Why are routines a good thing? Routines allow you to think once and use it repeatedly.

Routines can include the following:

1. Refueling your car on Sundays
2. Always carrying a notebook
3. Meeting with your boss regularly
4. Communicating with employees regularly
5. Engaging with clients regularly
6. Informing management promptly when servers go down
7. Using automated checks for specific tasks
8. Always backing up files before editing
9. Writing down a "must-have items list" (especially useful for frequent travelers)

The principles for handling tasks are as follows:

1. ==If something needs to be done every day, it should be completed as early as possible so you don’t have to stay up late==
2. The earlier you do things, the better
3. Trust the process
4. If you're unsure whether to throw something away, just toss it. If you need it after discarding, you can always copy it from the data source again
5. Record every task
6. If you’re uncertain whether an email list is useful, then it’s useless

How can you develop your own routines? Try to identify the following situations:

1. Tasks that recur without being scheduled

2. Maintenance tasks

3. Relationships and professional networks. Just like a garden, your network needs to be tended (if cared for, it will grow; if neglected, it will wither; if overly focused on, it may die). Here are four types of people you need to maintain relationships with:

   1. Clients (or SPOCs, which are single points of contact for each client group)
   2. Employees
   3. Colleagues
   4. Your boss

4. When the time spent procrastinating exceeds the time spent taking action

5. Things that are frequently forgotten

6. Trivial tasks that are occasionally overlooked but shouldn't be

7. Developing new skills

8. Keeping up with trends through continuous reading

One hundred years ago, before December 1911, no one had ever been to the South Pole. Therefore, explorers around the world would dream of claiming the glory of being the first one been there.

We all know that the South Pole is located at the south-most of the earth, namely the 90°S in latitude. A typical exploratory plan was that expeditions started from 82°S, went to the South Pole, and then came back alive.

Two teams were competing against each other for the first place - the Amundsen team with 5 members and the Scott team with 17 members. Which one do you guess will win this competition? Of course, more people do not necessarily mean more chances of success.

They set off almost at the same time. ==As the same with all the competitions ever happening in the world, it is quite intensive. When there are great opportunities, there are no reasons that only you can see it; unquestionably, there are a lot of people can see it==. Both teams prepared well around October 1911 at the periphery of the Antarctic Circle, and they were racing and rushing for the last distance.

The result was like this -- the Amundsen team planted the Norwegian flag at the South Pole first in the following two months, namely December 15th, 1911. However, the Scott team was late for more than one month, though they started almost at the same time and had more team members... What does this mean?

It means the difference between success and failure. Amundsen team was remembered as the first one reaching the South Pole in human history, and the winner takes all the honors. Unfortunately, the Scott team suffered the same challenges but was just late. No one would remember the second place, but we all remember the first one.

This story was not as simple as the above. There were even more - you should not just go to the South Pole; you should come back alive as well. The Amundsen team went there first and came back to the base smoothly.

On the other hand, the Scott team was late and failed to win the glory. Even worse, because of being late, the weather became awful during the way back. People left behind in increasing numbers. Finally, none of them survived. This team, these 17 people, failed to achieve the victory and perished as a whole. It is the difference between death and life.

Today, we can say that they are risking more than us the entrepreneurs. The bet was bigger and thriller than we could imagine. Why was this difference more than just between success and failure, but actually between death and life? Researching the causing facts gives us the insights.

First, exploring the South Pole is not just about people; it is also about the supplies. Researchers analyzed afterward and found the vast difference in the preparation. The Amundsen team prepared three tons of supplies though they had fewer team members. The Scott team made only one ton of supplies, though they had more team members.

Is one ton of supplies adequate? If you make no mistakes, completely no mistakes, then that is just enough. It is horrible that things are perfect in theory and you plan with a tight schedule of resources. People come across unexpected scenarios all the time in reality. People get lost in the wilderness all the time when exploring. People make inevitable mistakes all the time under stress. The fact is that a plan without any slack leads to grave danger.

On the contrary, the Amundsen team did a great job on this. They had only 5 people but prepared three tons of supplies. The surplus in resources made them more fault-tolerant and well-prepared for the unexpected challenges.

It is a considerable difference whether the resource is abundant enough and whether the team leaves room for making mistakes.

In fact, both teams were competing in the same environment, but they delivered two fundamentally different results, which is well worth reaching.

==In one word, the success of the Amundsen team is due to making progress 30 kilometers per day no matter what the weather is. In extreme environments, you do the best. More importantly, you do the best in a sustainable way.==

Unfortunately, the Scott team was less-disciplined according to their logs. They could advance 40 to 60 kilometers in one day if the weather were pleasant. However, when the weather was terrible, they were bad-tempered, they cursed the bad luck, and they stayed in the tent for the entire day.

In retrospective, this might be the most significant difference. The difference is that no matter how bad the weather is, keep moving 30 kilometers a day and then you can reach the South Pole and then come back alive.

