Fire and Knowledge

Now do this is the simplest task site I’ve ever seen, but extremely useful for a today list. I normally use Things for my general task management and a sheet of paper for my daily list, but I really like the idea of Nowdothis.com…

1. Specialize in a very small niche; develop a core skill.
2. Choose a niche that you enjoy, where you can excel and stand a chance of becoming an acknowledged leader.
3. Realize that knowledge is power.
4. Identify your market and your core customers and serve them best.
5. Identify where 20 percent of effort gives 80 percent of returns.
6. Learn from the best.
7. Become self-employed early in your career.
8. Employ as many net value creators as possible.
9. Use outside contractors for everything but your core skill.
10. Exploit capital leverage.

—Richard Koch, The 80/20 Principle: The Secret of Achieving More With Less (1998), p. 188

The key to earning more and working less is to pick the right thing to do and to do only those things that add the highest value.

—Richard Koch, The 80/20 Principle: The Secret of Achieving More With Less (1998), p. 188

It is often easier to make an enthusiasm into a career than to become enthusiastic about a career dictated by others.

—Richard Koch, The 80/20 Principle: The Secret of Achieving More With Less (1998), p. 167

Johann Hari has written up his experience with Provigil, a “smart drug” that increases memory and concentration.

Things that matter most
Must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.

—Goethe, as quoted in Richard Koch, The 80/20 Principle: The Secret of Achieving More With Less (1998), p. 164

Seth Stevenson writes a humorous letter to a young procrastinator from a veteran slacker. Excerpt:

The root cause of my procrastination, in technical terms, is this: I’m lazy. Extremely lazy.

Don’t judge, pal—you’re lazy, too. It’s why you procrastinate. When there’s a difficult, disagreeable, or tedious chore that needs to get done, guess what? You don’t want to do it. So you don’t. Until you have to.

It’s just that simple, my slothful friend. And guess what else? The trick to overcoming procrastination is even simpler. Ready? Here it is:

Get off your fat badonk and stop procrastinating. Right now. No, not after the Gilmore Girls rerun ends. Now now.

Will you do this? No. You will not. You will dabble at the crossword for a while. Later, you might get a yogurt. Eventually, you’ll start reading pointless crap on the Internet. You see, you’re doing it as we speak! Because: You are lazy.

Understand that this will never, ever change. You will always be lazy, and you will always procrastinate.

Ever wanted to create a planner out of a blank notebook? Then PlannerHack.com is for you. I did this for a while then transitioned to Moleskine’s real planner. Fun at first, but tedious after a while.