Claire Diaz Ortiz - Power of Working by Design

INDEX
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................3
Part 1: Setting an Intention ...............................................................................6
Why You Need a Word For Your Year ...................................................................................8
Part 2: Goals ...............................................................................................................10

How to Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals .............................................................................................11
How I Read 200 Books a Year ...........................................................................................11
Part 3 ...............................................................................................................................18
How to Be Insanely Productive ........................................................................................19
Why You Need to Work at the Right Time of Day ..............................................................21
When is the Right Time of Day to Work? .............................................................................24
How to Manage Your Email ...............................................................................................27
Part 4: Quit Your Way to Success .....................................................................32

What Can you Quit Today? .................................................................................................33
Conclusion ..............................................................................................................35
ABOUT THE AUTHOR .....................................................................................................37
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WORKING BY DESIGN 2 clairediazortiz.com
Introduction
3
T o me, building a life you love is all about doing work that works for you.
I believe that involves changing the way we work.
Specifically, it means clarifying our purpose, maximizing our productivity, and
increasing our profits.
These are the very concepts that led me to develop The Do Less Method, and
ultimately to launch the Work by Design Summit and Work by Design School.
Those may be big things, but this is a small book.
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This is a just taste of the calm that awaits you when you change the way you
work to make it work for you.
Learn to work by design.
Learn to live the life you were meant to live.
Onward,
Claire
Claire Diaz-Ortiz
@claire
ClaireDiazOrtiz.com
WorkByDesignSummit.com
WorkByDesignSchool.com
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Setting an Intention
PART 1
6
Why You Need a Word For Your Year
F or a handful of years now, I’ve done something that has transformed the
way I think about my years. It’s simple, effective, and powerful.
I’ve chosen a word of the year.
I got the idea from a book, and I’ve had great success working hard to make sure
my word directs and defines me throughout the course of my year.
I’m now such a fan that I’ll shout it on mountaintops:
Each and every year, you should choose a word to

represent the year you have in front of you.
Pick one word that represents the type of year you wish to have, and one word that can
serve as a guidepost for what you want in the year to come. One simple word that will
help you decide between X and Y, and help you remember what‘s important when you
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find yourself in an endless loop of Facebook/Twitter/Email checking you can‘t get out of.
Depending on the type of year you’re going for, some examples might be:
Rest (my 2013 word)
Renew (my 2014 word)
#BanBusy (my 2015 word. Okay, it’s a PHRASE.)
#WorkByDesign (my 2016 word)
Stop
Think
Breathe
Push
Persevere
You get the picture.
One word that means everything you hope to achieve and catalyze and crystalize and
create and live and breathe.
Now, my first year, I didn’t do perfectly. Oh sure, I tried. Hard. But perfection was elusive.
My word did make an impact, though. On me, and on others.
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Interestingly, I found that throughout the year a number of people who had read about
my word of the year actually commented on it when they saw me -- or, even better,
mentioned it when they were asking me to do something! A number of times I received a
note or call along the lines of, I know you said your word of the year was REST, but I was
wondering if you could...“
This alone let me know that something about this concept of publicly setting out my word
for the year ahead was working. Not just for me, but for others around me to know what
my priorities were as well.
One word. For you, and everyone else.
Do any powerful words or phrases come to mind? Try a few on for size. Sit with
them for a week or two. And then dive in. If it doesn’t work, you can always swap it
out later. But the important point is getting going now.
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GOALS
PART 2
10
How to Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals
O For me, a new year is about new goals. That said, even if it’s not January,
setting goals for the year (or season) ahead is always a good idea. No time
like the present.
Goals, as you may have heard before, should be actionable, and they should
have a timeline. (The “line” at which said aim is “dead”, if you will.)
A goal is not “I want to make a billion dollars in 2016!” -- unless you made 75% of
that in in 2015, of course, and a billion is actually a specific, reasonable number;)
A goal is something that you really can potentially achieve with a little sweat, grit,
and (yes) luck thrown in.
A SMART goal, as defined by the productivity tome by Paul Meyer called Attitude
is Everything, fits the following criteria:
Specific: A specific goal is specific. Simple enough? One year, I set a goal
to read 200 books. I did not say, “I want to read books” or “I want to read a lot
of books”. I set a number. 200. (And I exceeded it!) This year, I’ll be setting
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another specific number for the books I want to read.
Measurable: Choose goals you can count progress against. For my