Why am I telling this story? It precisely resembles the intense competition today we are facing in the Internet era. People may say it is the winter of the market and things are getting worse. It is the same with the awful weather 100 years ago in the South Pole. What we can do to survive is like the Amundsen team - making plans with slackness to prepare for the unexpected; leaving room for making mistakes; and most importantly, making progress 30 kilometers per day, and no matter how bad the weather is.

I may say that this is the greatest factor—the way in which the expedition is equipped—the way in which every difficulty is foreseen, and precautions taken for meeting or avoiding it. Victory awaits him who has everything in order—luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck.

 - from The South Pole, by Roald Amundsen

This is an outline of slides for the seed-round fundraising.

• Title and slogan
• Problem
  • Challenge
  • Pain points
  • Market demand-supply analysis / market size, trend / Market geography / market segment / target audience
• Solution
• Why does it work?
• Why us? / Insights / competitive landscape
• Business model
• Future Growth
  • Go-to-market Strategy
  • Traction to Date
  • Roadmap
• Team
• What we need / Ask

There are two inner selves in one person - Adam I and Adam II. Adam I pursues resume virtues, while Adam II pursues eulogy virtues.

The shift from a culture of humility to the culture of “big me” encourages people to nurture Adam I.

In the times of humility, elder George Bush, he resisted speaking about himself and crossed out the word “I” instinctively in the speech text. And the speechwriter would beg him: You’re running for president. You’ve got to talk about yourself. Finally, they did cow him into doing so. However, the next day he’d get a call from his mother. “George, you’re talking about yourself again.”

This shift may be caused by the increasingly tremendous benefits brought by fame. (Thanks for the mass media and then the Internet.) Since the culture prefers people who self-promote, people become more narcissistic than ever.

==Pride is the desire to see yourself as superior to everybody else. Humility is the self-confrontation of weakness==. Thus it is painful and takes efforts to build the character with humility. You are not alone. Kant says we are all made from ==crooked timber==.

How to improve my humility? Reflect on errors by asking questions and develop strategies to act differently next time. Did I make mistakes today? Am I putting my loves in disorder? Am I not fully present for people who are asking my advice or revealing some vulnerability? Am I more interested in making a good impression than in listening to other people in depth?

==The author David Brooks believes - only Adam II can experience deep satisfaction in life==. I think that regarding SWOT analysis, in addition to strength-opportunity strategy, this book advises another direction for actions: weaknesses-threats strategy.

To work with Consistentor,

1. Be supportive when they are facing great changes because they are comfortable with predictable patterns only.
2. They prefer getting things done over doing more abstract work like brainstorming or long-range planning.
3. Ask them to help recognize others after the completion of a project. They make sure that each person gets the accolades they deserve.

To work with Context Provider,

1. Turn to this person for reviewing what has been done and known during meetings, and they will let people know the context.
2. They reflect past histories and think in terms of case studies. We can expect them to help others learn - “what happened? What did we learn?”
3. When introducing them to new friends, ask them to talk about their backgrounds before getting down to business.

To work with Deliberative,

1. Ask them to join teams that are impulsive so they can temporize those teams with thoughtfulness.
2. They tend to be rigorous thinkers so ask their inputs to identify land mines before making a decision.
3. Respect that they may be private. Do not become too familiar with them too quickly unless invited. Don’t take it personally if they need some personal spaces and keep us at arm’s distance.

To work with Believer,

1. Discover their passion and help them connect it to the work they have to do.
2. Understand their rock-solid commitments to their families and communities. We can express our appreciation, and they will respect us for it.
3. If we do not share their belief system, we have to understand and respect it; otherwise, there will be conflicts.

To work with Commander,

1. Always ask them for what is happening in the organization and then will often give straight answers. They are not head-nodders so they may raise different ideas from your own.
2. Look to them to take charge when people need to be persuaded, and things need to be unblocked.
3. Never threaten them unless we are 100% ready.

To work with Communicator,

1. They are good at carrying conversations. Ask them to come to social gatherings, and they entertain prospects or customers well.
2. Take time to listen to them. They will enjoy talking, and we will enjoy hearing. Also, our relationship will be closer because of it.
3. Discuss plans of social events with them. They often have good ideas for both the entertainment and what to be communicated at that event.

To work with Competitor,

1. Use competitive language with them. They think it is a win-or-lose world.
2. Help them find places where they can win; otherwise, if they lose all the time, they will not play it. They compete to win, not to have fun.
3. They feel bad after losing. Let them mourn for a while. Then help them to find another opportunity to win.

To work with Connector,

1. They feel strong connections and will defend their social issues strongly. Listen carefully to what inspires their passion.
2. Encourage them to build bridges across different organizations. They know how things are connected and they excel at showing people how they rely on each other.
3. If we also have the dominant “connector” talents, share articles, writings, and experiences with them, which can reinforce each other’s focus.

To work with Achiever

1. Work hard with them. They are annoyed by slackers.
2. Invite them to meetings that you really need them and they can be fully engaged. Otherwise, leave them alone and let them get things done.
3. They often sleep less and get up earlier. Ask them “how late did you work to get things done?” Also, “when did you come here this morning?” They appreciate attention like this.

