The 30-Day Productivity Plan by Damon Zahariades - Byteflick

Note: For your better understanding, I've rephrased all the ideas and headings in my own words. 

Day #1 - Check E-mail just 2-3 times a day

• Set a specific time to check the mail. See which time works for you.
• Unsubscribe from spam emails, adverts, etc. 

Day #2 - Don't aim for perfection

• Might sound counterintuitive but in reality, perfectionism can affect productivity. 
• Know when to stop the work (limits).
• Focus on finishing the task rather than perfecting it. Don't spend more time than what is required.

Day #3 - Keep your To-Do list simple

• Every time you add a task to the list, double-check whether accomplish it would relive you
• List the tasks based on priority
• Set a limit to the list. In my opinion, stick with just 7-8 important tasks.
• Allot a deadline/time frame for each job, followed by a short break to refresh your mind and body.
• Maintain 2 lists. One to write down whatever task that comes to your mind, and the other to write only the important ones, based on priority.

Day #4 - Complete tasks promptly

• Use the Pomodoro technique

Concept by Francesco Cirillo | Source: Sketchplantations

• Ignore social media, texts, tv while doing tasks
• Try to wrap up your job before a premeditated time. 
• Track your progress throughout the day.

Day #5 - Don't beat yourself

• Don't belittle your abilities and stop brooding over past mistakes and failures.
• Embrace failures
• Be aware of the fact that outcomes can never be controlled by anyone
• Keep your expectations in check. 
• There is only a small line between being optimistic and overconfident.
• Talk to a mental health expert, go to counseling sessions, and free your mind.

Day #6 - Practice saying 'NO'

Source: Quotefancy

• You don't have to say 'YES' to everything/everyone. 
• Know when to say yes and no.
• Delegate the work to someone who is skilled at it. 
• Say 'No' tactfully, without sounding rude or harsh. But your message should be clear.

Day #7 - Say no to overtime

• Working continuously might cause burn out. So it is important to take breaks and know when to wrap up the work.
• Set limits to your professional work and make sure it doesn't eat up the time you allot for personal life.
• When the work quantity increases, work quality decreases.
• If there is pending work, don't hesitate to schedule it for the next day. Good sleep will revitalize you and it would make it easier for you to finish the pending tasks easily. 

Day #8 - Don't be a control freak

• Delegate chunks of work to your co-workers and peers. Don't take it all upon yourself.
• Avoid micromanaging people and give sufficient freedom for them to complete the task
• Follow up with them on a regular basis but don't go to the extent of harassing them about the progress. 
• If you have a bunch of tasks to accomplish, check if any of them can be outsourced or delegated to your co-worker

Day #9 - Eat healthy food

• Replace junk foods with healthy alternatives. (Flavoured protein shakes)
• Create a meal plan. Thousands of plans are available on the internet. Refer them and create one to suit your lifestyle.
• A poor diet is a recipe for failure. You need the energy to complete your tasks. Energy comes from food you eat. As simple as that. Just by eating good stuff, you would be able to finish off your work like a pro.

Day #10 - Don't procrastinate

• In your To-Do list, list the outcomes side by side. That'll give you a sense of how important a particular task is. When you go through a task's outcomes, you'd be compelled to finish it.

Example: 

Cleaning house/room -Task; 

Clean house, Relaxed mind, Happy family, Positive environment - Outcome.

Day #11 - Prioritize properly

• So often we end up giving importance to wrong tasks. 
• Choose one or two big tasks for the day and focus on that first. Later, follow it up with less-intense tasks.
• Start off the day by doing the thing that you hate the most. Once you're done with it, you can spend the rest of the day happily, without any pressure or stress.

Day #12 - Stay away from Social Media

• Use website-blocking apps and extensions to prevent yourself from using social media sites. 
• Turn off all notifications when you work and when you take mid-work breaks.
• Try not to be all over the place. Stick with just one platform. Else, you'd be switching from one app to another, checking for updates.
• If you want to chat with your friends or check out the news, allot some time for that. Rather than doing it multiple times a day, stick with a specific time block, preferably, post-work.

