eureka

When you stumble upon a possible solution, don’t lose track of it.

owner of

You can’t properly own anything until you spend time with it and put attention on it.

clutter filter

Grab clutter as soon as you notice it.

maze

Stick with the difficult problem that comes up; or set it aside and move on to something easier. There is no wrong way to move through a set of challenges.

the inventor

Spend more time paying attention to the problems that you want to solve than to the problems that you just want to complain about.

no list

Address the first problem that calls for your attention. You won’t have to look far.

automatic

Set things up so that they will succeed even when you are not paying close attention.

the new blindfold

If you have a habit of buying things to distract yourself from your past, it reaches its logical conclusion when you start buying things to distract yourself from your clutter.

daily news

Read enough news to know what you need to know, then return your attention to your work.

personal listening

You can’t hear life calling if you have earphones in all the time.

students

The people who are grateful for their teachers and the people who resent their teachers are more enlightened than the people who do not notice how many teachers appear in their lives.

adaptive

Don’t take advice from people who aren’t even looking.

unstumbled

After you remove the obstacle you may have to remove the mental habit of expecting an obstacle.

looking back

See how far you’ve come.

room to consider

Arrange your material surroundings so that they direct your attention toward useful lines of thought.

ready for something new

Some of your stuff is so old that it doesn’t make business sense to take good care of it, but take good care of it anyway. Think of it as practicing the habit that you will use with the new thing that eventually replaces the old thing.

the accidental leader

Don’t take your priorities from a person who does not see the risks and the potential of the current situation.

karma log

Documenting your dreams takes time, but it is likely to save you more time than it takes.

measuring up

Imagine how you might change the way you were doing something if you noticed that many more people were paying attention.

teachers

Learn something from someone you admire. Learn something from someone you despise.