Recently I’ve been reading some time management literature by the likes of Brian Tracy and Stephen Covey. I thought I’d share the notes I wrote while studying.

Psychology of Time Management

The four D’s of effectiveness:

• Desire — Have a burning passion to achieve.
• Decisiveness — Put in 100% of yourself into it.
• Determination — Have the grit needed to not give up.
• Discipline — Cultivate yourself in the long-term.

And:

• Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
• Law of Control states that the amount of self-worth is determined by how in control we feel we are of our lives.
• Positively visualize yourself as a good time manager, reaffirm this by telling others the same thing. Reprogram your brain. Fake it until you make it.

To be sincere and to have passion.

If there’s one thing that I sincerely yearn to see more of in my life, it’s people that openly and excitedly talk about things close to their heart. I think there’s no easier way to become a person who is genuinely interesting than to be genuinely interested in something.

When somebody has an avocation that they pursue for its own sake — when there’s no pride or arrogance — I could sit for hours listening and learning about it and them. Even, and almost especially, when it’s something that I previously thought mundane or hadn’t even thought about at all.

And I feel so lucky to stumble upon this kind of person because they seem like a rarity. I think I can understand why, though. There are a number of reasons, both societal and personal, that make the hobbyist surprisingly elusive.

Different ways of thinking about the past and writing.

I don’t remember when it started, but I’ve come to the realization I live a life of frustrating contradictions. How lazy I feel, after being tired from working all day. Or how the pressure of optimism feels harsher than giving in to cynicism. Or how I feel like a child at heart in spite of having a wandering mind that often feels brittle and faded.

There’s also the occasional pang of regret, which seems more eye-rolling and silly than a contradiction, at my age — of course we do stupid things in our youth, that’s what our youth is for. There are often times where I’ll search up terms like “Things I wish I could have said to my 20-year-old” which are usually written by someone a decade or two older.

Being happier with less.

The world is too full of clutter. Our physical world is bombarded with things and people that want to distract us enough to leach time or money. Our mental world is often filled with the useless white noise of overthinking things that don’t actually matter.

I often find myself unable to write because of this, beyond that, I find that the amount of information and choices we’re presented with each day hinders our ability to do what we actually want.