التفاصيل و العيوب البسيطة لا تنقص من مقدار المنفعة التي يحققها العمل