From then on, any time the phrase “I’m too busy to . . .” popped into my head, I changed it to “I’ve chosen not to prioritize . . .” Now, instead of thinking “I’m too busy to write today,” I think “I’ve chosen not to prioritize writing today.” Instead of telling a client that I was too busy to get to their project, I told them that I had other thin

I have since come to believe that the true definition of “procrastination” is “assuming I will be less stupid and lazy tomorrow than I am today.”

“Then why isn’t it done already?” I paused again, weighing how honest I wanted to be with her, but I figured she’d gone this far with me so I might as well just lay it out. “What if it still sucks? What if I have to rewrite half of it again? Or, what if I publish it and it’s still a disaster?” “Do you really think I’d let you do that, Tim? You thin

Always find the direct route. Look for the shortest path between A—where you are—and B—where you want to be. I tend to fill my problems with unneeded complexity and junk that just takes up space. Most problems don’t need an elaborate solution. Most problems are simple.

Jason Fried wrote a story for Inc. titled “How to Get Good at Making Money.”

So taking the experimental mindset, I decided to test out a new theory. First, I would start assuming I was good and had my heart in the right place, instead of a rickety monster that had to be held in check and put on a tight leash. Second, anything I did that was bad or wrong or unhealthy, I would just tell myself it was a layer of plaster on top

I STARTED TO UNDERSTAND THAT ALL OF THE SUCCESS I SAW AROUND ME WAS THE EDITED VERSION OF WHAT REALLY HAPPENED.

In my consulting, I was so used to cutting ideas off at the knees before they even got started that I never thought to consider what would happen if everything went right…what it would be like to focus on realizing the big goal instead of worrying about the little bugs that would come up as I was moving toward it.

Constantly trimming away inefficiencies in the way you work is a powerful tool. What’s even more powerful is that very few people have the discipline to do it.