Day #13 - Take adequate breaks

• When you take a break, don't pick up the phone. Engage in other relaxing activities like reading a book or a jog down the street.
• Eat nuts during breaks. It'll sharpen your focus and boost your energy level.
• Don't work overtime or at a stretch.
• If you're working on a computer and want to take a break, leave the work area first. Some people just close the work tab and then open up youtube to watch videos. So, get out of your room and take this as an opportunity to strike up conversations with your family.

Day #14 - No more Binge-Watching

• Note the number of hours you spend each week before TV.
• Write down the list of activities and tasks you could've done during that time period.
• Train yourself to binge watch only during the weekends.
• Unsubscribe from Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. Yes, it'll be hard at first. But you can strike a deal with yourself that if you can't be without it for more than 2 weeks, you can re-subscribe. Trust me, after 10-14 days of not watching tv, you'd get the hang of it and you would no longer have a pressing need to watch those shows.
• If you're someone who finds it hard to stay away from OTT platforms, try to see shows of different genres. Example: Documentary, Informative, Educative, etc.

Day #15 - Recurring task list

• Batch all the recurring tasks and allot a time block to get them over with. Example: Making the bed, sweeping the floor, tidying up, etc.
• Perform a monthly audit to weed out unnecessary tasks. 
• Track the time you spend on each task. Calculate how much time it would take for you to finish all the small recurring tasks. As mentioned above, you can combine them and do them back to back in an hour or two.

Day #16 - Stop multitasking

• Perform 1 task at a time. Keep electronic gadgets away when you're working.
• Finish off tasks from the To-Do list one by one.
• Declutter your desk.
• Tell your family/friends that you have work and ask them not to interrupt you.

Day #17 - Take responsibility for your choices

• When our day doesn't go well, we blame external factors. We don't man up and say to ourselves 'Yes. I wasted time'. Instead, we find persons/things to shift the blame so that we feel 'less guilty'.
• You are responsible for your choices. If it was a productive day, the credits go to you. If it was an unproductive day, analyze what went wrong, and try to avoid that in the future. 

Day #18 - Don't hold yourself back

• Focus on the outcomes than on the challenges
• List your strengths. We often underestimate our abilities.
• The initial phase of any project will be hard. Be it Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, no one took an elevator to the top. They started out on a rough note, whether their abilities were tested to the max. So, don't hold yourself back when you decide to take a plunge into something you are passionate about. If it isn't challenging, it simply isn't worth it. 
• Don't see setbacks as failures. Look at them as a signboard that says what to do and what not to.

Day #19 - Organize your day

• Create a short To-Do list.
• Use the Pomodoro technique. 
• Allot time blocks to address the needs of your friends, family, co-workers.
• Maintain a daily log of your activities.
• Say no to unnecessary meetings and activities. 

Parkinson's Law | Source: Benjamin Hardy

• If you allow 1 hour for the meeting, the meeting will be stretched to fill that time period. Try setting 20 minutes or 15 minutes. There will be a sense of urgency and people would be compelled to wrap up the discussion quickly.

Day #20 - Be Unapologetically you

• Bad things happen to everyone. Don't victimize yourself if you fall down. 
• Don't wallow yourself in self-pity. It will get you nowhere. Of course, it's okay to cry and sob. But only for a short while. You gotta get up, wipe away your tears, and think about the next step. The project won't move if you don't make a move.
• Engage in activities that make you feel happy about yourself. Example: Volunteering, Philanthropic activities.
• Don't compare yourself with others. Be proud of the unique person you are. 
• Accept the uncertainties of life.

Day #21 - Listen to your body

• Do difficult tasks when your energy level is high. Similarly, do mindless activities (checking mail, etc) when your energy level is low.
• Track your energy levels. Take note of when you feel brisk/fresh, and when you feel low/tired. After a week, go through your observations. You would then be able to identify periods of high energy level. Make use of it to complete difficult tasks.
• If a 30-minute nap in the afternoon refreshes you and restores energy, do it. Tinker with your biological clock and see when you feel active.

