The 4-Hour Workweek - Step 2: Elimination

Low-Information Diet

Selective ignorance

Increased output requires decreased input

Ask people "what's new in the world?"

Read one hour of fiction before bed

To learn something new:

Select one book about the topic by someone who already did what you want to do.

Read only the parts relevant to immediate next steps

Use what you read to draft intelligent questions for experts in that field

Replace information gathering (reading, news, etc) with talking to the people in your life

"Will I definitely need this information for something immediate and important?"

The art of nonfinishing

Starting something does not automatically justify finishing it.

Not all evils are created equal

Time wasters

Easiest to eliminate

Create systems to limit your availability via email and phone and deflect inappropriate contact.

Limit email consumption and production

Use two telephone numbers

Treat phone calls as urgent

Respond to voicemail via email

Meetings should only be held to make decisions

Define the end time of meetings

Do not permit casual visitors to your cubicle

Use the "Puppy Dog Close" (ie - "just this once"

Time consumers

Batch activities to limit setup costs and provide more time for dreamline milestones.

Empowerment failures

being unable to accomplish task without obtaining permission or information.

Being effective vs. being efficient

Efficiency is still important, but it is useless unless applied to the right things.

Pareto principle

80% of outputs come from 20% of inputs

Being busy is a form of laziness

Lack of time is actually lack of priorities

Parkinson's Law: a task will swell in (percieved) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion

Identify the few critical tasks that contribute most to income and schedule them with very short and clear deadlines.

Dedication is often just meaningless work in disguise.

Am I being productive or just active?

Am I inventing things to do to avoid the important?

If this is the only thing I accomplish today, will I be satisfied with my day?

Do not multitask

"task creep": doing more to feel productive while actually accomplishing less.