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01/01/1970
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  • chapter icon
    Introduction
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    • Life Is Complex
    • Grab Your Tools
    • Productivity
    • Relationships
    • Therapy
    • Body
    • Mind
    • Spirit
    • Why I Am Sharing These Tools
    • How to Use This Book
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    Meta
  • chapter icon
    Productivity
    expand chapter
    • 1.1 What If I Had to Decide Now?
    • 1.2 Delay Decisions Until the Optimal ..
    • 1.3 Disconnect
    • 1.4 The Pomodoro Technique
    • 1.5 Mind Mapping
    • 1.6 Agenda Documents
    • 1.7 🏛️ Getting Things Done
    • 1.8 Brainstorming
    • 1.9 Log Your Life
    • 1.10 Default to Openness
    • 1.11 Celebrate Success
    • 1.12 Pause and Ask Why
    • 1.13 Accountability Partners
    • 1.14 If You See a Job, It’s Yours
    • 1.15 Declutter Your Space
    • 1.16 Allow Yourself to Rest
    • 1.17 Atomic Habits
  • chapter icon
    Relationships
    expand chapter
    • 2.1 🏛️ Nonviolent Communication
    • 2.2 Prefer Requests over Demands
    • 2.3 Use a Talking Stick
    • 2.4 Post Mortem after Arguments
    • 2.5 Mega Threads
    • 2.6 Active Listening
    • 2.7 Radical Honesty
    • 2.8 When Triggered, Pause
    • 2.9 Forgiveness
    • 2.10 Silence
    • 2.11 Respect Others’ Autonomy When Off..
    • 2.12 Wheel of Consent
    • 2.13 Make and Formalize Agreements
    • 2.14 Personal Operating Manual
    • 2.15 Acknowledge When You’re Triggered
    • 2.16 Talk About What’s Happening Now
    • 2.17 Ethical Nonmonogamy
    • 2.18 Express Your Emotions Numerically
    • 2.19 Empathy
    • 2.20 The Way of the Superior Man
  • chapter icon
    Therapy
    expand chapter
    • 3.1 Go to Therapy
    • 3.2 Lead a Purposeful Life
    • 3.3 Gratitude
    • 3.4 Talk to Your Inner Selves
    • 3.5 Feel Your Emotions
    • 3.6 Talk about Therapy inTherapy
    • 3.7 Make the Most of Therapy
    • 3.8 Relationship Therapy
    • 3.9 Coaching
    • 3.10 🏛️ Twelve Rules for Life
    • 3.11 Explore Your Different Identities
  • chapter icon
    Body
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    • 4.1 High-Intensity Interval Training (..
    • 4.2 Find Physical Activities You Enjoy
    • 4.3 Hack Your Workout Routine
    • 4.4 Breathe Before Eating
    • 4.5 If You Diet, Do It Sustainably
    • 4.6 Remove Temptations
    • 4.7 Nutritional Supplements
    • 4.8 Monitor Your Body
    • 4.9 Agree to Be Hungry
    • 4.10 Stretching
    • 4.11 Exercise Multiple Times a Week
    • 4.12 Intermittent Fasting
  • chapter icon
    Mind
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    • 5.1 Write Book Reviews
    • 5.2 Own Your Echo Chamber
    • 5.3 Be Curious
    • 5.4 Asking “Why”
    • 5.5 Morning Pages
    • 5.6 Physical Memory Tricks
    • 5.7 Follow Up after Meeting New People
    • 5.8 Silent Date
    • 5.9 Find Your Purpose
    • 5.10 Sleep Hygiene
    • 5.11 Face Your Fear
    • 5.12 Short-Circuit Habits
    • 5.13 Allow Yourself to Be Bored
  • chapter icon
    Spirit
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    • 6.1 🏛️ Meditation
    • 6.2 Everyday Mindfulness
    • 6.3 Go On a Retreat
    • 6.4 Kōans and Mu
    • 6.5 Find Your Moral Compass
    • 6.6 Anattā(Non-Self)
    • 6.7 Enlightenment Is Always Now
    • 6.8 Beware of Spiritual Ego
    • 6.9 Watch Out for Cults/False Gurus
    • 6.10 Conversations with God
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Print: 1.12 Pause and Ask Why
Productivity
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1.12 Pause and Ask Why Podcast Icon

Reconnect with the reasons why you are doing what you’re doing.

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Motivation
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Sometimes, you may get too invested in completing tasks (either preplanned or ongoing). This can result in a fake productivity loop that feels very active and gratifying but in reality may be ineffective, not unlike running on a hamster wheel. You may feel quite productive, but you’re not necessarily moving in the right direction. The task you’re working on might not be relevant anymore, either absolutely or compared to other more important things you could be working on.

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Benefits
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  • Spend energy on the activities most important to you.
  • Reduce procrastination and busy work.
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Challenges
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  • The dopamine rush of completing tasks might lure you toward low-priority activities.
  • We are often action driven, with a natural tendency to solve the problems in front of us rather than ask ourselves, “Is this the right problem to solve right now?”
  • The highest-priority challenges on your agenda are often more difficult, tempting you to avoid them.
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Application
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On an ongoing basis, while working on your projects, take time to pause and simply ask yourself: “Why am I doing this? Why is this important to me? What will be made possible if this is done?” Give yourself a few seconds to answer (optionally, write it down). This allows you to shift your frame of thinking so that you can see the bigger picture and compare this project with other things you could do with your time or energy.