reading goal, I can count easily to tell if I’m ahead or behind. If it is May 1 and
I’ve read one book, I know I am behind. If it is May 1 and I have read 120
books already, I am ahead. Although measurable goals don’t need numbers
attached, they do need a yardstick you can work against. They should not be
things that will randomly be either done or not done come December 31.
Actionable: Actionable goals tell you (or at least strongly hint at) what
needs to happen next. To read those books, I better fire up my Kindle. Do you
have a goal to expand your business? You’ve got to turn off Duck Dynasty
and get cracking.
Relevant: Make sure that your goals are relevant to the particular season of
life you are in. The year I had a baby, I did not think I should set a goal to read
200 books. #duh (BABIES TAKE UP ALL THE TIME.)
Timely: Goals must be timely. Going along with the baby line of thinking, if
I have a goal to have at least one reunion with my college roommates in the
year ahead (I set this goal every year, and luckily it’s a fun one to cross off), I
should not plan for that to happen in the season that I’m having said child.
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Got it?
Now go ahead and clear off some time on your calendar to go and set some
goals – annual or seasonal. Get a comfy chair, a fully charged laptop (or blank
Moleskine notebook and fancy pen), and get writing.
What can you do to make this goal setting exercise a priority? If you take the time,
it can be a game-changer.
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How I Read 200 Books a Year
O ne of the most commented on aspects of my blog is my reading habit.
And although I’ve answered this in various forms before, based on the number of
times I still get asked -- “How on earth do you read 200 books a year?!” -- it’s high
time to answer it again.
So, here’s how I do it, heavily relying upon my goal-setting method:
1. I break my annual goal into monthly averages.
You don’t hit a big goal by doing it all at once. You’ve just got to break it down.
To read 200 books a year, I need to read 4 books a week, or, 16 books a month.
If I stick to this average, I’ve got my annual goal covered. Some months I won’t
hit this, but some (like months when I go on vacation for a week and read
constantly), I will exceed this.
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2. I know how long my goal will take.
I know that I read about 200 words a minute, give or take. Business or health
books that require highlighting or note-taking can be slower, and the rare novel
can be quicker. If an average book is 50,000 words, I can read one book in a little
over fours. So I need 16+ hours a week to read 4 books.
3. I read multiple books at once.
By reading multiple books at once (my Kindle enables me to do this easily, as I
share in this article on how my Kindle has changed my reading habits), I never
get bored by one book, and always can switch back and forth to whatever is best
in a given situation. If I have 5 minutes waiting in line, it’s easier for me to read
a memoir or novel than get through another page in a health or business book,
for example. If I’m reading in bed late at night, I prefer non-fiction to help me fall
asleep. I choose different types of books at different occasions, and I always have
a book that will work in a given scenario.
4. Audiobooks are an essential part of my arsenal.
I “read” at least 6-8 of those 16 weekly reading hours via audiobook, and at times
in my life when I have had long commutes have “read” a heck of a lot more via
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audiobook. These days, I have an audiobook going when I exercise, commute,
get ready in the morning, do chores, or am doing anything else wherein an
audiobook could be great background multi-tasker. I set it on a speed slightly
higher than regular talking in order for it to not be so slow (at a normal speed,
an audiobook takes me longer to read than regular reading). If you haven’t yet
enjoyed the joy of audiobooks, try signing up for a FREE 30-day subscription to
Audible.com and you’ll be able to download one free book;)
5. I choose reading over other things.
Taking away the audiobook time, I still need to find 8-10 hours a week to read.
For me, this is about as easy as eating an entire carton of Ben and Jerry’s while
watching Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (read: EASY). Why? Because I
love reading that much. I will readily turn down a dinner invitation to read in my
pajamas in bed. It’s just what I love to do. And so, by that logic, it means that
I choose reading over other things. My husband and I don’t keep a full social
calendar on weeknights. I don’t watch sports. I can’t cook to save my life.
Ultimately, reading 200 books a year is not a superhuman feat. It’s a pleasurable
activity I engage in that really doesn’t “take” me much time at all when you break
it down.
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If you’re not a huge reader, you’re likely doing something else 8-10 hours a week
that I’m not doing.
So what is it? What do you do 8-10 hours a week that you love? Play golf? Watch
football? Eat out with friends? Does it feel hard to make the time, or does it come
naturally when you love it? The idea is here is that if you want to do it, you have
the time to make it happen.
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PART 3
18
