What will be different in the world—or in your work or in your life—as a result of your spending time doing each of the items on your list? What task is the equivalent of a domino in a line of one hundred that, once it topples over, initiates a chain reaction that lets you accomplish a great deal?

the point is this: the number of habitual tasks we can fit into our attentional space is much higher than the number of demanding ones.

Continually seeking novel stimuli makes us feel more productive—after all, we’re doing more in each moment. But again, just because we’re busier doesn’t mean we’re getting more accomplished.

turn my three vague intentions into implementation intentions: 1. “Go to the gym” becomes “Schedule and go to the gym on my lunch break.” 2. “Quit working when I get home” is reframed as “Put my work phone on airplane mode and my work laptop in another room, and stay disconnected for the evening.” 3. “Get to bed by a reasonable time” becomes “Set a

We have to work with intention as much as possible—this is especially true when we have more to do than time within which to do it.

Attention without intention is wasted energy. Intention should always precede attention—in fact, the two ideas pair perfectly.

Constantly shifting our attentional spotlight to focus on one thing and then another and then another not only prevents the formation of memories but also undermines our productivity.

“possible future events”: Daniel L. Schacter, Randy L. Buckner, and Donna Rose Addis, “Remembering the Past to Imagine the Future: The Prospective Brain,” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 8, no. 9 (2007): 657–61.

Problem-crunching mode gives your mind the space and freedom to make these large leaps in your thinking. Try entering this mode if you haven’t been able to solve a specific, nonlinear problem in a traditional way.