Part I

1.Make work packages (pants, socks, piles of

little tasks)

Group tasks of the same type and do them together. Your brain will work on the same wavelength which saves time on immersion in a task context. Don’t switch to minor tasks, if it’s possible to do them later because each “break” costs

you time on getting back to main work and getting the right tempo. Gather all trifles in a “pile” or a “package” and do

them at one sitting.

2. Eat a toad in the morning

If you have urgent, important but unpleasant tasks, do them! It would be better to do them right in the morning.

Unfulfilled important tasks will lie heavy on you all day long. Distract. Demotivate. Make it a rule for yourself: do the most unpleasant tasks in the first place. You can do the tasks you

like anytime in any mood.

3. Get off a dead horse

Don’t waste your time and energy on something that has already outrun itself. Search for alternatives, develop

yourself, go further. “Natural selection” works in every sphere of life, don’t resist nature.

4. Do important and non-urgent tasks in the first

place

Crises don’t spring up spontaneously. As a rule, we come to them. And you can decrease the quantity of crises (at least

those that depend on you). Define a task circle which is important for you and do it! Don’t allow important tasks to

become more and more urgent.

5. Divide and conquer, eat an elephant in small

bites

Solve large-scale tasks in parts. It will help you to deal with a system of any complexity without losing important but non-

obvious details. Divide et impera!

6. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a

single step

Every great thing consists of trifles. If you want to achieve a goal, you need to move towards it. Make the first step.

7. Proactivity, not reactivity

Your actions totally depend on you. Don’t react to outer irritators momentarily. Stop for a second. Feel the moment, a period between a stimulus and reaction. Freedom of actions

starts here, your independent will.

8. You can redeem the money, not time

Well, it’s obvious :)

9. Sharpen your sawA saw is your personality. It consists of 4 elements: spiritual, mental,

physical and social/emotional. All of them need support and development. Stephen Covey provides a great example when a

person meets another person sawing a tree in a forest. The first one notices that the saw got blunted and it’s very hard for the other

person to continue the work. After advice that it would be better to sharpen the saw so that the process is faster and easier, the other

person says: “I’m busy! I don’t have time for sharpening! I’m sawing!”

10. There is no substitute for hard work

Luck is just an illusion. It happens when preparation meets opportunity.

11. The 2-minute rule

If you can do something (like a reply to an email or a house chore) in 2 minutes, do it now. Planning it for later,

remembering it, doing it in the future will take 5 minutes or more.

12. Don’t learn to fight genies. It’s unlikely that

you will ever meet them

“What?! Holmes, don’t you know that the Earth is round? Everybody knows this!” - Holmes answers quietly:

“Why should I know this? It won’t help me to clear the matter up”.

13. Concentrate on the ball

Players don’t think about opponents and a game outcome. They concentrate on what they can control — a ball. They

focus on their sphere of influence.

14. B-alertBlueprint. Every well-built house started with a definite plan. (Napoleon Hill)

Action. The only difference between winners and losers is that winners act!

(Anthony Robbins)

Learning. Two things will make you wiser: the books you read and the people you

meet. Charles Jones (“Tremendous”)

Exercises. All the money in the world is nothing if you hardly get out of bed in

order to enjoy it. (Will Smith)

Relaxing. Get some rest before you’re tired and you will never be exhausted.

(Dale Carnegie)Thinking. If you understand the power of thoughts, you’ll never think negatively.

(Pils Pilgrim)

15. We have to work not 12 hours and head. © Steve Jobs

About the author

Leonid Zverugo - 32dayz Co-founder & CEO

l.zverugo@32dayz.com

http://32dayz.com

@32_dayz