The bookcase

One of the books Shaun rated five out of five.

Time wise

  • 5/5
  • Finished 2025
  • Self-development

1/Priorities

  1. Instead of goals, set systems. Not 10k words, but 500/day. much more fulfilling + motivating.
  2. for Requests, ask:
    1. what are you uniquely placed to help with
    2. what gives you most joy?
  3. for Decisions, ask:
    1. frame question as a trade off with options
    2. fact finding
    3. deadlined
    4. follow up + review

    Ask which option leads me to a bigger life? Is this going to make me happier? Learn? Deepen relationships? Think of the iceberg + shitty stuff involved.

  4. instead of work-life balance, look at what we love and loathe doing - strive for imbalance. For the crap stuff, i) can you stop doing it? ii) team up with someone? iii) reframe how you view it?
  5. Friday review of:
    1. career
    2. relationships
    3. self.

    give yourself 1 thing to achieve next week

  6. To do list
    1. open list for tasks
    2. closed list for 5 most important tasks
    3. have a ‘to discuss’ list.

2/Structure

  1. Morning person, do deep work 7-11am, light work 11-2pm, rebound deep 2-4pm
  2. Keep a switchlog + time audit. Categorise by value added. Stop/outsource the crap stuff. Time block breaks/focus/nothing time.
  3. End of the day do a digital and physical cleanup

3/Efficiency

  1. 30x rule - if you do something 30x+ per year, outsource or automate
  2. batch email
  3. put book/to-do list on top of phone.
  4. learn keyboard shortcuts.

4/ Focus

  1. Safe for phone. Charge in another room. Rubber band around phone.
  2. Even having phone on table consumes energy not to touch it
  3. Music to get into flow. Locations for no work, deep work, video calls etc

5/ Reflection

  1. 6month checkup ask
    1. am i in right job?
    2. am i at a plateau?
    3. am i energised?
    4. is this a culture where i can thrive?
  2. if you have fear, ask ‘what’s the best that could happen?’
  3. feedback at 50-60% of task, not AT END. Ask for specifics. Give £1 for every comment.
  4. For painful things, tell yourself, ‘I get to X’.

6/ Connections

  1. 1pg operating manual. Pet peeves, strengths, weaknesses, holidays, work-life balance.
  2. T shirt with FOCUS on it.
  3. Unsolicited gift in january.
  4. Old contacts, ask
    1. what do you need right now?
    2. anything i can do for you?
    3. How can i support you?
    4. Instead of small talk, ask about podcast, cool startups, ideas, research, books.
    5. at events, look for groups with an odd number

7/ Energy

  1. Sticky note, ‘Making history’.
  2. make list of things that annoy you/ energise you/non negotiables/ pair hard shit with something enjoyable (eg bath).
  3. have a Spark Joy folder with your achievements/energising stuff
  4. Outsource/eliminate irritants. Instead of ‘I can’t, say i don’t”. or “yes, but…”

Spark joy

Contacts