“Simplicity is the peak of civilization.” - Jessie Sampter

A simple life has a different meaning and a different value for every person. For me, it means eliminating all but the essential, eschewing chaos for peace, and spending your time doing what’s important to you.

It means getting rid of many of the things you do so you can spend time with people you love and do the things you love. It means getting rid of the clutter so you are left with only that which gives you value.

Recently I posted my new twist on the excellent GTD system, Zen To Done (ZTD): The Ultimate Simple Productivity System. However, reader Mark Siegal said that the system seems to complex. So I now present the minimalist version of ZTD — a way to be productive without all the fuss.

The Four Habits

Today I start a new habit: my morning routine (to be honest, I started a couple days ago). All this month I will focus on making my morning routine a daily habit.

I’ve actually tried different versions of a morning routine in the past year, and have enjoyed them immensely. I just haven’t stuck with one for a whole month or more, and that is the goal this month.

Not long ago, I talked about the importance of a morning routine … it’s a great way to incorporate your goals into each day, at the beginning of the day. This is a beautiful time of day, when all is quiet and the world sleeps.

But there’s another part of the day that I love, and that can have great benefits for you at a cost of only 10-30 minutes each day: the time right before you go to sleep.

Quick intro: This is one in a series of Top Productivity Hacks - little tips and tricks that are designed to make you more productive. At the end of the series I’ll post them all together in an overview.

Productivity Hack #1: Do something you’re passionate about.

Although ZTD is a much simpler system than GTD, the basics are the same. Zenhabits has a very long list of GTD resources that will be valuable to anyone using the original GTD system or one of its variants. You can also adapt the tips and tricks mentioned in the resources to ZTD or your own customized productivity system.

Recently I posted my new twist on the excellent GTD system, Zen To Done (ZTD): The Ultimate Simple Productivity System. This is the third in a series of posts exploring each of the 10 Habits.

3 plan

Habit: set MITs for week, day.

Recently I posted my new twist on the excellent GTD system, Zen To Done (ZTD): The Ultimate Simple Productivity System. This is the first in a series of posts exploring each of the 10 Habits.

1 collect

Habit: ubiquitous capture.

For the last two weeks I’ve been posting the Top 20 Motivation Hacks, one by one. These are the tips and tricks that, if used in combination, are a nearly sure way to achieve your goals.

Achieving goals is not a matter of having “discipline”. It’s a matter of motivating yourself, and keeping your focus on your goal. Follow these hacks, or any combination of them that works for you, and you should have the motivation and focus you need.

Here they are, in reverse order (links take you to more on each):

One of the revelations of GTD is the very simple (and in retrospect, very obvious) mandate to write everything down. Capture all your thoughts on paper (or digitally) — don’t let them float around in your head, where they will surface at inappropriate times, stress you out and be forgotten when they are needed. Have an idea? Write it down, right now, before you forget. Thought of an errand you need to do? Capture that as well. Just remembered something for your grocery list? You know what to do.

We all procrastinate — let’s admit it. And if you’re like me, you’re always trying to find ways to stop the procrastinating. Here’s the trick that works best for me:

“It’s about the habits and the doing, not the system or the tools.”

I am a huge fan of GTD, as you probably know by now. It’s one of the best productivity systems ever invented. However, it’s not without its flaws, and because of that, I have a new productivity system for you: Zen To Done (ZTD).

We have all had them as we set and go after our goals, no matter where we are or what our goals may be: naysayers, detractors, people who poke fun or get angry or tell us we can’t do it.

Detractors are very serious business, even if they just seem to be having a little fun at our expense. Don’t let them stop you or even slow you down.

How do you deal with detractors? Each one will be different, but here are a few tips: