Time management - MINUS ONE - a-remarkably-simple-way-to-save-time

If you never have enough time, invest just 90 seconds in this article and you can learn how to free up space in your daily schedule.

My solution is called minus one, and it is based on the observation that each of us does a lot of things that ultimately prove to be unimportant or unnecessary. The problem is that we find it hard to recognize in advance which tasks will fail to be worthwhile,

The goal of minus one is to do less but accomplish the same, or more

To benefit from minus one, you simply eliminate one task at a time from your schedule, then evaluate whether doing so had any negative consequences.

If eliminating the task did not cause a problem, you succeeded in saving time. If it did, just add the task back to your schedule. The risk is low, but the benefit of applying minus one can be great, if you stick to it over time.

No matter how efficient you are, the odds are high that there's fluff in your routine. Even CEOs and world leaders fall victim to activities that prove unbelievably useless to them.

You can minus one almost anything: a task, person, department, company or even entire country.

If every time you go to a meeting about, say, privacy policies, you feel like you just lost two hours of your life, try eliminating privacy meetings from your life.

You might conclude that it is a waste of time to try to sell your product to a particular Fortune 50 company, because - there's no way to say this politely - all they ever do is jerk you around.

You could decide that it is too logistically difficult at this stage to contemplate doing business with a country halfway around the world, especially given cultural and regulatory differences.

Be bold but prudent...

Don't just walk into the office one day and minus a dozen suspicious items from your schedule. That would be a recipe for chaos. Minus one item at a time, and pay attention to see what, if anything, happens.

There are many ways to do this where you are almost certain to avoid any problems. The most magical word in my personal life is "carpooling." By joining forces with the family down the street, over the past few years my wife and I eliminated about two hundred trips to the soccer fields.

For example, find someone at work who attends the same meeting you do - and who has a similar mindset - and see if you can take turns attending the meeting, instead of both going all the time.

Very important - don't label others

When using a tool like minus one, it's easy to slip into an overly judgmental mindset. Your role isn't to decide what is valuable to the world at large. You should not label people, meetings, or organizations as a waste of time in general. You should simply decide whether they are important towards the pursuit of your goals.

As you withdraw from certain activities, be sensitive to the feelings and perceptions of others. What's unimportant to you may be vitally important to them, so be tactful.

9 Daily Habits That Will Make You Happier

These minor changes in your daily routine will make a major difference in your life and career.

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Happiness is the only true measure of personal success. Making other people happy is the highest expression of success, but it's almost impossible to make others happy if you're not happy yourself.

With that in mind, here are nine small changes that you can make to your daily routine that, if you're like most people, will immediately increase the amount of happiness in your life:

1. Start each day with expectation.

If there's any big truth about life, it's that it usually lives up to (or down to) your expectations. Therefore, when you rise from bed, make your first thought: "something wonderful is going to happen today." Guess what? You're probably right.

2. Take time to plan and prioritize.

The most common source of stress is the perception that you've got too much work to do.  Rather than obsess about it, pick one thing that, if you get it done today, will move you closer to your highest goal and purpose in life. Then do that first.

3. Give a gift to everyone you meet.

I'm not talking about a formal, wrapped-up present. Your gift can be your smile, a word of thanks or encouragement, a gesture of politeness, even a friendly nod. And never pass beggars without leaving them something. Peace of mind is worth the spare change.

4. Deflect partisan conversations.

Arguments about politics and religion never have a "right" answer but they definitely get people all riled up over things they can't control. When such topics surface, bow out by saying something like: "Thinking about that stuff makes my head hurt."

5. Assume people have good intentions.

Since you can't read minds, you don't really know the "why" behind the "what" that people do. Imputing evil motives to other people's weird behaviors adds extra misery to life, while assuming good intentions leaves you open to reconciliation.

6. Eat high quality food slowly.

Sometimes we can't avoid scarfing something quick to keep us up and running. Even so, at least once a day try to eat something really delicious, like a small chunk of fine cheese or an imported chocolate. Focus on it; taste it; savor it.

7. Let go of your results.

The big enemy of happiness is worry, which comes from focusing on events that are outside your control. Once you've taken action, there's usually nothing more you can do. Focus on the job at hand rather than some weird fantasy of what might happen.

8. Turn off "background" TV.

Many households leave their TVs on as "background noise" while they're doing other things. The entire point of broadcast TV is to make you dissatisfied with your life so that you'll buy more stuff. Why subliminally program yourself to be a mindless consumer?

9. End each day with gratitude.

Just before you go to bed, write down at least one wonderful thing that happened. It might be something as small as a making a child laugh or something as huge as a million dollar deal. Whatever it is, be grateful for that day because it will never come again.