Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
​(Amazon, Kindle, iBooks)

If you have never read any of Tim Ferriss' books or heard his podcast, then here is a great place to dive in.  

​Filled with tips and tricks from world class performers, there is sure to be some virtual mentor that you connect with.

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What would you do with and extra hour per day?

What time are you going to stop working today?
 
This is the most important decision you can make to supercharge your productivity.  Once you have decided this, everything else is easy to decide:
 
Ask yourself: Which work is important?  What meetings am I contributing to versus sitting through?  Who is a help and who is a hindrance?
 
Remember:

1. You can decline meetings
2. You can turn off emails
3. You can leave the office

 
…and no one will notice – especially if you have got the important stuff done by cutting out the rest.
 
Too hard to do – imagine last time you took a holiday.  That flight is leaving.  Did you stay to do that extra report?  Did you let it drop?  Or did you get someone else to do it?
 
Focus on what you are great at and drop everything else. Just as if you were on holiday.  Everyday.
 
Try it for two weeks and see what happens.

There is no worse habit than complaining for destroying productivity.

In Ascending order:

1. Yourself complaining about others
2. Hearing others complaining
3. Yourself complaining about others complaining

​Fed up of meeting hell? Our iPhone app can help. Find out more.

What would you do with and extra hour per day?

Your customers have a mix of personalities.  Curt, brash and focused on getting what they want.  Loud, outgoing and want to chat.  Quiet, reflective and want all the details.

Some are loyal and some are fickle.  Do you know the difference up front?  I doubt it.

Imagine a car salesman that sees hundreds if not thousands of people each year. She knows who will buy and who won’t.  She courts the buyers, expels the time wasters and is always proving herself right.

What if you treated everyone like they might come back? Like they needed more time to think.  Like they were already a loyal customer? You might be surprised.

If you treat some of your customers as if they are not coming back, the danger is you might be right. 

​Fed up of meeting hell? Our iPhone app can help. Find out more.

What would you do with and extra hour per day?

Imagine you have a bad day, something has not gone your way or you have an important decision to make. You may benefit from taking stock on a mental give-a-shit-ometer.  A suggestion below.
 
On a scale of 1-10 how bad is this (thing, problem, conflict):
 
10. You have just been blown up by an IED and have moments left to live
9. You have lost a limb or limbs
8. You have just been wounded
7. You are being shot at
6. You have just made a decision that will kill someone to save someone else being killed
 
Okay, if you are not in a war zone then I am guessing you are already down to a 5. Let’s move on to financial:
 
5. You do not have enough money for food, clothes or shelter
4:
4.8. You have just made a decision that will bankrupt an entire country, if not the world
4.5. You have just made a decision that will bankrupt your company
4.2. You have just made a decision that will bankrupt yourself
 
If you are reading this, then chances are that here is where most of your problems will start:
 
3. You are overweight, unhealthy and do not like yourself.  You will die slowly of first world diseases; you know this and yet you are eating a bag of Cheetos as we speak.
2. You felt aggrieved by someone else’s actions (wife cheated; friend spoke to a guy you like; someone cut you up on the way to work)
1. You felt aggrieved by someone else’s words (Trump said something stupid; Glenda “always” knows how to push my buttons; my boss is an asshole)
 
Why do we care so much about items 1-3? 
 
Because that is all we have to care about.  Not so bad after all is it? 

​Gratitude solves a lot of problems before they start.

​No one comes to work trying to do a bad job. This is worth remembering:
 
How can you help others to overcome your shared problems?
 
But where is the limit?
 
If they are your superior, is this still the right mind-set? If they are your peer and competing for promotion with you is this still the right mind-set? What if they are incompetent and you are covering up for them time and time again? What if they do not listen to your help and the project or business is failing as a result?
 
This may still be the right course of action.  Sometimes the help they need is to be set free to do something they are better at. A different project, a different job, a different company.
 
Even if they do not think so at the time, if it is not working what's going to change?
 
Or maybe it is you that needs to change?  Remember we judge others by their actions and ourselves by our intentions.

Try this thought exercise of finding the good in others. Think what their intentions could be if they were a good person, if they were scared, insecure or shy.  Then look at your own actions and imagine how this could be perceived by others assuming bad intentions.

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What would you do with and extra hour per day?

“I'll try,” can either be an empowering step towards greatness or a euphemism for giving up before you've started. 
 
“I'll try.”
 
How hard? How often? For how long?
 
Are you really trying if you have not answered these questions? Or are you already admitting defeat? ​

​Fed up of meeting hell? Our iPhone app can help. Find out more.

What would you do with and extra hour per day?

Professionalism. This could be described as “generally accepted expectations”.

You can get away with a lot if you are on the front foot of communication. Managing expectations.  Anything less and you are at risk of being "unprofessional".

The deadline missed, the stock not delivered, the feature that does not work. All can be avoided, or at least softened, with proactive communication and a new plan.

Don't leave this up to your customers to figure out on their own.

He's never worked a day in his life, said the labourer looking at a suited man.

What is work?

What are we going to do when there are no jobs? 

With the rise of AI and geographical arbitrage, this might be a real problem sooner than we think.

​Fed up of meeting hell?  Our iPhone app can help. Find out more.

What would you do with and extra hour per day?