18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done by
Peter Bregman
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
18 Minutes: Find your focus, master distraction, and get the right things done
By Peter Bregman
p. 36--Event-->outcome-->reaction
When an unsettling event occurs, pause before reacting. In that pause, ask yourself a single question: What is the outcome I want? Then, instead of reacting to the event, react to the outcome. In other words, stop reacting to the past and start reacting to the future.
Here’s the hard part: You react to the event because it’s asking you to react to it. But just because the event catalyzed your action doesn’t mean it should determine it. How you react can and should be determined by outcome—by the future you want to create.
“Knowing the outcome you want will enable you to focus on what matters and escape the whirlwind of activity that too often leads to nowhere fast.
p. 45: 4 behaviors to shape your next year:
1. Leverage your strengths.
2. Embrace your weaknesses.
3. Assert your differences.
4. Pursue your passions.
p. 89 – Avoiding paralysis
Answer 3 questions:
1. Am I working on something meaningful and challenging—something for which I have about a 50% chance of succeeding?
2. Am I relating to other people at work or socially—people I like and to whom I feel close?
3. Do I feel recognized for the work I am doing—paid or unpaid? Can I influence decisions and outcomes?
p. 94 – Don’t be paralyzed by an uncertain future. Just keep moving.
p. 100- Create an annual focus
Focus your year on five things: Three work-related, two personal. These are not goals, they are your focus. 95% of your time go to these, 5% to miscellaneous.
Focus on the five areas that will make the most difference in your life.
p. 118 – When I create my to-do list, put them in the categories of the 5 goals I created for my annual focus. 6th category is for the miscellaneous.
“Reduce your overwhelm by putting your tasks in an organized list, focused on what you want to achieve for the year.”
p. 131 – Nothing should stay on your list, haunting you for more than 3 days.
p. 137 – Reflecting/Interrupting once an hour: When the chime or ding goes off, have I been the person I really want to be in the last hour? We need to remind ourselves of who we know we really are. And then we need to act that way. Constantly, predictably, minute by minute and hour by hour.
p. 142 – Reflecting on my day:
1. How did the day go? What success did I experience? What challenges did I endure?
2. What did I learn today? About myself? About others? What do I plan to do—differently or the same—tomorrow?
3. Whom did I interact with? Anyone I need to update? Thanks? Ask a question of? Share feedback with?
18 MINUTE DAY
1. Step 1: 5 minutes: Your morning minutes. BEFORE turning on your pc, look at your to-do list. Take those things off your to-do list and put in calendar, in a specific time. Check the 3 day rule and move that stuff to calendar or off the list.
2. Step 2: (1 minute every hour): Refocus. Set a reminder to refocus, check your hour by hour goals every hour. What did you do.. manage every hour!
3. Step 3: (5 minutes): Your evening minutes. At end of day (at work) turn of your pc and answer the 3 questions above.
p. 188 – Time suck of collaboration
When someone comes to you with a request:
1. Am I the right person?
2. Is this the right time?
3. Do I have enough information?
Resist the temptation to say yes too often.
p. 203 – A few moments of transition time can help make your next task shorter, faster, and more productive for you and others.
p. 230 The world doesn’t reward perfection; it rewards productivity.
p. 236 Don’t settle for imperfection. Shoot for it.
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