Category: “Personal Productivity”

These days it is very common to see many knowledge workers living their life around email. Email is not only where they communicate with others, but also where they organize their work and manage their tasks. Email is the base camp where everything they have to do is born, handled and killed.

Have you ever read a to-do and realized that you do not know exactly what you meant when you wrote it? Have you ever read a to-do that you remember seemed very exciting when it was captured, and now it does not seem that interesting?

I have to say that I am finding extremely interesting the reading of Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence, by Daniel Goleman. In my opinion, knowing how to pay attention where we need to do it at every moment is, probably, one of the most valuable skills today, and also, one of the most difficult to achieve. This book addresses the issue from a perspective based entirely in science, which gives the material exhibited a special relevance, well above most of the common posts and guru-tips you can find on the internet.

I am not a fan of the tradition of making New Year’s resolutions. For two reasons. Firstly, because resolutions do not work. They are actually just wishes or dreams with no target date. They are usually defined in such a generic way (“enjoy life more”, “learn something new”) that do not involve any specific action you should take to achieve them. It is like trying to win the lottery without purchasing any ticket. You know it’s not going to happen.

Here I leave you something to think about this holidays…