Day #22 - Exercise daily

• Go on a diet. No, you don't have to eat greens all the time and impose yourself on a strict regime. Just get rid of all the snack items from the larder or fridge. Make sure you have no access to junk food.
• Don't fix a specific time for walking or exercising. Throughout the day, unplanned events might pop up and that might hinder you from doing your everyday activities. So, whenever you get a 10 or 15-minute window, go outside for a walk and do stretches. When you come back to your desk, your energy level would be to the max.
• Maintain a spreadsheet on the computer or mark the days of exercise in your calendar. Keep crossing off the days where you managed to get some exercise done. 
• Sleep well. (7-8 hours of sleep is a must) 

Day #23 - Don't bother about others' opinions

• Don't bother what others think about you. In fact, everyone has their own priorities and problems to think about. You are probably way down in their priority list. So stop assuming that people are concerned about what you're doing. 
• Accept healthy and constructive criticism. Stay away from naysayers.
• Identify and align yourself with people who think and act like you.
• Listen to your own self before you take big decisions. 

Day #24 - Avoid daily updates

• Try not to be a news addict. 
• If you want to know what's going around the world, allot time for it and check out the news only during that time. Train yourself to do that. 
• Get rid of mainstream news apps, instead, install apps like Medium, Deepstash, Techcrunch, etc, that deliver news and information about the fields of your interest. You really don't want to know who is breaking up and who is getting hitched (Entertainment news).
• Unsubscribe emails from such news websites. Delete news widgets and apps, turn off notifications.

Day #25 - Pareto Principle (80/20)

• 20% of your efforts reap 80% of the rewards.

Source: Quotiss

• Go through your To-Do list and identify the tasks that yield important results. Focus on them and then you can carry out the lesser important tasks later.

Day #26 - Don't get caught in needless drama

• Avoid poking your nose into matters that aren't worth your time.
• White Knight Syndrome: 

Source: Daily Topic-i

• Some people are drawn to conflict. They want to put themselves between a fight or a tussle and want to resolve it just so they can create a good impression in the minds of others. They suffer from what is called the 'White Knight Syndrome'. Don't be that kinda person!
• Stay away from people who fuss about things. The closer you are to such drama queens, the more you get dragged into their lives, thus losing track of your own. Let them fight their own battles. 

Day #27 - Do goal-oriented work

• Some people work without goals. Even if they have, they don't have a clear strategy to approach it.
• Set a goal for every aspect of your life ie. Health, Career, Relationship, etc,
• Use the S.M.A.R.T method to create small goals

Source: ithinksport

• Pay attention to the factors you have control on. Example: If you want a job promotion, the ultimate decision rests on the superior. But what you can control is your punctuality, preparedness, work ethic, etc. If you can manage to get those stuff right, you have higher chances of being promoted.

Day #28 - Avoid Phone Distraction

• Turn off all notifications and keep the phone in silent mode when you're doing high-value tasks. 
• When you feel bored, try reading a book or magazine.
• Allot a specific time period to do all phone activities. You can check out notifications and updates once your work hours are over. 
• Monitor phone usage and see where the majority of your time is spent.
• Delete all apps except the ones you use for work.

Day #29 - Don't burn out

• Schedule breaks throughout the day
• Take weekends off. Read your favorite book or binge-watch during Saturdays and Sundays. 
• Avoid using smartphones during break time. You take breaks to get your mind off all things, not to shift focus from one thing to another.

Day #30 - Be stressfree

• Identify the factors that trigger stress. Write them down for a week or two and you'd be able to zero in on the reason that bothers you constantly.
• Deal with stress properly. Some people resort to drinks and cigarettes to relieve stress. You can instead take a brisk 15-20 minute walk during work breaks. That would not only refresh your mind but also decrease the stress hormones - cortisol levels.

Mental Toughness by John Tracy - Byteflix

Byte #1 - Mental Toughness

• Most of the pain we feel is self-inflicted and not external. Negative feelings manifest and breed in our mind and sadly, we allow them to poison our soul. 
• Don't keep the emotions locked up. The weight of it would keep adding and one day, you'll buckle under the pressure. So get it off your chest. 

Qualities of a mentally tough person: 

1. Focused
2. Winning mindset
3. Willpower
4. Calm and Composed
5. Embracing failure
6. Taking responsibility for one's actions
7. Meticulous planner
8. Ready to face uncertainty and challenges
9. Controlling emotions and not let them cloud your vision
10. Set no limits

Byte #2 - Importance of being mentally strong

• The conscious mind is like the RAM of a computer - random thoughts and feelings that cross your mind are temporarily stored here
• The subconscious mind is like the ROM of a computer - stores all the stuff from the conscious mind so that it can be retrieved at a later time

If you keep saying negative affirmations like 'I'm a loser/I'm useless', it gets registered in the subconscious mind. In a crunch situation, your brain will search the hard drive (subconscious) for strength and power. But how would it be able to find that if you keep filling up your hard drive with pessimistic thoughts?

