This is a simple mantra that is going to change the way you attend every meeting and every conference for the rest of your life.

You probably don’t have to be there. No gun held to your head, after all. So, why are you spending the time?

A simple but powerful question. Use your time wisely and if you go, make the best and most of your time there.

If there isn’t a good reason, go home. If there is, then do something. Loud, now and memorable. Productive too, please.

A side note.
I like Seth Godin’s blog and his style with fairly short posts, 200-300 words.

If you’re tired all the time, a change in what you eat (diet) or what you do all day (activity pattern) may be all you need to turn things around 180°.

At times we get stuck and/or feel low on energy. This post gives you ideas about what you can do to get back on track. Pick something from that list and feel the change. Today I’ll opt for number five (Have a piece of chocolate) and number ten (Take a power nap).

Some of the items on the list are daily habits for me. I always do some of number 23 (Play to relax), number 24 (Eat smaller, more frequent meals), number 25 (Enjoy a cup of tea), number 45 (Take a walk outside) and number 50 (yoga).

Number 39 is great – Purge low-value tasks from your todo list. Focus on what’s important and don’t waste energy on what’s not.

Credit: Photo by johnmarchan.

The key and first on the list is to know what’s important. Then all we need to do is to focus on that. But since that often is easier said than done there are 19 other strategies to help us.

It is about changing habits, getting rid of time-wasters (like do not check email all the time) and getting rid of distractions. The tough part is changing habits but we benefit a lot when we get better at doing what really matters.

See also: Zen To Done

Leo Babauta has a guest post at Problogger about 12 Rules for Getting a Grip on Massive ProBlogger Email.

Leo Babauta has a guest post at Tim Ferriss’ blog about 10 Steps to Become an Email Ninja.

Pick The Brain has a post about The Email Habits That Make People Hate You.

Putting down plans, notes, ideas, and hunches in a notebook can be a great way to help organize your mind, as well as sharpen it. We tend to remember things jotted down by hand better than words hammered on a keyboard.

Over at Anywired Skellie posted Origami Productivity: Why I Don’t Want a Paperless Life. The start goes like this:

I love paper in all its forms and always have. In fact, if given the choice between a notebook and a web app to fulfill the same function, I’ll choose a notebook every time.

Previous pen and paper related posts at fortyplustwo are Be productive using pen and paper, The back-to-paper movement and Task management my way – pen and paper.

Note: Photo by Chris Campbell.

1. What are my end goals with the project?
2. What will I have to do to reach those goals?
3. Do I have enough ideas and inspiration?
4. Do I have enough time?
5. Will it impact on my other projects?

Skellie raises these questions in connection with a new blog project of hers but the questions are valid before starting anything new.

The first question is fairly easy, the other four are tougher since they are about how to get there and how to get it done.

Question four (enough time?) is something we really need to consider. I often underestimate the time it takes, both in volume and calendar time.

Question four and five might lead to rearranging priorities, read also my post about Turning 2008 into 80-20.

Note: Photo by Lost in Scotland.

Professionally, I organize home offices for home-based professionals. I love helping people create clarity in their physical environment, reducing stress and increasing productivity. I usually tell people I help them create a work space where they spend less time looking for what they need and more time doing the work they want or need to do.

Brandie has a great quote at her website, very Feng Shui and very wise:

Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. – William Morris

Brandie has a blog at Organize.Simplify.Transform where you find tips. There are also a series of quotes, I like several of them a lot.

A well organized home office is perfectly in line with habit number six (Organize, have a place for everything) in Zen To Done.

Note: Photo by ifindkarma.

Zen To Done takes some of the best aspects of a few popular productivity systems (GTD, Stephen Covey and others) and combines them with the mandate of simplicity. It makes things as simple as possible, and no more.

As simple as possible is what I was looking for. Zen To Done (ZTD) has a focus on doing, here and now, more than on planning or on the system. ZTD focuses on simplifying which is in line with my pen and paper solution.

Zen To Done is a set of ten habits that will help you get organized, simplify your life, get things under control and, last but not least, actually get things done. You can pick those habits out of the ten that will work for you. To really master a new habit, and to make it stick, focus on few (1-3) at a time and work on them for a month.

Each of the ten habits has its own chapter in the e-book, here is just a brief list.

1. Collect tasks, ideas, projects etc. Write them down and later add them to your to-do lists.
2. Process your inboxes. I need to work on that.
3. Plan for a week ahead, focus on MIT (Most Important Tasks) or “Big Rocks”.
4. Do, one task at a time. Finish them!
5. Simple trusted system. No complicated system and do not keep on trying out new tools.
6. Organize, have a place for everything. And put it there right away!
7. Review your system and goals weekly.
8. Simplify and eliminate. Reduce your goals and tasks to the essentials.
9. Routine, set and keep routines.
10. Find your passion. Seek work for which you are passionate, passion gives energy.

I already worked on habit one, three, four, five and seven before I came across ZTD. And I have touched on habit eight, Turning 2008 into 80-20. Now I have to set those habits which take me about halfways in the ZTD and then start working on the other habits.

If ten new habits sounds far too much there is a minimalist version of ZTD, the first four habits. Set those and you have achieved a lot.

Buy the ZTD e-book now, at $9.50 it is a bargain:

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.

Update: This goes well with my post Turning 2008 into 80-20 which is about deciding what shall be done and what shall be left undone.