How to Be Insanely Productive
A few weeks ago, I had one of those days.
No, not one of those days where you lie around in pajamas eating nachos and
wondering why your big project isn’t getting done, but the other kind.
The kind where you know you’re ON FIRE. The kind where you just keep
churning and churning through your to-do list and even when the day should be
over you put in a few extra hours because you’re just SO ON FIRE. And, then,
when you finally do close your laptop and turn off the phone you wonder why
a New York Times journalist isn’t knocking down your door to ask, “So how did
you do it? How did you become the MOST PRODUCTIVE PERSON ON THE
PLANET IN ONE DAY?!?”
That day was amazing.
And then the next day, the whole nachos thing happened.
When I pulled myself out of bed with a belly full of cheese, I started wondering
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about what it is that made that one day so amazing, and then the next day such
an overwhelming dud. How did I manage to be so productive, and what’s the
lesson on how to be productive in general?
Here’s why:
By Definition, Insane Productivity Can’t Happen Every Day of the Week
None of us can fire on all cylinders every day of the week. Or, when we do,
we quickly experience burn out, as one of my books discusses. As such, truly
incredible productivity by definition has to happen infrequently. That way, your
body and mind can rest and recuperate well to get ready to do it all again.
Productivity Builds on Productivity
The day I was SO ON FIRE didn’t start out amazing. But there was a moment
at which I made a decision to put my head down. Just for a short period of
dedicated hard work. And, as happens when you successfully get through a short
period of good, solid work, you feel psychologically awesome, and want more.
That’s what happened that day. Small wins built on small wins, and by the end of
the day I was on such a streak that I wanted to keep going.
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Ultimately, what I learned in thinking about why I had such a good day - and then
why I had such a bad day - was that I simply can’t have those amazing feats of
productive genius every day. But I can have them sometimes. And to make them
happen, I have to set myself up for success by building on small, early wins in the
morning so I can feel the fire.
What about you? If you’ve ever had an insanely productive day, what did it teach
you about how to be more productive in the future?
Why You Need to Work at the Right Time of Day
I ’m extremely efficient with my writing. It’s true. Friends laugh that I write
books in a weekend. I’m not that good, but I’m close. I can knock out amazing
amounts of content in short bursts. I don’t exactly know why this is, but I like it.
(Don’t worry, I’m terribly slow at other things in life that you can probably do in
1/100th the time.)
That said, it’s critical that I know when I can write well, and when I can’t. Because
if I write when I’m not working well, I’ve no hope of efficient writing, and every
hope of post-writing frustration.
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Case in point: The other day, I went to a coffee shop where I was going to spend
a few hours writing. I know for sure that it’s easier for me to write outside of my
home office, so that means I try to go to a coffee shop about twice a month to do
the writing work I need to get done. Writing at a coffee shop generally works for
me, and I can plow through and do a ton of work in a few hours.
But not that day.
That day, I arrived. I sat down on the couch I’m a fan of. I ordered a large
soda water with lemon. And I pulled out the computer. And that’s where it went
downhill. Somewhere between the checking of email, and then the checking of
Twitter, and the checking of email again, and then the reading of a great article
on Hemingway (I just read a novel about his wives, hence the interest) I got all
lost and tangled up. Pretty soon I was texting my husband: when are we going
grocery shopping?
Because I would rather go grocery shopping than write. Obviously.
Productivity experts say you need to know when you are most effective, and
utilize those times to do your work. I agree. I would go further and say that you
don’t just need to know when you’re effective, you need to know when you are
particularly effective for the specific task at hand.
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And so the fact that I wandered into the coffee shop on a holiday at three pm
was not, for all the world to see, going to turn out well. I do my best writing in
the morning, with a large decaf coffee with almond milk, and a bright sun rising
overhead. Or around dinner time, with a cold Sauvignon Blanc. These are the
times I can write.
The afternoon is not my writing time.
We all have times of the day, and days of the week, that work best for particular
tasks, and it is essential that we work to figure out what those times are, and to
make sure that we respect them to their holiest extent.
When my husband picked me up to grocery shopping, I felt icky and annoyed and
had done very little work – most of which was particularly terrible. The wrong time
of day, you see. I’d bungled it all up from the start, and needed to remember my
own rule.
Only work when I can work well. And only write when I can write well.
Do you ever have times like this? Where you know you’re not working well because