• Whether you're a parent or an artist or an entrepreneur, you need to develop a positive mindset that would help you surmount the challenges associated with your job. 

Byte #3 - Disciplined like a SEAL

Traits of Unbeatable mind:

1. Mental Competency - the ability to make good judgments. Train your mind before you train your body.
2. Emotional Intelligence - the ability to keep one's emotions in check. Learn to have a neutral state of mind (unwavering). Empathize and communicate well.
3. Resilience - the ability to withstand pressure and thrive in unfavorable conditions.
4. Will power - the ability to ignore distractions and disturbances
5. A Winner's mind - establishing a positive mindset and not settling for anything less than what you aimed for.
6. The Ability to Focus - Your focus should be laser-sharp. Whatever comes between you and your goal, you should surmount it and not get distracted by it.
7. Circle - Surround yourself with likeminded friends and people who are mentally tough.
8. Going against the tide - It's not always good to go with the nature's flow. Sometimes, you need to swim against the tide to find your true calling.
9. Expects delayed gratification - Enjoy the process more than the rewards. Don't seek instant/immediate success.
10. Consistency - working day in day out with the same level of passion and excitement you had on the first day.

Picture Courtesy: YLS Network

Byte #4 - Goals & Motivation

• Goal setting: Set a clear, well-defined, measurable, and achievable goal.
• Write down your goals, prioritize work, give them deadlines, and tick them off one by one.
• Make a To-Do list to manage time well.

Byte #6 - Focused mind + action = success

• Meditate every day. Scientific studies show that it improves focus and reduces stress.

Simple meditation posture - Zazen

• The physical aspect of meditation - Zazen posture; Mental aspect - Slow breathing;
• Avoid saying the word 'TRY'.  

Example: 

I'm gonna try to do meditation from tomorrow.

I'm going to do meditation from tomorrow

Building Mental Strength:

• Keep emotions in check - Take deep breaths if you feel stressed or angry. The negative/excess energy (stress) will be relieved from your body
• Untether yourself - Stay detached from materialistic things. Don't hustle just for the sake of 'owning' things. 

Quote by LaoZi | Source: Quotefancy

• Accept the fact that you can't control every aspect of life. 
• Be prepared for the worst during your best days. Be prepared for the best during your worst days.
• Embrace success and milestones, but not too much. Give yourself the credit you deserve.
• Be happy with who you are on the inside and outside.
• Be proactive and not reactive. (Anticipate potential problems and be ready to sort it out when it occurs)
• Think twice before you speak
• Start off the day on a positive note - saying affirmations out loud, dancing to music, walking, etc.
• Take enough breaks. Your mind, body, and soul need ample rest for better functioning.  
• Learn the art of saying 'NO'. 

Byte #6 - Gratification management

Tips to empower our mind:

1. Read plenty of books and expand your knowledge base
2. Have a positive image of your own self
3. Experiment a lot and attempt new things
4. Engage in physical activities (Start lightly and then later on attempt intense workouts)

Byte #7 - Accepting negative emotions

• Practice Mindfulness Meditation, which is like an exercise for the brain. There are a lot of meditation techniques and postures. But as stated earlier, I'd recommend you to start with the Zazen meditation posture.
• It will help you focus on the present and there would be fewer chances of you zoning out in the middle of a lecture or during a long drive in a car.
• Get plenty of sleep. This is perhaps the best option to reboot our mind and body, cleanse the system from toxic entities. 

Byte #8 - Influence of environment

• Take responsibility. If you make a mistake, accept it, learn from it, and try not to repeat the same in the future. Denying it and being ignorant will take you nowhere.
• Compete with yourself and not others. Every day, try to be a better version of who you were on the previous day.
• Don't let others dictate how you should lead your life. Listen to no one but yourself. Accept healthy criticism and reject trash talk.
• Listen to your inner voice/gut feeling.
• Enjoy the process/journey. 
• Be Grateful. Be Humble. 

