“It will feel great to check off each item [of your to-do list], they say. When you reach the end, you’ll be free, they say. But the truth is there is no end.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 17)
“Before I could even begin to eliminate my busywork, I had to set boundaries—which was hard. I turned off notifications when I left work and kept them off at home. I had to learn how to consciously switch my mind away from work. But over time it got easier. I didn’t cringe every time I said ‘no’ or ‘tomorrow, not today.’ These might not sound like big steps, but when you’re in reaction mode, doing anything with intention can feel revolutionary. I also realized that boundaries prioritize your attention. Instead of responding to an email the moment it hit my inbox, I chose to continue the critical work I was currently engaged in.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 16)
“Of course, trimming ones’ to-do list reduces stress. But for some the idea of automation adds stress, since many people worry that humans will be replaced by an army of robots. But automation isn’t necessarily about replacing humans—it’s about handing off mindless, time-consuming tasks so that we can focus on the work machines can’t do.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 10)
“Your productivity is not the problem. Many of us have absorbed the message of productivity culture that says success requires a superhuman work ethic. When exhaustion and overwork are normalized, it’s easy to drive yourself into the ground and think it’s your fault you haven’t yet created the optimal morning routine or applied enough time hacks to tame your to-do list. But your productivity is not the problem; the problem is thinking you need to personally do every iota of work that lands on your plate.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 5)
“Turning repetitive tasks into automated digital processes frees your brain for the essential, creative work. And you don’t need to hire a team or spend money on expensive new products. Automation is accessible to anyone who wants to take advantage of it. With a little effort, anyone can automate.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 1)
“Brains sabotage the most beautiful ideas. So, when you ask me: how can I do work I love—while also maybe traveling more and enjoying my life and learning the bagpipes and doing the kinds of creative projects I dream about? I’ll tell you what the first question is: Can you do what is necessary? Can you silence your brain long enough to actually attempt something great?“
Ash Ambirge
“There are three strands, present for most everyone: Power (sometimes seen as status, or the appearance of status); Safety (survival and peace of mind); Meaning (hope and the path forward). The changes in our media structure, public health and economy have pushed some people to overdo one or the other and perhaps ignore a third. When a social network finds your button and presses it over and over, it’s hard to resist. New cultural forces catch on because they hit on one or more of these. And politics is understood through this lens as well. See the braid and it’s a lot easier to figure out why we might be stressed.”
Seth Godin
“Time assets vs. Time debts. Time assets are choices that save you time in the future. Think: saying no to a meeting, automating a task, working on something that persists and compounds. Time debts are choices that must be repaid and cost you time in the future. Think: saying yes to a meeting, doing sloppy work that will need to be revised, etc. Time assets are an investment. Time debts are an expense.”
James Clear, Blog
“We can never watch the same show twice. We can never listen to the same song twice. We can never get the same piece of advice twice. Because our experiences, our tastes, our understanding of the world has changed. But, those second and third and fourth encounters–those re-introspectings–are actually where the real insights and breakthroughs can come from. That’s when we can really get it. That’s when we might really come to get ourselves in the process.”
Ryan Holiday
“Your picture-perfect postcard beach doesn’t move me. What I want is to come alive when I see you. I want to feel like I am seventeen again, and I am swinging on a rope swing under an old elm, and you are teasing me about my dress, and the light is hitting your hair, and you smile back at me like maybe I could be the one, and I manage to say something witty, and you laugh—and oh, your laugh is the closest I’ve ever been to god—and every good sense I have is lost in this moment, in this tiny razor-thin sliver of time, when you and I are human poetry, and dandelion cotton balls blow across the wind, and the sun starts to set, and we both look at one another and think things that neither of us will ever say, but will feel for the rest of our lives, every time we pass the park on Church Street, and remember how it felt, to be free. This is why you travel.”
Ash Ambirge
“I remember the day quite clearly. My brother and I were in the front yard playing basketball, as we often did after school. My father drove up on his motorcycle, coming back from work, and said, ‘I have some good news guys. I have decided to order cable TV.’ Our life changed. We went from about 4 stations to over 60 stations overnight. In the following months, my brother and I played basketball together less often, and as more kids in the neighborhood also got cable, there were fewer evenings when we were all out playing hide–and–go–seek in the neighborhood. I learned that every new offering both gives something … and also takes away.”
Soren Gordhamer
“Consider the difference between saying ‘I am sad’ and ‘I feel sad.’ Similar as those two statements may seem, there is actually a profound difference between them. ‘I am sad’ is a kind of self-definition, and a very limiting one. ‘I feel sad’ suggests the ability to recognize and acknowledge a feeling, without being consumed by it. The focusing skills that are part of mindsight make it possible to see what is inside, to accept it, and in the accepting to let it go, and, finally, to transform it.”
Daniel J. Siegel, Mindsight
“Writing in a journal activates the narrator function of our minds. Studies have suggested that simply writing down our account of a challenging experience can lower physiological reactivity and increase our sense of well-being, even if we never show what we’ve written to anyone else.”
Daniel J. Siegel, Mindsight
“I’ve never understood parents who complain about “being a chauffeur” to their kids. ‘What am I, your driver?’ they say. Sure, it can be a pain in the ass to drive your kids around. To day care. To school. To a friend’s house. To a doctor’s appointment. To soccer practice. Sometimes it can feel like this is all parenting is — driving a little person around. For free. But instead of seeing the drive as an obligation or an inconvenience, why not choose to see it as a gift? A moment between moments. In fact, it’s a lot of moments. Even better, it’s captive time. You are stuck together! This is wonderful. This is what you wanted, right? An opportunity to connect? To bond? To have fun? So use it!”
Ryan Holiday
“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right. And, if you by chance have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made—that you made—and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.”
William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 111) | ★ Featured on this book list.
“Life is full of difficult times. But someone out there always has it worse than you do. If you fill your days with pity, sorrowful for the way you have been treated, bemoaning your lot in life, blaming your circumstances on someone or something else, then life will be long and hard. If, on the other hand, you refuse to give up on your dreams, stand tall and strong against the odds—then life will be what you make it—and you can make it great.”
William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 103) | ★ Featured on this book list.
“We will all find ourselves neck deep in mud someday. That is the time to sing loudly, to smile broadly, to lift up those around you and give them hope that tomorrow will be a better day.”
William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 94) | ★ Featured on this book list.
“At some point we will all confront a dark moment in life. If not the passing of a loved one, then something else that crushes your spirit and leaves you wondering about your future. In that dark moment, reach deep inside yourself and be your very best.”
William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 81) | ★ Featured on this book list.