it’s not the right time of day for a particular task? What do you do?
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When is the Right Time of Day to Work?
R emember my story about my try-hard-do-little day at the coffee shop,
attempting to churn out some of my monthly writing and failing miserably?
Despite the fact that I am generally a fast writer, and someone who can put pen
to paper with particular speed, that day I did nothing of the kind. Instead, although
I had come to the cafe with the express purpose of getting some writing work
done, I did more or less nothing.
Aside from scanning my emails (and not responding), reading the interwebs (US
Weekly, mostly), and refreshing my Twitter stream (it keeps going!), of course.
Finally, my husband saved the day by taking me on an exciting outing (!) to go
grocery shopping.
It was quite an afternoon.
But what that day showed me once again was that it is always essential for me
to remember when the best time of day is to do my writing. (Mid-morning or
dinnertime are the times for me.) More generally, though, it is essential that I not
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only know the time of day I’m best at writing, but also the time of day I’m best at a
host of other things in my life.
Things like:
Exercising
Relaxing
Doing my Daily Quiet Time
Having Meetings
Brainstorming
Talking on the Phone with Family
Playing with my Daughter
It may sound over-the-top to not only figure out the best times of days to do these
things, but then also try to build a schedule around it, but I believe it’s pretty close
to fundamental if we want to slowly work towards having better days, and better
lives.
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Here are a few steps to try to build these better lives we’re after using this
strategy:
1. Write a list of the main activities you do in a given day. Work, rest, sleep,
exercise are all good things to put down.
2. Break that list down into smaller activities. Now you’ve got to break it down.
What do you do when you work? You talk on the phone. You have meetings.
You do brainstorming work. You respond to emails. Write all those tasks
down.
3. Now think about when you’re best at each of those things. Really think. And
don’t just answer once and for all today, but take a week. Take a month.
Watch yourself as you live your life, and think about it, over time.
After you do these things, you’re then ready to take on the bigger task of starting
to build a life designed around living your life at the best time of day you
can. Even if you aren’t someone with a detailed schedule day in and day out, this
can still work incredibly to give you the broad strokes picture of how you should
run your days.
Have you tried this before? Do you know when you are best at certain activities,
and not at others?
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How to Manage Your Email
H ere’s the thing.
In theory, I believe that email isn’t work. In my view, email isn’t a creation-based
process that results in shipping your next product out the door, or writing your
next book, or recording your next album. Email isn’t as creatively taxing as getting
a project done, and email doesn’t add up hour after hour, day after day, to a
completed project.
And so, for those reasons, I agree with folks who say that you should never email
first thing in the morning. Instead, with those first few hours of peak energy that
most of us have upon waking, we should focus on our most difficult task of the
day, and get that done. This is not a new idea.
It’s a theory proposed in Eat that Frog: 21 Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get
More Done in Less Time and in many other books on productivity. I even touch
on it in my own ebook about creating a morning routine, The Present Principle:
Seven Steps to Life in the Now.
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Many folks like me have jumped on this no-email-in-the-mornings train. If you’ve
ever read a morning routine or two, for example, you’ve also seen the shame
associated with admitting to reading email first thing! Although I’m not into the
shame game, no matter how you sugarcoat it, checking email first thing just isn’t
going to help you be more productive. And that’s because it violates the two most
important truths of email.
1. Email is best done in bulk.
2. Email is best done when you have less energy, not more.
Understanding these truths is key to getting at why some email management
systems work and some don’t.
Firstly, email is best done in bulk for the same reason that mono-tasking
and batching your work are key ways to ensure you’re being as productive as
possible. Switching between tasks can effectively help you lose up to 40% of your
productivity. Avoid this by doing one thing at once — like email.
The reason email is best done when you have less energy, not more relates
to why real productivity is about managing your energy, not your time. Times of
peak energy should be used for the most difficult things on your plate, and those
that require intense focus. The vast majority of the time, that is not email.
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With these truths in mind, here is how I manage the beast that is my email inbox
(which runs at a couple hundred emails a day, currently).
My Email Management “System”:
Urgent - These are emails I respond to, well, urgently.

