Why do you have 18 MINUTES: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done book summary?
Reason:
You can rebuild a friendship after losing one. If your job is lost, you can find another. But if you waste time, it will be gone forever.
This post going to lead you to your best self. It will give you an unobstructed view of your surroundings and yourself, along with a map to assist you in reaching your destination. It’s the app that can help you reclaim your life.
Not just based on where you’ve been or what other people think you should be, but also on where you want to go and where you are right now.
You’ve come to the perfect spot if you want to learn how to manage your time effectively.
Benefits:
Numerous books on time management are available that aim to educate you on how to accomplish everything. But that is incorrect. since it is impossible to do everything.
Attempting it also carries risks. You’ll get distracted from your priorities.
This book summary will assist you in making well-informed decisions on what is and is not worthwhile.
Additionally, it will provide you with some basic tools and abilities to help you follow through on those choices, allowing you to focus your time on the things that matter and avoid the ones that don’t. Joy of the Process is a further focus of this book.
Life management shouldn’t feel like a chore. Neither should reading a book on life management.
Want to know how?
Let’s get started.
Are you excited like me?
So, stay tuned till the end.
For just short summary of this book, you can click here.
Favorite quote:
“Each morning, I ask myself some questions: Am I prepared for this day? Prepared to make it a successful, productive day? Have I thought about it? Planned for it? Anticipated the risks that might take me off track? Will my plan for this day keep me focused”
This book is organized into 4 parts rather than chapters, and I have covered every essential lesson from each part.
Part 1: Slowing the Spin
The incredible power of a brief pause
Most people only need to wait for five seconds to realize they’ve made a mistake.
Imagine the amygdala as the little red person with a pitchfork in your head and shouting, “I vote we clobber the guy.” and picture the prefrontal cortex as the tiny white person informing you that it would not be a good idea to respond with a yell. He is, after all, our client,
You allow the emotional response to be regulated by the prefrontal cortex. Why take a breath? Your brain will become calmer if you take a slower breath.
Pause. Breathe. Then act.
A brief pause will help you make a smarter next move.
Stopping to speed up.
Spend four days a week jogging small distances, one day a week running hard and long, and two days a week not running at all if you want to complete a marathon without getting hurt.
If you wish to take on any difficult task and see it through to the end. A couple of easy days, one challenging day, and one or two full rest days.
However, how many of us work continuously, without a break, day in and day out? Even if it might seem like we’re making progress, that schedule will undoubtedly result in injuries.
A pause. A breath. A moment to take stock. To realign your form. Your focus. Your purpose.
Expanding Your View of Yourself
We will regard ourselves as workers and nothing more if we spend all of our time working, planning to work, traveling to work, thinking about work, or communicating about work.
Ask yourself: If you took away my work, who would I be?
It is less likely that you will lose any of your identities the more you invest in them.
It’s important to see yourself, broadly, and totally.
And if you still think that your lifestyle can only be supported by work, you should consider measures to modify your lifestyle so you don’t kill yourself trying to keep it up.
Life isn’t just about some of you; it’s about all of you. Don’t negate, integrate.
Part 2: What Is This Year About?
Choosing Your Next Move at the Intersection of the Four Elements
When we have fewer options, we are 10 times more inclined to act!
With so many options, it’s simple to get stuck. We are unable to select one because we are unable to make up our minds.
Even in the absence of a strategy, we need to be able to start today and go in the proper direction.
This year, you should center your behavior around these four principles:
1. Make use of your advantages.
2. Accept your flaws.
3. State your unique perspectives.
4. Go after your interests.
Make use of your advantages.
Even if you have to create the game yourself, play the one you know you can win.
Accept your flaws.
This year, embrace your flaws and use them to your advantage rather than as a problem by spending time with them.
State your unique perspectives.
Trying to differentiate ourselves by being the same as others but better is tough, and it’s even harder to stick with.
There are far too many smart, diligent people in the world who want to be the best at what they do in order to overcome one another.
It’s just easier to be different.
Several studies have demonstrated that talent is not innate; rather, it is created via practice.
Go after your interests.
How do you spend your free time?
One of the most obvious indicators of success is having an obsession. Knowing your obsessions can help you recognize your natural drive, the reason you would walk to the ends of the planet.
When determining your yearly importance, give “shoulds” less weight and “wants” more consideration.
Anything is possible for anyone to accomplish. so long as three prerequisites are met:
1. You wish to succeed at it.
2. You think you’re capable of succeeding.
3. The pursuit of it brings you joy.
Creating Your Annual Focus
We’re not very good at managing our time.
There are so many fascinating people, enjoyable activities, deserving causes, and appealing chances that it’s hard to choose.
We try our best to finish everything.
