Components of a Life System
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A system for setting the right goals and actions.
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A system for doing the actions.
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A system for capturing and processing incoming input.
A System for Setting the Right Goals and Actions
Summary
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Mission: Create an overarching and meaningful mission.
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Goals: Identify broad categories of goals and desires that fulfill your mission.
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Projects: Identify smaller, individual projects that satisfy each broad category of goals and desires.
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Active Projects: Identify your top 5 or 6 active projects as of the moment.
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Back Burner: Put all other projects with project notes in the Back Burner.
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Short-term Plan: Create a short-term plan for achieving some of your goals within a few months, a year, or a couple of years.
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Priority Actions: Flesh out priority actions for each project.
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Time Blocks: Create an ideal schedule and block off time to work on projects.
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Routines: On your ideal schedule, block times for your other daily and weekly routines.
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Calendar: Put any date- and time-specific tasks in the Calendar.
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Project Management: Manage projects efficiently.
Step 1. Mission: Create an overarching and meaningful mission.
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Remember: Your mission is based on your subjective “Why.” It is not an intrinsic part of nature. You create the meaning of your own life. Therefore, you create your own mission.
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Update your mission as often as needed.
Step 2. Goals: Identify broad categories of goals and desires that fulfill your mission.
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Remember: Goals and desires are “feeling states.” We go after something because of the desirable feeling they create for us.
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To make them clearer, write objectives for each category stating exactly what you want to experience for each.
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Optional: To create more focus, you may create sub-categories with their own objectives.
Step 3. Projects: Identify smaller, individual projects that satisfy each broad category of goals and desires.
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Ideally, each broad category should be satisfied by three or more individual projects to make them more resilient.
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Each individual project should ideally be homeotelic, which means that they satisfy each of the broad category of goals and desires as much as possible.
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Each individual project should both (1) generate the feelings associated with the broad categories of goals and desires that they aim to satisfy while they are being done, as well as (2) improve your current state so that you are reach a future position where such feelings are maximized.
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Projects must be simple, small, and slow (not complicated, large, and fast) for easy management.
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Projects must produce value (better health, new/better connections, new/better skills, money).
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Projects must not consume the value produced by another.
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Projects should be self-supportive: they should be free, earn money, or help save money.
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Projects must be “free” but provide the opportunity to learn, meet new people, and possibly earn money eventually.
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For a cash-negative project, find a direct, yet free, replacement.
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Projects must contribute to each other without depending on each other.
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Projects must be easily substitutable.
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”With each module being self-supported, self-sufficient, internally integrated, and loosely coupled, with no module dominating the others, modules should be easily substitutable, but connected in a loose confederation of “independent entities” aligned in a common goal, so that the sum is greater than the parts. In other words, arrange your life like an orchestra or a sports team, which don’t depend on any single player.”
Step 4. Active Projects: Identify your top 5 or 6 active projects as of the moment.
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Work on only at most 6 active projects at any given time.
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These projects should help you achieve your goals indicated in your short-term plan.
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Each project will have a corresponding “project note” in Evernote, which contains: the project name, the primary and secondary goals and desires it satisfy, its objectives, and the next actions that should move it forward.
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Complicated projects will also have a dedicated project folder located at the Active Projects folder on your computer’s desktop.
Step 5. Back Burner: Put all other projects with project notes in the Back Burner.
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Demote active projects to the Back Burner any time. Do this by simply moving the project’s Evernote project note from Active Projects to the Back Burner folder in Evernote. Also, transfer the project’s dedicated folder from the Active Projects folder to the Back Burner folder on your computer’s desktop.
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Promote any Back Burner projects to Active Projects any time.
Step 6. Short-term Plan: Create a short-term plan for achieving some of your goals within a few months, a year, or a couple of years.
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Prioritize which broad categories of goals and desires you want to or need to focus on at this point in your life.
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Identify those projects that fulfill your desires in the short term.
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Write a simple description on how you will go about doing these projects at this time.
Step 7. Priority Actions: Flesh out priority actions for each project.
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Define active individual steps that will move the project forward.
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These steps must be necessary, meaningful, and influential to the success of the project.
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List them in the project’s note.
Step 8. Blocked Times: Create an ideal schedule and block off time to work on projects.
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Designate no specific projects on these blocked times. Just block them.
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These blocked times will specifically be spent on the 6 active projects you identified.
Step 9. Routines: On your ideal schedule, block times for your other daily and weekly routines.
Step 10. Calendar: Put any date- and time-specific tasks in the Calendar.
Step 11. Project Management: Manage projects efficiently.
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Assure that no single project dominates. This can be accomplished by scheduling and sticking to the schedule.
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Make projects simple, small, and slow rather than complicated, large, and fast, so that they are easier to manage.
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React faster that the characteristic time scale of changes within your projects.
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You should be able to understand and control anything you engage with.
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You must have the time to oversee the operation.
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Avoid tightly coupled complexities.
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Achieve slowness through delayed gratification.
A System for Doing the Actions
Summary
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Priority Actions: Set 3-6 priority actions for the day.
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Do: Do the actions.
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Distractions: Tackle distractions.
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Breaks: Take breaks.
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Batch Tasks: List a few other “Batch” tasks that could be accomplished after the priorities are accomplished.
Step 1. Priority Actions: Set 3-6 priority actions for the day.
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Set your priority actions in the morning before getting to work (or in the night before).
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Review unfinished actions in the previous day and see if they can be done today.
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Choose which project/s feels the right one to focus on today. Remember: Adopt a Renaissance model instead of a linear model of productivity.
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Extract priority actions from these projects.
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Incoming tasks could be prioritized as long as they are really important.
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Accomplish these 3-6 actions in order of their true importance.
Step 2. Do: Do the actions.
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Maintain a morning routine that lends itself to mindfulness, simplicity, focus, gratitude, and flexibility.
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Pick the most important action for the day.
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Reflect: Is this the most important action I can be doing right now? What is my intention with this task? Why?
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Focus exclusively on that task for a bit (10-15 uninterrupted minutes), finishing if you can.
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For big tasks, measure your progress in small increments (10-15 uninterrupted minutes) to enjoy feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment quickly.
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Work until the first action is finished before moving on to the second action.
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Focus on enjoying the activity, not its results.
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Approach the rest of your list in the same fashion.
Step 3. Distractions: Tackle distractions.
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When you notice yourself trying to go to distractions or busywork, pause. Notice the fear of uncertainty. Breathe.
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Set a heart intention (“It is my intention to do this task out of love for…”)
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Dive into the task with love, even with this feeling of fear in you.
Step 4. Breaks: Take breaks.
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Practice stillness and quiet.
Step 5. Batch Tasks: List a few other “Batch” tasks that could be accomplished after the priorities are accomplished.
A System for Capturing and Processing Incoming Input
Summary
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Capture: Capture loose ends in different inboxes.
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Process: Process loose ends.
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Limit: Always limit the number of inboxes and things you put in it as much as possible.
Step 1. Capture: Capture loose ends in different inboxes.
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Physical box - for physical paper
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Analog journal - for creative ideas, business ideas, inspirational musings, and intellectual musings
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Evernote - for creative ideas, business ideas, inspirational musings, and intellectual musings (usually on the go)
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Other digital inboxes like phone, email, and social media
Step 2. Process: Process loose ends.
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Physical box - archive papers
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Analog journal - create an index
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Evernote - go through inbox and transfer individual notes to different notebooks
Step 3. Limit: Always limit the number of inboxes and things you put in it as much as possible.