Daily - These are emails I respond to, well, daily.
Weekly - I respond to these in bulk on a weekly basis.
Never - I do not respond to these.
To better understand each category, here are the types of emails that make
up each:
Urgent and Daily Emails
“Live” projects: Most of us have many projects on our plate in the course
of a year in our work, home, and extracurricular lives. However, only a few
of those projects are “live” at any given time. The wedding you’ve been
planning that takes place in a week, say, or the presentation you’re preparing
for Thursday. When a project is “live,” it requires urgent or daily attention. If a
project is far-off, in incubation stage, or on the back burner, it doesn’t require
such vigilance in your life, or in your email inbox.
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Life-changers: This mixed bag is usually made up of make or break news
(your adoption papers were approved! you closed the deal of the year! your
mother’s participating in a flash mob!) or opportunity (a significant press
opportunity! your favorite author wants to meet you!). You know these when
you see them.
Inner circle emails: We all have a circle like this, and the folks inside get
top billing, even when emailing their 10th semi-cute baby shot of the week.
We all need circles — and emails — like these.
Weekly Emails
For the most part, these emails are usually about another person’s agenda. They
may include queries from people who want your help on something, pitches
to do a job you may or may not want to do, or questions that aren’t urgent in
responding to. These are emails you likely do want to respond to, but should not
do so on a daily basis if you want to get your own work done.
Never Emails
We all have different standards for what these may be, and their volume varies
greatly on whether or not you are someone who receives a regular stream of
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unsolicited emails.
With the concept of these categories top of mind, I then respond to emails as
each category dictates — urgently, daily (in bulk), weekly (in bulk), and never.
For me, calling up the powers of the two email truths, email is best done in
bulk, and email is best done when you have less energy, has been essential
in developing a system that works for me, most of the time.
That said, like all good mammals, I get off track. I’ll wake in the middle of
the night once in a blue moon, and grab my iPhone for a minute that turns into
20. I’ll pull out my phone to take a picture of an unsuspecting baby and wind up
responding to an email that certainly doesn’t need my attention. Working to curb
my email inbox is the challenge of our digital age.
So can you do it? Can you try these tactics to tame the email beast?
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Quit Your Way to Success
PART 4
32
What Can you Quit Today?
“E very single Thursday, I quit something.” - Bob Goff
My friend, Bob Goff, is crazy. In an amazing way, of course.
He is one of the most accomplished people I have ever met. He runs a law firm
and a non-profit organization (yes, both), serves as the Honorary Consul to the
Republic of Uganda (yes, really), and is the NYT bestselling author of Love Does.
But the best part about Bob? He seems to enjoy life more than most. Stress?
Anxiety? Worry? I’m sure he has all three, but it’s hard to see. He is happy. And
kind. And comes up with wild capers that he involves others in that changes
hearts and lives. Meeting Bob changed my life. He’s that kind of guy.
Obviously there are many reasons for Bob’s incredible success in life, but one
of the ones I like most is his passion for a particularly strange habit: quitting one
thing every Thursday.
He calls it Quit Thursday, and it’s as easy as it sounds. Every Thursday, Bob
quits one thing. And you, too, can follow suit.
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The idea, of course, is that we’re all doing things we don’t need to be doing.
Things that zap our energy and passion and crowd our lives so much that we
can’t do the amazing things we should be putting all our passions into.
Today is Thursday (okay, just pretend), so I bet you know what I’m going to ask.
What can you quit today?
What is one thing you can throw out of your life for good that will help you be
happier, more focused, more fulfilled, and better able to accomplish what your
real calling in life is? Because that’s the thing you need to quit today.
Some tips on thinking of a good thing to quit on your first Quit Thursday:
Go with your gut
Don’t go too big
Don’t over-think it
So, what will you quit today? What can you quit today to give you the breathing
room you need to succeed?
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conclusion
35
This is a small book for a reason.
Hopefully, you’ll leave these few pages wanting more. Wanting to learn how to
best work by design in your own life in order to build a work life you love. A work
life that fills you, not zaps you. A work life that fuels you, not drains you. A work
life that gives you the life you’ve been dreaming of.
No matter where you are on the journey, it is possible to change the way you
work, to change the way you earn, to change the way you live.
Onward!
Claire
Claire Diaz-Ortiz
@claire
ClaireDiazOrtiz.com
WorkByDesignSummit.com
WorkByDesignSchool.com
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about the author
37
Claire Diaz-Ortiz is an author, speaker, and technology
innovator who has been named one of the 100 Most Creative
People in Business by Fast Company. Claire was an early
employee at Twitter, Inc., where she led social innovation.
In Claire’s time at Twitter, she was called everything from “The Woman Who
Got the Pope on Twitter” (Wired) and “Twitter’s Pontiff Recruitment Chief” (The
Washington Post) to a “Force for Good“ (Forbes) and “One of the Most Generous
People in Social Media” (Fast Company).
Claire is the author of seven books, including “Design Your Day: Be More
Productive, Set Better Goals, and Live Life On Purpose”, Twitter for Good:
Change the World One Tweet at a Time, Greater Expectations: Succeed (and
Stay Sane) in an On-Demand, All-Access, Always-On Age, and Hope Runs: An
American Tourist, a Kenyan Boy, a Journey of Redemption.
She is a frequent international speaker on social media, business and innovation
and has been invited to deliver keynotes and trainings at organizations like the
Vatican, the US State Department, Verizon, South by Southwest, TEDX, and
many others.
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She writes a popular business blog at ClaireDiazOrtiz.com and serves as a
LinkedIn Influencer, one of a select group of several hundred global leaders
chosen to provide original content on the LinkedIn platform.
Claire holds an MBA from Oxford University, where she was a Skoll Foundation
Scholar for Social Entrepreneurship, and has a B.A. and an M.A. in Anthropology
from Stanford University.
She is the co-founder of Hope Runs, a non-profit organization operating in AIDS
orphanages in Kenya.
She has appeared widely in television and print news sources such as CNN,
BBC, Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, Good Morning America, The Today
Show, The Washington Post, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, and many others.
Read more about her at www.ClaireDiazOrtiz.com or via @claire on Twitter.
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INDEX