This suggests that you have to make tough decisions about the things you decide not to do and deliberate over the things you do.
The author suggests that you try to concentrate on just five things this year; if you are comfortable at choosing more, feel free to add it.
Business1. Complete Excellent Work for Current Clients
2. Draw in New Customers
3. Write and Discuss My Thoughts
Personal
1. Spend Time with Friends and Family
2. Have Fun and Take Care of Myself
Which five areas do you wish to concentrate on in the upcoming year? (You are free to alter as you see fit.)
Once you’ve selected your five, make a commitment to dedicate 95% of your time to it.
Part 3: What Is This Day About?
Deciding What to Do
You would assume that having a lot on our plate would lead to more productivity, and occasionally that is the case.
But we freeze a lot, especially when we have too much on our plate. Alternatively, we move wildly, spinning about without support.
We appear to be quite busy.
We appear to be in motion. But in practice, we don’t accomplish anything.
We require a method to clear the cloud of overwhelm during those times. The tasks must be divided into manageable pieces, and we must start working on them.
Deciding What Not to Do
The world is already moving quickly, and it will only become quicker. An abundance of technology. So much data. There is a lot to comprehend, consider, and respond to.
We must navigate more carefully the faster the waves come.
Because the environment around us is ever-changing in our day-to-day existence, it is quite likely that we may crash if we don’t maintain our attention on the road ahead and avoid attractive but distracting shortcuts.
This is a good moment to stop, sort things, and concentrate.
Build a list of things to ignore by responding to these questions.
You need to ask a few complementing questions to yourself, questions that are equally crucial but frequently overlooked: What are you willing to give up on? What is it that you find unhappy? What do you not find important?
What causes difficulties?
You use these two lists as a daily guide. Every morning, go over them and your calendar and ask yourself, “What’s the plan for today?” Where am I going to spend my time? How will it help me focus more? How may I become distracted? Then have the guts to act, make decisions, and perhaps let a few people down.
The Three-Day Rule
a constant reminder, day by day, of what you are not achieving. How do you handle those items?
The three-day rule is applicable in this situation. This guideline makes sure that nothing on your list bothers you for more than three days.
Do one of four things with anything that has been on your calendar for more than three days:
- Act on it right away.
- Plan it out.
- Give it up. In a pleasant approach, that means removing the to-do list.
- Maybe/someday. Things can be placed there to slowly dissolve.
Part 4: What Is This Moment About?
We Need Less Motivation Than We Think
By sharing a personal story, the author shows how much less motivation you actually need. He was required to ride his bike every morning, but one day he chose to stay asleep after waking up and realizing how cold it was outdoors.
Even so, he thought about going back to his house after noticing it was raining, but he figured since he was already out, why not carry on?
The author claims that he was uncomfortable in the rain for around two minutes and felt cold for five minutes. After he gradually adapts to the weather, the author learns that all we need to do is start any task, and we will figure out a way to finish it.
Getting Started and Keeping It Going
Talking on a phone while operating a vehicle is the same as driving while drunk. Furthermore, sending or receiving a text message while driving makes it worse: according to a recent study, drivers who text are twenty-three times more likely to be involved in an accident because they take their eyes off the road for 4.6 out of every 6 seconds.
Those brief moments of distraction—the phone glance, the virtually imperceptible moment of inattention—make the difference between preventing and causing an accident.
In truth, we do a lot of things that we know will be bad for us down the road. Like trying to lose weight while eating ice cream. or arguing opposing viewpoints to prove our correctness. or answering phone calls in between emails.
Start with the fear. Next, list the benefits of your choice and carefully analyse each one.
If you want to lose weight, close your eyes for a second before taking the first bite of ice cream and picture yourself if you were twice your current size if your goal is to lose weight.
After a few days, when you start to feel better and have more energy, you may let go of that fear and hang on to the experience of your belt being looser.
Saying Yes Appropriately
Three questions to ask yourself when someone approaches you with a request:
1. Am I the correct person?
2. Is the moment suitable?
3. Do I possess sufficient knowledge?
If the request fails the test—that is, if the answer to any one of these questions is no—don’t move on with it.
Saying No Convincingly
After monitoring 29 hours of work, researchers discovered that workers experienced interruptions four times an hour on average.
However, here’s the surprise part: there’s more: In forty percent of the cases, they didn’t pick up where they left off with their work.
And things only get worse: the likelihood that someone will finish a task decreases with difficulty.
Make a rule and stick to it if you don’t want to get affected. When you maintain your rules with respect, people will naturally follow them.
When people are aware of the boundaries, they feel safer. Although it might appear awful at the moment, it eventually lessens their anxiety and uncertainty.
Thank you for your time.
Remember to recommend the books you want me to summarize.