To work with Activator

1. Tell them that I know they can make things happen and I may ask them for help at critical times. It energizes them.
2. Learn from their complaints and offer new initiatives that they can lead, and follow up immediately. If they are left unchecked, they can stir up quickly.
3. Ask them what new goals or improvements our team needs to achieve and then help them make progress towards those goals.

To work with Adaptor

1. Their flexible table makes them a valuable addition to almost every team.
2. Their willingness to “go with the flow” makes them easy to collaborate.
3. They are most productive on short-term and immediately actionable assignments. Long and drawn-out campaigns make them feel boring.

To work with Analyzer

1. Take time to think with them when they are involved in making important decisions. They like to know all the key factors.
2. Defend my idea with data. They believe numbers.
3. They value accuracy over speed. Therefore, make sure they have the necessary time to do things right when the deadline is near.

To work with Arranger

1. They are excited by complex assignments and thrive in cases when they have many things going on at the same time.
2. They are good at positioning members in the project team because they know the strengths of people.
3. They are resourceful so feel confident that if they find if something is not working, they can figure out other ways.

Learning time management from system administrators (SAs) is an inspiring experience, as we all face the same challenges—endless interruptions, concurrent projects, and sudden demands.

Moreover, system administrators must deal with these issues even more frequently, as Thomas Limoncelli puts it:

For system administrators, your boss evaluates you based on whether you complete projects, while your clients only care about whether you can meet their demands on time.

Here are the time management rules for SAs.

• Interruptions are the biggest enemy of productivity.

  • Establish a "disruption shield" shift mechanism with colleagues to ensure that only one person can be distracted at a time.
  • Set aside large blocks of dedicated time for projects.
  • Close the office door (of course, if you are a manager, don’t do this).
  • Have junior engineers sit outside your office to filter out 80% of the distractions.

• Consolidate all time management information in one place.

• Save mental energy for important tasks.

• Don’t constantly think about how to manage time; instead, develop routines, habits, and mantras.

  • Routines are a series of predefined steps that occur within a specific timeframe.
  • Habits are actions that people can perform without thinking.
  • Mantras are simple rules of thumb.

• Maintain focus during projects, but this requires good self-discipline.

  • Self-discipline enhances self-esteem. Self-esteem is like poker chips. When we have higher self-esteem, we tend to place higher bets to win bigger rewards.

• Use the same tools to manage your social life.

Why is interruption the most significant enemy of productivity?

Total time used = time delayed + time wasted
Time wasted = resuming time for context switch + recovering from mistakes

What is the best friend of productivity?

Focus.

How to focus?

1. An entry-level work we can do is to ==de-clutter our brain== by recording unrelated ideas at somewhere outside of the brain. Use our task tracker extensively.

2. Be aware of our stress and sleep level. If we are tired or under much pressure, sleep well and multitask less.

3. Creating an un-distracting environment.

   1. Clean up the desktop. “When in doubt, throw it out.”
   2. Close IMs, notifications, etc.
   3. Leverage the time when other people are not present. ==The first-hour rule== is that the first hour of the workday is usually the quietest hour in an office. Same for amusement park time management - show up early, you practically have the entire park to yourself.

4. Deal with interruptions effectively.

   1. Make it transparent who is responsible for what. (Though most organizations do not.)
   2. Setup a multi-tier support system.
      1. self-resolve with documents or self-serving portal
      2. let the mutual shield take it
      3. delegate it
      4. record it
      5. do it (save your current work before switching to another task)

Having difficulty falling asleep?

Keep a pad of paper and a pen next to your bed. ==When something is keeping you awake, write it down and try falling asleep again==. Worry keeps us awake because we’re trying to remember to do something about what’s worrying us. Anger keeps us awake because we’re trying to remember to stay angry!

==Staying focus and not being rude==

1. when new requests are coming in, always ==acknowledge== them first to make people feel responsive.
2. when acknowledging a request, do it in a visually meaningful way. Make sure they see I am recording it and confirming it.

It is very inspiring to learn time management from system admins (SAs). We and SAs all share the same challenges - neverending interruptions, simultaneous projects and rush requests.

And SAs have to deal with those issues even more often, as Thomas Limoncelli says:

Management judges an SA by whether projects get done. Customers, however, judge you by whether you are available to them.

Here are SAs' principles of time management.

• Interruption is the archenemy of productivity.

  • Sharing a mutual interruption shield with co-workers so that only one person is distracted in one period.
  • Blocking a large chunk of project time
  • Closing the door (not suitable for managers)
  • letting junior engineers sit outside to filter incoming 80% interruptions for you first

• unify all time management information into one place.

• ==conserve the brain power for things important==

• don't make yourself think to manage time; instead, develop routines, habits, and mantras.

  • Routines are serials of pre-defined steps happen at a particular time.
  • Habits are routines people can do things without thinking.
  • Mantras are simple rules of thumb.

• keep focus during the project time. It takes discipline though.

  • Discipline gains people more self-esteem. ==Self-esteem is like poker chips==. When we have high self-esteem, we tend to take bigger bets and win bigger.

• manage your social life with same tools.