How To Be More Productive | Smarter Faster Better Summary & Review, Book by Charles Duhigg |

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Smarter Faster Better, by Charles Duhigg | Summary & Review

Today the book that we are summarizing is Smarter, Faster, Better by Charles Duhigg.

This book is about being more productive and getting more done. It’s written excellently, and I like the author a lot. He also wrote The Power of Habit.

This book is good for business owners and people who have big dreams. It’s all about getting things done better.

It is laid out to cover 8 key concepts of productivity. The 8 concepts are:
• Motivation
• Goal Setting
• Focus
• Decision Making
• Team Building
• Managing People
• Innovation
• Data analysis

While pointing to real world examples of how the concepts work in practice. It uses examples from the team behind Pixar’s Frozen, an airline pilot who was able to create mental models during a catastrophe in order to save the passengers

Appendix:

Motivation
Motivation becomes easier when we transform a chore into a choice. “Most recruits don’t know how to force themselves to start something hard. But if we can teach them how to take their first step, they will feel in control.”

When you have a big undertaking to do. Just get a little bit underway and you’ll be able to the rest fairly easy. Also when you have a sense of control in the task, it makes it easier to do.

Self-motivation becomes easier when we see our choices as affirmations of our deeper values and goals.

When you have a powerful why, forcing yourself to do the boring, every day things that get you closer to your overall goal makes them easier.
Write at the top of your day why it’s important for you to get something done.

To generate motivation, make a choice that puts you in control.
Figure out how the task is connected to something you care about. Explain to yourself how this will help you get to a meaningful goal.

Goal Setting

You need a stretch goal – something to spark big ambitions
You need SMART goal – something to help you form concrete plans.
What is a SMART Goal? Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-based.

Write your goals down as a way to identify both types of goals.

When you have a good Stretch goal, you don’t stop working when you complete a task, because there’s an overarching principle to what you’re trying to achieve.

To set goals, start with your stretch goals, then break that into sub-goals, and come up with SMART plans to get them done.

Focus

In addition to having a plan, you need to work on maintaining your focus.

We aid our focus by building mental models, telling ourselves stories about what we expect to see.

Envision what will happen the next day and the next week. What will they look like?
Build mental models, what will distract you? What will help you?

How to build mental models:

The smarter faster better audiobook says to choose 3-4 things you want to happen:

What is your goal?
What will happen first?
What distractions are likely to occur?
How will you handle that distraction?
How will you know you’ve succeeded?
What is necessary for success?
What will you do next?

Decision Making

How do you make a decision when faced with the unexpected?

Probabilistic thinking: envision multiple futures, and then force yourself to figure out which ones are most likely, and why.
Good for small decisions.
When a friend calls you up for lunch, you can think about how long it will take, if it will be pleasant and you come back refreshed, or if there’s a disagreement and you get into an argument, what are the effects that will have on your day? If those are negative, bring that up that you’ll talk about it later.

Bigger decisions require a lot more thinking about the futures.

There’s a lot of alternative futures for big decisions.

Managing Teams
Manage the how, not the who of teams.

Think about the message your decisions are sending.

Teams work better when they feel they have a sense of control

Innovation

Don’t invent something from scratch. Put two things together in a way that hasn’t been done.
Recognize what’s going on in your body. That anxiety when you need to get something done is what drives innovation.

Absorbing Data better

When you take in data, force yourself to do something with the data. This will make you more likely to implement and remember it in every day life.

Example: When you read a book, take down notes and force yourself to explain it to a friend.
When you sit in class, force yourself to take notes by hand instead of typing them on the computer.

An excerpt from Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg: Productivity is about recognizing choices that other people overlook, making certain decisions in certain ways, the culture you establish, the way you frame your choices and manage information.

This book is essentially a guide on how to be more productive.