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The Top 5 Ways To Immediately Improve Your Life

"Getting Things Done" guru Merlin Mann wrote a post called "Merlin's top 5 super-obvious, "no-duh" ways to immediately improve your life" that caught my eye a while ago.

Ironically, I've been so swamped that I haven't had time to write about it on eSoup until now.

Apparently I haven't been "getting things done" enough. Also, apparently one needs to do more than just read and write about productivity to have it make an impact in one's life. :-)

Since I started the 4-Hour Workday Experiment and have had a chance to talk to others who were doing it also, I've noticed some common observations emerging from almost everyone (myself included).

Folks are excited, hopeful, and they want to make better use of their time, but training yourself to handle your workflow in a more efficient manner, getting yourself to adopt new ways of working, and also coming up with a plan that is customized to your needs and suits your lifestyle sometimes feels like a Hurculean task.

Some days things just flow and go smoothly, and other days all hell breaks loose.

Here are some of my favorite tidbits of conversations I've had with folks over the past couple months surrounding the quest for the "optimally productive" grail:

• "Sometimes obsessing over being productive is just another form of procrastination."
• "Organization isn't an accomplishment."
• "Planning isn't progress."
• "GTD is not working."

The consensus with everyone is that being optimally productive can sometimes seem like a whole lot of work!

HowTo Transition Into Working A 4-Hour Workday

Last week I started a little productivity project that I called my "4-hour Workday Experiment". My goal was to work only 4 optimally productive hours a day and to keep my efficiency ratio at 80% or higher. I think I did pretty well with it, considering that it turned out to be one of the hardest things I've ever done. 

No kidding--it's tough, and I'm not gonna fudge and say that I didn't fall off the wagon once or twice. I did. Those of you who received emails and skypes from me on Saturday and Sunday know what I'm talking about :-). But in comparison to the hours I used to work, last week was a HUGE improvement, and I feel like I'm moving in the right direction.

I'm so excited that bunches of other small biz owners have expressed an interest in doing their own 4-hour workday experiments. Since I learned some great lessons already and am tweaking my plan, I'd like to pass on some pointers for how to make the most of your 4-hour workday:

7 Ways To Tame Your Email Inbox

Email is the Bermuda Triangle of productivity.

Nuff said. I think everyone knows what I'm talking about --no need to convince you that email is a major time sucker-upper.

Let me just cut to the chase and give you the 7 tips on how to take back your life from the dreaded email monster: