#Almost everything is noise

Very few things are essential. Your job is to filter through the noise until you get to the essence. Start off by assuming everything is noise. From there you’ll have to find the signal. Dieter Rahms coined this in a simple phrase: Weniger aber besser. Less but better.

#Remember to play

Play is immensely important to let the mind explore and relax. Play is anything we do simply for the joy of doing rather than as a means to an end.

#Get your sleep right

The brain encodes and restructure information while we sleep. So a good nights sleep is better for solving problems than staying up that extra hour to get something done. Choose to do one fewer thing today, in order to do more tomorrow. Get your sleep right. Sleep is the other side of the work you’re doing — sleep is the recharging of the internal batteries whose energy stores we recruit in order to do our work. It’s a meditative practice. It’s built into our biology for a reason.

#Protect the asset

The most important contribution we can make to the world is the one we make for ourselves. Investing in our minds, our bodies, and our spirits is crucial. Lack of sleep is the worst way to damage the asset. The asset is you.

#Cleaning the wardrobe

If you want to sort out the wardrobe you have to ask yourself the question “Do I love wearing this?”. If you ask yourself “May I wear this in the future?” you will end up not having anything sorted out. Let go of the “what if”. Studies show that we tend to value things we own more highly than they are worth. Thus, making it more difficult to get rid of.

#Create space to figure out what’s going on

You need space to figure out what really matters. This space doesn’t come by default; it happens by design. It’s critical to set aside time to take a breath, look around, and think. Don’t let your work keep you from stepping back to get perspective. Create the space you need in order to design your life.

#Choices are actions

Often we think of choice as a thing. But a choice not a thing. Our options may be things, but a choice is an action. We may not have control over our options, but we always have control over how we choose among them. It’s important to discern this slight difference. We overemphasize the external aspect of choices (our options) and underemphasize our internal ability to choose (our actions). Remember that your options can be taken away from you but your ability to choose cannot be. It can only be forgotten. So don’t forget your ability to choose.

#If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will

The most crucial skill is to develop the ability to choose choice, in every area of your life.

#Use the 90% rule to eliminate choices

For every decision or dilemma, as you evaluate an option, give the single most important criteria a score between 0 and 100. If you rate it any lower than 90 per cent, then automatically change the rating to 0 and simply reject it. This way it avoids you getting caught in indecision. It’s a liberating method that will get you to results faster. Using the 90 percent rule you’ve created a system that would make the selective criteria for you. It’s decision by design, rather than by default.

#Ask “How will we know when we’re done”

Be clear in the essential intent. A goal like “eliminate hunger in the world” is vague and feels little more than empty words. After hurricane Katrina, Brad Pitt phrased his intent “to build 150 affordable, green, storm-resistant homes for families living in the Lower 9th Ward.” That’s concrete. The realness of it makes it inspiring.

#The tyranny of sunk costs

Sunk-cost bias is the tendency to continue to invest time, money and energy into something we know is a losing proposition. It means that because you already put effort towards something you’ll continue doing that, simply because you can’t get back what you’ve put in.

#The Endowment Effect

The Endowment Effect is the tendency to undervalue things that aren’t ours and overvalue things because we already own them. A simple antidote against this thinking is to ask yourself “If I did not own this item, how much would I pay to obtain it?”

#Run a reverse pilot

In the same way as a prototype works as testing a concept for a large scale project, running a reverse pilot is a check whether removing an initiative will have any negative impacts. Remove the things you think may not be needed for people, and check their reactions. If nobody cares—it was not needed.

#Define your selective opportunity criteria

Focusing on one thing requires you to say no to everything else. Even in bad economic times. Even when paid work is offered. Always remember the trade-offs. Make your criteria both selective and explicit. It creates a systematic tool for discerning what is essential and filter out the things which are not.

#Choose respect in favor of popularity

Saying “no” often requires trading popularity for respect. Make your peace with that and understand that respect is far more valuable than popularity in the long run. You have to stomach the short-term loss in popularity for a long-term gain in respect.

#What is most important right now?

When faced with so many tasks and obligations that you can’t figure out which to tackle first, stop. Take a deep breath. Get present in the moment and ask yourself what is most important this very second – not what’s most important tomorrow or even an hour from now. If you’re not sure, make a list of everything vying for your attention and cross off anything that is not important right now.

#Craft your essential intent

An essential intent is the statement that eliminates a thousand decisions. It’s like deciding to become a doctor instead of a lawyer. This strategic choice rids a universe of other options and sets the course direction for the next five, ten, or even twenty years of your life.

#Clarify the statement

Remember that your statement needs to be specific. An essential intent is concrete and inspirational. It answers the question “How do we know when we’re done?” Remember that it’s the substance, not the style that counts. “If you could be truly excellent at only one thing, what would it be?”

#Learn to make one-time decisions

One-time decisions makes a thousand future decisions so you don’t have to exhaust yourself by asking the same questions again and again. The trick is to identify these one-time decisions that will eliminate all other choices you need to do.

#One-time actions that lock in good habits

Think about the onetime choices that makes everything else become easy. These simple single choices delivers returns again and again. Some examples:

#Sleep

  • Buy a good mattress.
  • Get blackout curtains.
  • Remove your television from your bedroom.

#General health

  • Get vaccinated.
  • Buy good shoes to avoid back pain.
  • Buy a supportive chair or standing desk.

#Finance

  • Enroll in an automatic savings plan.
  • Set up automatic bill pay.
  • Cut cable service.