Start by drastically cutting your active projects, aiming to remove 30% of current tasks. Then, select only 2-3 items to actively work on for the next few weeks, deferring others until current tasks are complete, to gain immediate breathing room.
Create a public list (e.g., shared document) divided into “actively working on” (2-3 items) and an “ordered queue” of waiting tasks. This reduces administrative overhead for waiting tasks and makes your workload visible to others.
When given a new task, ask your boss which current active task they would like you to stop working on to accommodate the new request. This clarifies priorities without being problematic, as your boss’s primary need is for their stress about a task to be relieved.
Develop a deep commitment to quality and craftsmanship in your core work, striving for continuous improvement in your best skills. This increases your value, grants greater autonomy, and naturally makes busyness and pseudo-productivity seem unnatural.
Incorporate variety in your work intensity and pace, recognizing that humans are not designed for constant high-intensity work. Adopt longer productivity timescales (e.g., seasonal, annual) to allow for this variation and prevent chronic stress.
Integrate solitude into existing daily activities (e.g., commute, dog walk) by removing distractions like headphones or phones. This allows your mind to wander, process experiences, and build mental frameworks for understanding your life.
Recognize that poor lifestyle choices (e.g., social media, unhealthy food) often stem from the need to soothe an overstimulated nervous system due to modern work/life. Focus on changing work/life patterns to reduce this underlying need for soothing behaviors.
Recognize that an email inbox triggers deep social instincts, making it hard to ignore and contributing to constant internal battles and draining willpower. Understanding this psychological pull can help manage it better.
Focus on preventing requests from showing up in the first place rather than just managing incoming ones, especially for knowledge workers. This can be achieved by having fewer active projects, which generate less administrative overhead.
Recognize and actively use the inherent autonomy in knowledge work, even when working for someone else, to manage your workload and work processes effectively. This flexibility allows for implementing personal systems.
When declining a request, provide clear and firm communication without offering wiggle room or excuses. People need clarity, and simply describing your busyness often leads to the other person pushing back or delaying rather than accepting your refusal.
Regularly assess and strive to balance different life “buckets” (friends, family, work, passions, health), being aware of and addressing neglect in any area before it becomes chronic. A holistic view can lead to more creative solutions.
Consider incorporating a daily health drink like AG1, which supports digestion with five strains of gut bacteria and plant-based compounds, especially during winter months for overall mental and physical well-being.