Concepts
The irreducible epistemic atoms underlying the curriculum. 4,828 atoms across 8 types
Match capture tool to content type — text for words, voice…
Match capture modality to information structure: use text for sequential verbal content, voice when hands are occupied, and photographs for spatial or visual information.
Decompose tasks into steps before estimating — holistic…
When unpacking task estimates, decompose complex tasks into component steps before estimating duration—unpacking improves accuracy by forcing visibility of dependencies and transitions that holistic estimation skips.
One gesture from thought to capture — every extra step…
Design capture tools to minimize decisions between intent and recording, targeting one gesture or keystroke from any application context.
Anchor one capture trigger to an existing habit — six…
Start with one capture trigger anchored to your most natural existing habit, run it for six weeks minimum before adding a second trigger.
Track which inbox items truly needed real-time response…
Track which inbox items actually required real-time response rather than batch-window response to gather evidence about whether continuous processing is truly necessary for your role.
Measure your biological prime time with hourly ratings…
When measuring your biological prime time, set hourly check-ins for at least 10 workdays and rate mental clarity, motivation, and physical energy on a 1-5 scale to identify your peak 2-3 hour window.
Offer alternative times instead of justifying your focus…
When defending peak attention hours against meeting requests, offer alternative times outside your blocked window rather than explaining or justifying the block itself.
Batch shallow work outside your peak hours, not throughout…
Batch all shallow work—email, Slack, administrative tasks, routine meetings—into time blocks outside your measured biological prime time rather than distributing them throughout the day.
Write a one-minute ready-to-resume note before every task…
Before switching from any unfinished task, write a one-minute ready-to-resume note specifying: where you stopped, what remains unresolved, and the next concrete action you will take when returning.
Disable app notifications that produced no valuable action…
For every app on every device, apply the 30-day action criterion: if no notification in the past month caused an action you're glad you took, disable notifications for that app immediately.
Limit immediate notifications to 5 sources — batch…
Classify notification sources into three tiers—Tier 1 immediate (5 or fewer total), Tier 2 batched (checked on schedule), Tier 3 eliminated (disabled entirely)—and configure each source according to its tier within 24 hours of classification.
Remove badge counters from all apps except your top 5…
Remove notification badge counters for all apps except Tier 1 immediate-response sources to eliminate visual triggers that create psychological open loops independent of notification content.
Insert 5-minute transition buffers between all calendar…
Insert five-minute transition buffers between all calendar blocks—meetings, deep work sessions, any context shifts—using those minutes to close the previous context and orient to the next rather than scheduling back-to-back commitments.
When a task bores you through under-challenge, inject…
When a task produces boredom through severe under-challenge (skill level exceeds task demands by 3+ points on a 10-point scale), inject complexity by adding constraints, combining tasks, or converting execution into teaching rather than forcing continued engagement through willpower.
60-90 minute boxes for creative work, 15-25 minutes…
Use time-boxes of 60-90 minutes for creative and strategic work requiring divergent exploration before convergence, and 15-25 minute boxes for administrative work where compression forces efficiency, matching box duration to the cognitive signature of the task type.
Stop and take a real break when output quality degrades…
When cognitive output quality begins degrading (increased rewrites, slowed pace, rising error rate), stop work and take a 10-15 minute break with genuine disengagement even if the task is incomplete, because work produced during depletion has lower quality than work produced after restoration despite shorter total time.
Pre-decide everything before a deep work session…
Eliminate decision points during deep work startup by pre-deciding tool configuration, document access, notification state, and physical materials before the session begins.
End deep work sessions with a 2-5 minute shutdown ritual…
End every deep work session with a 2-5 minute shutdown ritual that reviews accomplishments, documents next steps, and closes all open cognitive loops before transitioning to other activities.
Keep separate Deep and Shallow task lists — schedule Deep…
Maintain two separate task lists—Deep (requiring sustained focus) and Shallow (executable while mildly distracted)—and schedule Deep items during measured peak attention windows while batching Shallow items for post-peak periods.
If shallow work exceeds 50%, the problem is structural…
Track your shallow-to-deep work ratio weekly and treat ratios exceeding 50% shallow as signals of structural calendar problems requiring role negotiation rather than personal discipline improvement.
Use both automated and manual time tracking — neither…
Use automated time-tracking tools alongside manual 30-minute increment logs simultaneously for three consecutive workdays to capture both digital activity and non-digital context that neither method alone reveals.
If an approval step changed nothing in 20 instances…
When approval steps in a process have produced zero changes in the last twenty instances, eliminate the approval gate as pure waste regardless of its historical rationale.
Prioritize blocking decisions by cost of delay…
For decisions blocking three or more downstream dependencies, calculate cost of delay by multiplying the decision's delay duration by the combined capacity waiting idle, then prioritize decisions by this metric rather than by perceived importance.
Put your bottleneck metric on a sticky note you cannot…
Make your current bottleneck metric physically visible in a location you cannot minimize or avoid (sticky note on monitor, whiteboard in workspace) and update it daily rather than relying on digital dashboards.