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Every practice in the library, in one list. Narrow it by how long you have, who it is written for, and where you are right now.
Email is the easiest place to hide. It answers back, it never runs out, and by five o'clock it feels like you worked.
What makes it such a good stand-in for real work is that the rewards come in small unpredictable bursts and almost none of it asks much of you. Your…
Turn a vague plan into an if-then: when I sit down after lunch, I will open the one file.
Deciding in advance exactly when and where you will start removes the moment of friction where you usually stall.
If you are helping someone get moving, start with the thing they mind about, even when you can see something else that needs it more. A goal a person picked for themselves is the only kind they will chase when you are not in the room.
Keep that first target small and specific enough to finish: one drawer, one email, the bag by the door on Tuesday. The thing you can see needs…
Sorting a pile of receipts is not difficult. Sitting with how dull it is, that is the difficult part, and it helps to say so out loud.
Once you know boredom is the real demand, you stop trying to simplify a task that is already simple and start making the dullness bearable instead. A…
Sometimes the last minute really does produce your best work. Often it produces your worst, and those nights are much easier to forget.
Looking for a whole subject rather than a single practice? Start from the nine areas.
That is what keeps the belief alive: it pays out just often enough. Rather than arguing about it, count. Take the last ten things you left to the…