In today’s world, it seems like everyone is looking for ways to be more productive. There are countless books, articles, and apps dedicated to helping us get more done in less time. But what if the key to productivity isn’t about time management at all?
That’s the argument made by David Kadavy in his book, Mind Management, Not Time Management. Kadavy argues that traditional time management techniques are flawed because they focus on the wrong thing. Instead of trying to squeeze more tasks into our already-busy schedules, we should be focusing on managing our mental energy.
Kadavy’s book is full of practical advice on how to do just that. He suggests that we start by identifying our “creative sweet spot,” which is the time of day when we’re most productive. We should then schedule our most important tasks for that time period.
Kadavy also emphasizes the importance of taking breaks throughout the day. He says that when we’re feeling mentally drained, we’re not going to be productive no matter how much time we have. Instead, we should take a few minutes to relax and recharge.
“Mind management not time management
1. Being productive today isn’t about time management, it’s about mind management.
2. Time management optimizes the resource of time. Mind management optimizes the resource of creative energy.
3. Not all hours are created equal: If you write for an hour a day, within a year you’ll have a book. But you can’t instead simply write for 365 hours straight, and get the same result.
4. The First Hour Rule is simply this: Spend the first hour of your day working on your most important project.
5. If you start your day working on the most important thing, there’s less of a chance for other things to get in the way.
6. Sometimes your mind is better-suited to think creatively. Sometimes your mind is better-suited to think analytically.
7. The point of time is not to fill as much life as possible into a given unit of time. The point of time is to use time as a guide to living a fulfilling life.
8. A one-hour increase in average daily sleep raises productivity by more than a one-year increase in education.
9. When you randomly switch from one activity to another, your energy leaks…If you’re doing that all the time, little of your energy is going toward traction.
10. A Harvard study found that the busier knowledge workers were, the less creative they were; this study found that as workers became more busy , they did less creative thinking activities such as; brainstorming. They reported fewer insights and their work was also rated as less creative by their colleagues .
11. Noise level can also affect your ability to think creatively…studies suggest that a background noise level of about seventy decibels is optimal for idea generation.
12. Things are not difficult to make; what is difficult is putting ourselves in the state of mind to make them.”
