Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals

choose devices with only one purpose, such as the Kindle ereader,

keep a “done list,” which starts empty first thing in the morning, and which you then gradually fill with whatever you accomplish through the day.

A poorly kept lawn or a cluttered kitchen are less troubling when you’ve preselected “lawn care” or “kitchen tidiness” as goals to which you’ll devote zero energy.

Decide in advance what to fail at.

focus on one big project at a time

predetermined time boundaries for your daily work.

keep two to-do lists, one “open” and one “closed.”

Adopt a “fixed volume” approach to productivity.

Historians call this way of living “task orientation,” because the rhythms of life emerge organically from the tasks themselves, rather than from being lined up against an abstract timeline, the approach that has become second nature for us today.