Leo Babauta

Some of Leo's most important sources of inspiration for his writing on "Zen Habits" comes from the following:

• "Getting Things Done" by David Alllen: Leo has written extensively about GTD on his blog, and he modified GTD to create his own productivity system: Zen to Done.


• "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People": Leo has adopted several of Stephen Covey's principles and, in particular, the concept of "big rocks" (scheduling the important things first).


• The writings of Elaine St. James on simplicity. Leo's philosophy revolves around simplifying and doing less: spend less, eat less, work less, take on fewer commitments, reduce stress and so on.

These influences--adding, of course, the influence of zen--infuse a lot of Leo's writing.

photo credit: ePi.Longo

In First Things First, Stephen Covey tells a story that one of his associates heard at a seminar. The seminar presenter pulled out a wide-mouth gallon jar and placed it next to a pile of fist-sized rocks. After filling the jar to the top with rocks, he asked, "Is the jar full?"

The group replied, "Yes."

He then got some gravel from under the table and added it to the jar. The speaker jiggled the jar until the gravel filled the spaces between the rocks. Again, he asked, "Is the jar full?"

This time, the group replied, "Probably not."

The speaker then added some sand and asked, "Is the jar full?"

"No!" shouted the group.

Finally, the speaker filled the jar to the brim with water and asked the group the point of this illustration.

Someone replied that you could always fit more things into your life if "you really work at it."

"No," countered the speaker. "The point is, if you don't put the big rocks in first, would you ever have gotten any of them in?"

photo credit: shioshvili

"Zen To Done" (ZTD) is basically Leo's productivity system, which is based on David Allen's "Getting Things Done", as well as the work of Stephen Covey and others. It concentrates on changing one habit at a time, instead of attempting to tackle several habits at once like GTD does, and it applies the habit-changing methods explained on Zen Habits. ZTD is also very focused on doing.

In addition, ZTD adds the notion of the plan habit-where you plan your three Most Important Tasks (MIT's) for the day and your Big Rocks for the week--, and the routine habit, where you set daily and weekly routines for yourself. Leo's system also focuses on simplifying-getting rid of the nonessential so that you can focus on what is truly important to you-and is also more goal-oriented than GTD.

That is, ZTD focuses on simplicity, habits, routines, goals and action.

The 10 Habits of ZTD are:

ZTD Habit 1: Collect
ZTD Habit 2: Process - Make Quick Decisions on Things In Your Inbox
ZTD Habit 3: Plan
ZTD Habit 4: Do One Thing at a Time Without Distractions
ZTD Habit 5: Simple, Trusted System
ZTD Habit 6: Everything in Its Place
ZTD Habit 7: Weekly Review
ZTD Habit 8: Simplify
ZTD Habit 9: Routine
ZTD Habit 10: Find Your Passion

photo credit: angela7dreams

ZTD Habit 1: Collect Carry a capture tool with you wherever you go--whether it's a small notebook, a stack of index cards, a PDA or anything else that works for you-and write down tasks, ideas, projects, or other information that pop into your head. The two keys to the capture habit are to write everything down before you forget, and to empty your notes into your to-do list when you get back to your home or office.

ZTD Habit 2: Process - Make Quick Decisions on Things In Your Inbox: The first step is to minimize your inboxes, that is, any place where you check your messages or read incoming information. Then, check and process your inboxes once a day; you may need to check some of your inboxes more often, just don't do it obsessively. Start with the top item on your inbox and work your way down, making immediate decisions as you go along: delete, delegate, if it's something you can deal with in 2 minutes or less do it immediately, or add to your to-do list. Leave nothing in the inbox.

ZTD Habit 3: Plan: At the beginning of each week list the Big Rocks that you want to accomplish--the 3 to 6 most important things you want to get done that week--and schedule them first. Each day, create a list of 1 to 3 MITs (Most Important Tasks). Do your MIT's early in the day to get them out of the way to ensure that they get done.

ZTD Habit 4: Do One Thing at a Time Without Distractions: Do One Thing at a Time Without Distractions: Select a task and decide that you're going to work on it either until it's done, or for a set amount of time (say 30 minutes). Before you get started declutter your desk and eliminate all distractions: shut off your e-mail and cell phone, get off the internet if possible, and so on. Focus on the task you've selected to the exclusion of everything else during the time that you've allotted to that task.

ZTD Habit 5: Simple, Trusted System: All you need are lists. Instead of getting caught up fiddling with tools and creating complicated systems, concentrate on "doing" and not on the tools. GTD asks you to place your tasks ("next actions") in a series of context lists, such as @work, @phone, @home, @errands, @waiting, etc. Keep simple lists-it can be as simple as keeping them in a Moleskine--and check them daily.

photo credit: annia316

ZTD Habit 6: Everything in Its Place: Your life can be completely organized with the following two rules: everything you own should have a home, and when you're done using any item, put it back where it belongs.

ZTD Habit 7: Weekly Review: You should have a list of life goals. From those goals, you should have one long-term goal that you want to accomplish this year. Choose only one because if you choose too many, you will lose focus. Then choose one medium-term goal that moves you closer to achieving your long-term goal, and which you can accomplish within the next few months. Next, choose one short-term goal that you can accomplish in the next week or so that will move you closer to your medium-term goal. Once you've done this, every week's Weekly Review should be just a review of the progress you've made on those goals, and a refocusing on those goals.

ZTD Habit 8: Simplify
ZTD Habit 9: Routine
ZTD Habit 10: Find Your Passion

photo credit: noahg.

In his article "10 Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It" Leo explains that switching from being a night owl to an early riser was a godsend. He lays out ten benefits of being an early riser, and gives tips to his readers on how to adopt the habit of getting up early.

Among his advice is to start slowly, by waking up just 15-30 minutes earlier than usual. Then, as you get used to this after a few days, cut back another 15 minutes. Do this gradually until you get to your goal time.

Other suggestions include: going to bed earlier, even if you don't think you'll sleep; reading while in bed; putting the alarm clock far away from the bed; leaving the room as soon as you turn the alarm clock off; and having something significant to do as soon as you get up, such as devoting that time to your writing.

photo credit: FreeWine

Introduction

PART I: THE PRINCIPLES
1. Why Less is Powerful
2. The Art of Setting Limits
3. Choosing the Essential, and Simplifying
4. Simple Focus
5. Create New Habits, and the Power of Less Challenge
6. Start Small

PART II: IN PRACTICE
7. Simple Goals and Projects
8. Simple Tasks
9. Simple Time Management
10. Simple Email
11. Simple Internet
12. Simple Filing
13. Simple Commitments
14. Simple Daily Routine
15. Declutter Your Work Space
16. Slow Down
17. Simple Health and Fitness
18. On Motivation