Byte #9 - 'You aren't a superhero'

Strategies to build mental toughness:

1. Hypnosis - might not work for everyone. But you go for hypnosis sessions and see what it's all about. 
2. Improve your communication skills. Engage in meaningful discussions with your friends about a movie or an incident that happened recently. You'll learn to convey opinions efficiently without beating around the bush. 
3. Meditation - again, he stresses the importance of meditation
4. Healthy habits - Come up with simple, easy to follow habits and stick to it. Example: Start with a target of reading 20 pages a day and then increase it once you get the hang of it.
5. Seek positive influences and keep away negativities.

Byte #10 - Mental Toughness Loop

Picture Courtesy: The Third Man

Direct Quote:

" It is a conceptual vehicle, through which you can effectively isolate the individual parts of the whole to make significant and rapid movements on the sum total. "

Million Dollar Habits by Stellan Moreira - Byteflix

The gist of 27 habits:

Habit #1 - Build successful beliefs

• Develop a strong positive/optimistic mindset
• Take a journal and jot down the moments where you achieved something notable. Example: Winning a college competition. The point is to remind yourself of your greatness and abilities.
• Accept that it's totally alright to commit mistakes. Don't be ashamed of your failures. Instead, write down the knowledge you gained from it.
• Being pessimistic takes you 'nowhere'. But being optimistic takes you 'somewhere'.

Habit #2 - Affirmations and Belief

• Come up with your own affirmations. Example: Saying to yourself that everything will be alright, that you can complete the project within the deadline.
• The affirmation can be short and simple. Chant it several times during the day. When you're doing an activity, try saying your affirmation out loud. Example: Come on! Let's do this.
• For the best results, say it before you hit the bed and after you wake up. 

Personal Take: After you wake up, say 'Let's roll' loudly and get on to make your bed and daily chores. Once you make it a habit, you'll be starting your day in a powerful mood.

Refer Research article about the effects of positive self-affirmations.

Habit #3 - Mindful breathing

Meditation/Mindful breathing poses - Source: The way of meditation blog

Talks about how mindful breathing can refresh both your mind and body. For the detailed procedure/information, please perform a google search on the particular pose.

Habit #4 - Think about your thoughts

• Try not to dwell on every passing thought. 
• Through the art of meditation, you'll learn how to detach yourself from thoughts. If you give in to them, your focus would be all over the place.
• If a negative thought crosses your mind. Leave it. Don't probe it or take it into consideration.

Habit #5 - Be Forgiving

• Take deep breaths when you get into tiffs with people around you
• Be aware of the emotions you feel and try to control them
• Filter your opinion during an argument. Don't lash out at the people just for the sake of making your point.
• Forgive others and yourself. Things can always go wrong and people make mistakes. Holding grudges or being hard on yourself for a mess you made isn't going to make things better.

Habit #6 - Be Thankful

• Express gratitude. 
• Be thankful for the blessings you have in life. It will improve your emotional well being and improve your satisfaction.
• Write down your strengths and achievements and be proud of who you are. Be confident.
• Thank people when they help you and check on them once a while. 

Habit #7 - Experiment a lot

• Try something new every day
• Listen to a new genre of music, watch a documentary, play a puzzle game, etc.

How it helps? 

By doing something new and novel, you get to experience new feelings and most importantly, you learn to handle new hurdles, challenges, etc, When you encounter the same in real life, instead of panicking, you would instead come up with a strategy to overcome it. 

Habit #8 - Be Curious

• By digging deep into matters that interest you, a huge wealth of information can be gleaned. 
• It will also improve your cognitive power as it sparks the functionality of different areas of the brain.

My Take: Rather than scratch the surface of a topic, make a dent.

Habit #9 - Overcome fears

• Instead of chickening out, face the fear. Challenges aren't meant to stop your progress but to improve your abilities.
• Do things that are outside your comfort zone. If something scares you, do it. If you don't, it'll keep popping up at different stages of your life and you'll forever be whimpering in fear at the sight of it. 

Habit #10 - Build your strengths

• Make a list of your strengths and figure out ways to improve on them.
• Even if you are good at just 2-3 things, try to become the best at it.

