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1-Page Summary of Less Doing, More Living
Overview
In this lesson, you will learn about the Scrum project management system. This is a unique and flexible system that allows teams to plan realistically and adjust their goals based on feedback from stakeholders. By using Scrum, your team can improve productivity without overworking or creating unnecessary stress for anyone involved.
We all wish we had more time to spend on the things that matter most. However, our schedules are always packed and it’s hard to find time for what matters most in life. This book helps you identify ways of creating more time by optimizing your schedule, automating tasks where possible, and outsourcing others so you can focus on what really matters to you.
In this article, you will learn why you’ll never have to call a restaurant again; how to get groceries without ever leaving your home; and how to turn your smartphone into a portable bank.
Big Idea #1: When you’re trying to save time, keep track of your daily activities.
The 80-20 rule states that 80 percent of what you accomplish is the result of a mere 20 percent of all the time and energy you invest. Therefore, if we want to be more productive, we should identify our most effective activities so that we can focus on those and eliminate wasted effort.
One way to do this is by tracking your time. However, who has the time to track their daily routine? Luckily, there are programs that make it easier for you to keep track of your productivity. One such program is RescueTime which monitors what you’re doing on your computer and gives you a detailed report on how much time each activity takes. If it turns out that one particular website or application steals too much of your time, then RescueTime will help block access to those sites so that they can’t be used during work hours. Another option is a paper journal where you record everything you eat throughout the day as well as any exercise or physical activities done in order to gain insight into how many calories were burned off during the day and how many more should be consumed. You could also use a pedometer (a device worn around the waist) which will count every step taken throughout the day and give an estimate of how far travelled, or simply weigh yourself at regular intervals throughout the day in order to get an idea of whether weight loss goals are being met or not.
We have a daily routine that we follow every day. However, it can be optimized to make us more efficient and get things done quicker. For example, IKEA has highly-optimized manuals for building furniture with very few steps. We should approach our lives like the way IKEA approaches its projects by minimizing fuss and using as few steps as possible when completing tasks such as writing emails or organizing meetings.
Big Idea #2: Save space in your own brain by making an external one.
We all like to think that we’re good at multi-tasking. However, it’s actually not true in most cases. Life would be much simpler if we had an extra brain to help us out.
You can have a memory that’s better than average. There are several new tools available to help you remember things, as the author mentions in this article. Evernote is one of those apps; it helps you collect and organize all your notes from different sources into one place. You can also use an app like Wunderlist to remind yourself about important deadlines and events throughout the day.
You can think of Evernote as a place where you store all your information. It’s like the brain in that it organizes information into complex networks, which is similar to how the human brain works. As an added bonus, you can hire people online and delegate tasks to them for a fraction of what hiring a full-time employee costs. You have two options: on-demand assistants that are available when you need them or dedicated assistants who work for you full time. For $25 per month, Fancy Hands will help with up to five tasks at once (or one task every weekday). At $95 per month, Zirtual offers unlimited assistance with any number of tasks each month.
