Brendon Burchards "High Performance Habits" book

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
I think this new book by Brendon Burchard is excellent. It helps with the upper horizons. Anyone else read this?
 

TesTeq

Registered
There are some very negative reviews stating that it's just a remix of personal development cliches and author's own books. Besides some people complain that after using the "free" offers they are bombarded extensively with spam. Any comments?
 

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
There are some very negative reviews stating that it's just a remix of personal development cliches and author's own books. Besides some people complain that after using the "free" offers they are bombarded extensively with spam. Any comments?
I am not sure I agree with the reviews that it is a remix of personal development cliches. His group did a lot of research looking into how top performers got that way and what characterizes their approaches to life. I am not saying it is the best book ever -- just an interesting and intriguing read.

And yes -- if you go for the free offers, you will get bombarded with emails. They do have an aggressive marketing style.
 

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
One of the things I have been doing that I learned in this book is my morning routine and approach. I immediately put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on my office door. I review my top three projects, people I am waiting to hear from related to those projects, and set a timer for 50 minutes. I then focus on one project or a set of next actions of the three. I pick things that require high-focus and energy. When the timer goes off, I take a 10-15 minute break and walk and think. Only then do I come back and open up my email Inbox. Why? Because email for the most part is full of other people's priorities, not mine. How many times I have started my mornings with email and got sucked into everything else - except what is important to me. My dear colleagues, this has been a game-changer for me!
 

Tinab123

Registered
I just had an "ah ha!" moment. Email rarely has answers I need; I can be sure it has requests for my time though. I'm going to try your strategy for a bit to see how it changes things for me. Thank you for the great insight.
 

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
I just had an "ah ha!" moment. Email rarely has answers I need; I can be sure it has requests for my time though. I'm going to try your strategy for a bit to see how it changes things for me. Thank you for the great insight.
Keep me posted. I am maintaining this practice and it is still a game-changer for me. I am a morning person, so first thing in the morning is when I focus and do the heavy-lifting work. Cheers!
 

Tinab123

Registered
It’s been a week. I take the first hour of my day (still in my robe drinking coffee hahaha) to review and think about my stickiest projects, make sure the NAs are all identified, redefine those I’ve realized are not actually Actions and do something to move the project closer to done. Even something teensy like “move this box to there”

It’s been so liberating and rewarding. I’m working on what’s important to me first and the whole rest of my day I’m in such a better frame of mind. I’m more clear headed and Interruptions and email requests aren’t as annoying.

I’m going to keep at this. One week has done wonders for my outlook on life. I can’t wait to see what 30 days does!!

Cheers!
 

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
It’s been a week. I take the first hour of my day (still in my robe drinking coffee hahaha) to review and think about my stickiest projects, make sure the NAs are all identified, redefine those I’ve realized are not actually Actions and do something to move the project closer to done. Even something teensy like “move this box to there”

It’s been so liberating and rewarding. I’m working on what’s important to me first and the whole rest of my day I’m in such a better frame of mind. I’m more clear headed and Interruptions and email requests aren’t as annoying.

I’m going to keep at this. One week has done wonders for my outlook on life. I can’t wait to see what 30 days does!!

Cheers!
Outstanding -- so glad to hear. I am finding this practice from Brandon Burchard to be a real game-changer for me too. And of course it fits perfectly within our GTD practice. Cheers!
 

PTKen

Registered
Only then do I come back and open up my email Inbox. Why? Because email for the most part is full of other people's priorities, not mine.

This is excellent advice! I have been doing this for the past year (give or take) and it is a game changer! I don't open my email for the first 2.5 hours (it helps that I start earlier than others in my office, but still...). Even then, I close it again after I have sorted through and dealt with my inbox. I only check my email another 2-3 times during the day, mostly only at a scheduled time. Of course, sometimes it does not work out perfectly, but most of the time it works wonders. Somehow, I don't miss stuff just because I read it later.

The hardest part was training my colleagues that I don't treat email like instant messaging! But once they got on board, they stopped expecting immediate replies from me.
 
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