This doesn’t have to be a long process—even a few seconds of thought gives you an opportunity to rise above the automatic level of action and connect with a higher self that’s more aware of your priorities. If you want to internalize this habit, you may want to do this regularly, at daily/weekly intervals, or whenever you start a project.

Should you discover conflicts between the priorities of your higher self and the instant gratification sought by your automatic self, you have an opportunity to let the two sides talk it through (see Tool 3.4). Achieving meaningful things usually involves some inescapable difficulty, so you may want to embrace that.

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References
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Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, https://amazon.com/Start-Why-Leaders-Inspire-Everyone/dp/1591846447


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Chapters and Tools
Add new tool
Home
liat_admin
01/01/1970
00:00
Paragraph: INSERT TITLE
  • chapter icon
    Introduction
    expand chapter
    • Life Is Complex
    • Grab Your Tools
    • Productivity
    • Relationships
    • Therapy
    • Body
    • Mind
    • Spirit
    • Why I Am Sharing These Tools
    • How to Use This Book
  • chapter icon
    Meta
  • chapter icon
    Productivity
    expand chapter
    • 1.1 What If I Had to Decide Now?
    • 1.2 Delay Decisions Until the Optimal ..
    • 1.3 Disconnect
    • 1.4 The Pomodoro Technique
    • 1.5 Mind Mapping
    • 1.6 Agenda Documents
    • 1.7 🏛️ Getting Things Done
    • 1.8 Brainstorming
    • 1.9 Log Your Life
    • 1.10 Default to Openness
    • 1.11 Celebrate Success
    • 1.12 Pause and Ask Why
    • 1.13 Accountability Partners
    • 1.14 If You See a Job, It’s Yours
    • 1.15 Declutter Your Space
    • 1.16 Allow Yourself to Rest
    • 1.17 Atomic Habits
  • chapter icon
    Relationships
    expand chapter
    • 2.1 🏛️ Nonviolent Communication
    • 2.2 Prefer Requests over Demands
    • 2.3 Use a Talking Stick
    • 2.4 Post Mortem after Arguments
    • 2.5 Mega Threads
    • 2.6 Active Listening
    • 2.7 Radical Honesty
    • 2.8 When Triggered, Pause
    • 2.9 Forgiveness
    • 2.10 Silence
    • 2.11 Respect Others’ Autonomy When Off..
    • 2.12 Wheel of Consent
    • 2.13 Make and Formalize Agreements
    • 2.14 Personal Operating Manual
    • 2.15 Acknowledge When You’re Triggered
    • 2.16 Talk About What’s Happening Now
    • 2.17 Ethical Nonmonogamy
    • 2.18 Express Your Emotions Numerically
    • 2.19 Empathy
    • 2.20 The Way of the Superior Man
  • chapter icon
    Therapy
    expand chapter
    • 3.1 Go to Therapy
    • 3.2 Lead a Purposeful Life
    • 3.3 Gratitude
    • 3.4 Talk to Your Inner Selves
    • 3.5 Feel Your Emotions
    • 3.6 Talk about Therapy inTherapy
    • 3.7 Make the Most of Therapy
    • 3.8 Relationship Therapy
    • 3.9 Coaching
    • 3.10 🏛️ Twelve Rules for Life
    • 3.11 Explore Your Different Identities
  • chapter icon
    Body
    expand chapter
    • 4.1 High-Intensity Interval Training (..
    • 4.2 Find Physical Activities You Enjoy
    • 4.3 Hack Your Workout Routine
    • 4.4 Breathe Before Eating
    • 4.5 If You Diet, Do It Sustainably
    • 4.6 Remove Temptations
    • 4.7 Nutritional Supplements
    • 4.8 Monitor Your Body
    • 4.9 Agree to Be Hungry
    • 4.10 Stretching
    • 4.11 Exercise Multiple Times a Week
    • 4.12 Intermittent Fasting
  • chapter icon
    Mind
    expand chapter
    • 5.1 Write Book Reviews
    • 5.2 Own Your Echo Chamber
    • 5.3 Be Curious
    • 5.4 Asking “Why”
    • 5.5 Morning Pages
    • 5.6 Physical Memory Tricks
    • 5.7 Follow Up after Meeting New People
    • 5.8 Silent Date
    • 5.9 Find Your Purpose
    • 5.10 Sleep Hygiene
    • 5.11 Face Your Fear
    • 5.12 Short-Circuit Habits
    • 5.13 Allow Yourself to Be Bored
  • chapter icon
    Spirit
    expand chapter
    • 6.1 🏛️ Meditation
    • 6.2 Everyday Mindfulness
    • 6.3 Go On a Retreat
    • 6.4 Kōans and Mu
    • 6.5 Find Your Moral Compass
    • 6.6 Anattā(Non-Self)
    • 6.7 Enlightenment Is Always Now
    • 6.8 Beware of Spiritual Ego
    • 6.9 Watch Out for Cults/False Gurus
    • 6.10 Conversations with God
  • chapter icon
    other
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