Habit #11 - Live your life to the fullest

• Life has so much to offer. But most of us limit ourselves and are bogged down by the problems at hand. 
• Create a positive mindset and take a look at the beauty of life. Enjoy each and every moment, for there is someone out there, wishing for a life that you have now.

Habit #12 - Be flexible

• You cannot control the outcome, but only the process.
• Try not to assert control over things that are beyond your reach. If someone irritates you at work persistently, ignore them, and focus on your work. Their behavior and attitude can't be controlled by you. So it's better to turn a blind eye at them.

Habit #13 - Smile

• Smile often. Give yourself a pat on the back for what you've done. Example: After a 20-minute intense exercise, smile and feel happy about your progress.

Habit #14 - Body Language

• Your body language has a direct impact on your mood and overall well-being.
• Stand up straight, sit upright, straighten your spine, walk properly. 
• Maintain eye contact while talking with someone, don't slouch.
• Having the right body language will project yourself as a person with strong leadership qualities. 

Habit #15 - Filter your circle

• Foster meaningful relationships 
• Let go of regressive relationships
• Identify the persons who add value to your life
• Surround yourself with likeminded people who share the same goals as you
• Be with people who express healthy criticism as they'd help you become better

Habit #16 - Networking

• Take conscious efforts to establish good relationships with friends and family
• If you miss someone, meet or call them and ask about their well being
• Attend professional gatherings, lobby around and meet new people, learn from them

Habit #17 - Spending quality time with loved ones

• Make it a point to allot the weekends for spending time with family/loved ones.
• Go to an amusement park or engage in recreational activities with your spouse and kids. 
• Time spent on loved ones is never wasted. 

Habit #18 - Show affection

• Express your love for others openly. If you love someone, if someone helps you a lot, be vocal about how they make you feel
• Not only will it warm their hearts, but it will also strengthen the relationship.
• Don't wait for a special occasion to profess your love. When you are at work, text your friends and family that you miss them and that you love them so much. Might take just a couple of seconds for you to send, but it'll mean a lot for the recipient. 

Habit #19 - Seeing the good in every situation

Personal Take: 'Failure is not when you fall down. It is when you refuse to get up'. When you fail, it's natural to feel bad. If you feel like crying, do it. But once you're done wiping your tears, analyze where you went wrong and come up with theories and strategies to overcome the problem. Every time you fail, the solution would appear even more clear.

Picture Source: Thomas Edison Muckers

Habit #20 - 3 Keys of Resilience

• Have a purposeful goal (Set meaningful goals)
• Believe in yourself (Trust and have faith in yourself)
• Embrace change (Nature is never constant. It keeps changing. Adapt to them.)

Habit #21 - 3 Levels of Honesty

• Be honest about what you think 
• Be honest about your feelings
• Be honest about what you do

Habit #22 - Spiritual Strategies 

• Meditate every day (preferably morning)
• Accept the fact that you can’t solve all of your problems ie. things beyond your control
• Spend time outside. Talk a walk, meet new people, go to different places and experience new feelings
• Find a mentor. He/She can be a living persona or a historical figure. If you love Elon Musk, read articles and books about his life, work ethic, etc, and implement those habits in your life. 
• Millionaire’s Mindset: Being persistent and goal-oriented. (Never giving up)

Habit #23 - Investing in the things that matter

• Create a list of Personal & Professional activities and evaluate their value. If you’re doing something that takes up a lot of your time but doesn’t yield equivalent results, then it’s better to prune them.
• Find out which of the activities are Progressive and Regressive. For example: Enrolling in a singing class even though you have no intention to become a singer is a regressive activity. On the other hand, any activity that aids your personal/professional life is a Progressive activity.
• Read books every day and get familiarised with the concepts pertaining to your domain. 
• Visualize your goals and ideas.
• If an idea seems crazy at first glance, don’t drop it. Analyze and see if it can be developed better.
• Hang out with friends who are good in their fields. Build relationships with them.

