Border zone time
Big ideas don’t come from sitting
behind your computer or intense
concentration. Often, the best
strategic insights come from the
border zone between relaxation and
concentration, where the brain has
the freedom to connect dots from
different parts of your brain. Most
people benefit from incorporating
some “border zone time” into their
work schedule, such as walking
meetings, biking to work, running
or thinking-in-peace activities. You
will, in turn, focus more on output,
rather than input.
Reduce the sweat of small
decisions
All decisions drain energy, even
small ones. That’s the reason Steve
Jobs wore the same clothes every
day believing that even small
decisions, such as what to wear,
uses mental capacity that he could
otherwise channel into productivity.
You can start by reducing everything
you can; your outfits, your routines,
your possessions and then progress
to making fixed rules for what you
spend your time. Fixed rules make it
easier to say no quickly to requests
that would drain your time and
energy and save up energy for the
important things in your life.