1) Bias to progress:

80% of a good strategy is better than waiting for the remaining 20% to become clear.
You’ll learn what actually works and what doesn’t much faster.
“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week” — George Patton.

2) set one main goal each day:

Some fires aren’t worth putting out right away.
Each day pick the highest leverage thing you can do and make sure you get it done.

3) restrict your information sources:

Only read work messages through email, discord, and sms.
If someone wants to message elsewhere, tell them no.
By sticking to a max of 3 you ensure you don’t fall behind.

4) set up sequences:

Sequences are timelines to revisit individual decisions.
Tell yourself (and others) that you’ll revisit a decision at some specific future date.
This saves the mental tax of having it on your mind in the meantime.

5) block off time for email:

Most emails don’t need an immediate response but notifications are hard to ignore.
Use a tool like Mailman to only have messages delivered at set times each day.
and block the 30 minutes off to get through your responses each time.

6) work like a lion:

Lions find food in bursts while cows graze all day.
Compartmentalizing your time for work will increase your output.
If you’re building a startup or early in your career, you’ll need to have those bursts more often than not though.

7) set up meeting breaks:

Never let yourself have only 30 minutes between meetings.
Instead set back-to-backs and longer “breaks” for deep work.
I aim for a minimum 1 hour work block and a max of 3 hours of meetings.

8) the pomodoro method:

1. set uninterrupted time for one task.
2. take a short break.
3. do it again.

It’s surprisingly effective at minimizing switching costs (aka the hidden mental tax you pay when you switch from one thing to another).

9) delegate (respectfully):

You can’t do it all yourself.
Establish clear ownership guidelines for your team for each type of task.
Then give others what they need and get out of their way.
Otherwise you’ll become a bottleneck.

10) genuinely care about relationships:

People will be more likely to help you if they know they can rely on you.
Simply being able to talk through decisions when teammates need it is underrated.
Going the extra mile for them is a productivity unlock for your future self.

Credits: houck