Habit #24 - Habit of Planning

• Breakdown a big goal into smaller achievable tasks
• Keep a short-term and a medium-term goal to achieve the long-term goal
• Create Daily, Weekly, and monthly To-Do lists
• Eat an ugly frog in the morning - Complete the hardest task on the list as soon as you wake up
• Go through your To-Do list every night before you sleep and plan your course of action for the next day.
• Set compelling rewards. Example: Treat yourself with a bar of candy after you cross a physically laborious task off your list

Habit #25 - Staying Focused & Confident

• Focus on your dreams more than the difficulties: When we encounter hurdles, our spirits dampen and we start to doubt our abilities to surmount them. Don't let the problems obscure your vision of the ultimate goal. 
• Get up early: Successful people are the early risers. Also, develop a pre-sleep routine, where you can engage in relaxing activities. Example: Reading a book, Taking a shower.
• Fall in love with the process and not the reward. That sort of mindset will keep you going till the end.
• Set up a social media account to showcase your talent and establish relationships with like-minded people.
• Help others by sharing your expertise and don't expect anything in return.

Habit #26 - Think Long Term

• Keep a long term goal and work towards it every day. Stay committed to it.
• Celebrate lightly when you hit new milestones.

Personal Take: If your long term goal is to become an author, keep that target at the back of your mind and make sure you are on the process to achieve it. It's very easy to lose sight of the bigger picture if you focus on everyday tasks. However small it may be, take efforts to inch forward towards your goal. Example: Writing 500 words every day.

Refer to Soichiro Honda's success story. (Source)


Habit #27 - Invest in yourself

• Make a list of monthly fixed expenses and allot a part of your salary for that. 
• Try to save at least 10% of the remaining money (savings)
• Create multiple income streams - Blogging, eBook writing, buying stocks, etc,
• Take care of your health - Go for regular health checkups, Get insurance for you and your family, etc, 

To-Do Formula by Damon Zahariades - Byteflix

Byte #1

Main reasons why our To-Do list fail:

• The objective isn't well defined
• Too many tasks on the list
• Doing tasks that don't add value

Byte #2

10 Most Popular To-Do list Systems:

• Massive, All-inclusive list: Jotting down every possible task and then organizing them based on priority.

• "Task" + "Starting date" + "End date": Assigning clear cut deadlines for each task.

• Master List & Daily List: Keeping two separate lists where the Master List is ar record of all tasks that are to be done. Pick the important ones and add them to your Daily List. Then review the Master list and repeat process.

• 3+2 strategy: Your list consists of 3 big tasks and 2 small tasks.
• 1-3-5 strategy: Your list consists of 1 big task, 3 medium tasks, and 5 small tasks.

• Project-Based System: Take 2-3 projects, make a list of tasks for each of them.

• The 3-MIT Approach: Selecting 3 high priority tasks and completing them by the end of the day. Similar to the Pareto Principle:

20% of the tasks add 80% value. So, pick out 3-4 high-value tasks and finish them by whatever means, before the day ends. 

MIT (Most important Task) concept by Leo Babauta

• The Kanban Method:

Picture Source: KissFlow

• The Matrix System:

Picture Source: Success Feed

Concept by Stephen Covey

• Getting Things Done(GTD):

Picture Source: Toodledo 

Concept by David Allen

Byte #3:

Tips to maintain a To-Do list:

• Do weekly reviews to see how you're faring
• Refer to the above-mentioned concepts, select or come up with a system that works for you.
• Keep a separate 'Tiny Batch' list that contains the mundane everyday tasks like making the bed, taking the trash out, etc. Don't mix it up with the main list.
• Schedule tasks in accordance with time/energy level

Example: Morning is when you'd feel fresh. Use the morning hours to do analytical/creative tasks

Your energy level might dwindle during the afternoon. Try to finish mindless work like data entry, decluttering work desk, etc.

Byte #4:

Creating a perfect To-Do list:

• Separate current tasks from future tasks
• Specify the 'Outcome' next to the task. That will let you know the relevance and importance of doing it.
• Break big tasks into smaller, achievable ones. 
• Set deadlines for each task
• Categorize tasks by Project (Task at hand), Type (Creative, Analytical, Mindless), or Location (Office, Home, Transit)
• Insert an 'Active Verb' before the task.

For example: 

Breakfast with parents 

Call parents to plan a breakfast date

Byte #5: 

Choose where to create/maintain the to-do list. It can be online/offline. Select only one.

Personally, I'd advise you to put sticky notes on your work desk/door/fridge so that you would always be reminded of the tasks that are pending.