Part 2: Goals ...............................................................................................................10

How I Read 200 Books a Year ...........................................................................................11

When is the Right Time of Day to Work? .............................................................................24

How to Manage Your Email ...............................................................................................27

Part 4: Quit Your Way to Success .....................................................................32

I believe that involves changing the way we work.

Specifically, it means clarifying our purpose, maximizing our productivity, and

increasing our profits.

Those may be big things, but this is a small book.

work to make it work for you.

Learn to work by design.

Learn to live the life you were meant to live.

way I think about my years. It’s simple, effective, and powerful.

I’ve chosen a word of the year.

my word directs and defines me throughout the course of my year.

I’m now such a fan that I’ll shout it on mountaintops:

Each and every year, you should choose a word to

Rest (my 2013 word)

Renew (my 2014 word)

#BanBusy (my 2015 word. Okay, it’s a PHRASE.)

#WorkByDesign (my 2016 word)

You get the picture.

create and live and breathe.

My word did make an impact, though. On me, and on others.

mentioned it when they were asking me to do something! A number of times I received a

wondering if you could...“

my priorities were as well.

One word. For you, and everyone else.

like the present.

that in in 2015, of course, and a billion is actually a specific, reasonable number;)

and (yes) luck thrown in.

is Everything, fits the following criteria:

Measurable: Choose goals you can count progress against. For my

books already, I am ahead. Although measurable goals don’t need numbers

and get cracking.

200 books. #duh (BABIES TAKE UP ALL THE TIME.)

Moleskine notebook and fancy pen), and get writing.

O ne of the most commented on aspects of my blog is my reading habit.

time to answer it again.

So, here’s how I do it, heavily relying upon my goal-setting method:

1. I break my annual goal into monthly averages.

constantly), I will exceed this.

over fours. So I need 16+ hours a week to read 4 books.

3. I read multiple books at once.

By reading multiple books at once (my Kindle enables me to do this easily, as I

a book that will work in a given scenario.

4. Audiobooks are an essential part of my arsenal.

get ready in the morning, do chores, or am doing anything else wherein an

audiobook could be great background multi-tasker. I set it on a speed slightly

Audible.com and you’ll be able to download one free book;)

5. I choose reading over other things.

watching Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (read: EASY). Why? Because I

calendar on weeknights. I don’t watch sports. I can’t cook to save my life.

that I’m not doing.

A few weeks ago, I had one of those days.

PLANET IN ONE DAY?!?”

That day was amazing.

an overwhelming dud. How did I manage to be so productive, and what’s the

lesson on how to be productive in general?

By Definition, Insane Productivity Can’t Happen Every Day of the Week

we quickly experience burn out, as one of my books discusses. As such, truly