image

This book contains most of the productivity hacks that one comes across in various articles/blogs/books.  In one sense, this book is a laundry list of hacks that one can try out to increase productivity. A big font size for the text and rich images scattered through out the book, makes it a coffee table book.

Some of the hacks that I found interesting are,

  • On a daily basis, Try to use pen and paper at least a few minutes to work something out , be it a math problem or a back of the envelope calculation of something or simply draw images that capture whatever you are working on. Writing makes one’s relation to work intensely personal and more so using a pen and paper.

  • Keep a Swipe file – Your swipe file should contain good ideas and examples from your field of work or interest and from other fields. This hack is spot on for a programmer. You got to keep a folder that lists the tasks and the most efficient code that you have figured out for the task.

  • Force a image or word association with a number and vice-versa. This little hack is very useful for remembering stuff.

  • Declare a MAD – Massive Action Day :  Pick a day and focus on only one task. Switch off TV, Mobile, RSS alerts, email alerts, Internet etc. and work on something for 8-10 hours at a stretch.

  • Keep an “IDEAS BOX” – Twyla Tharp mentions this as a key to her successful career.

  • Make a NOT-TO-DO list. We always seem to know what we need to do and we don’t care or think about what not to do, in a day

  • Use time pods – 45 min time period where you focus on only one task. More on the lines of Pomodoro technique where you work on 25 min time slots.