1) Death is the ultimate motivator to avoid living one's life in vain. Regularly remembering mortality fuels motivation. 2) Goals should be set for each role one plays, such as son or spouse, to start moving in a meaningful direction. Monthly, weekly and daily goals help achieve larger objectives. 3) Tasks are categorized into quadrants of urgency and importance using the Eisenhower matrix to prioritize workload and say no when necessary.

1. Productivity

2. sukhanov.work@gmail.com
@alex_sukhanov
Alexander Sukhanov

3. Disclaimer:
All of the following is the result of my
personal experience and some stuff I’ve
read over the time

4. I. Death

6. Death is the ultimate motivator

7. Levels of motivation by death
• First level: “I will die, I need to start doing
something!”
• Second level: “I will die, It would be great not
live my life in vain”

8. To be motivated
1. Realize and always remember that you will
die sometime
This thought will be your Perpetuum mobile or
Perpetual motion that will always fuel you.

9. To be motivated
2. Understand what do you want to do with your
life so it won’t be in vain.
Don’t think about something specific. We are not
designed to plan too far ahead. Think about
abstract things. Formulate it and write it down.
This result of this process will be your direction and
values.

10. For me it is
“to create the circumstances for me
and my family to change the humanity
for the better and to continue to do so
from generation to generation”

11. II. Goals

12. To start the journey you need a
starting point

13. How to understand where we are?

14. Roles
• Write down each role that you play right now
(e.g. son/daughter, husband/wife, relative,
friend, your_job_title, etc.)
• For each role, write down a description of
what you usually do or what would you like to
do)

15. My roles
• Husband
• Son
• Friend
• Relative
• Human being
• Person who works
• Specialist
• Head of management @ S&P
• Production director @ S&P
• Partner @ S&P
• Mafia player

16. My ‘son’ role decomposition
• I take care of my mom with love and respect
• I don’t distance myself from her. I sincerely
talk to her everyday
• I take care of her health

17. Start moving to your direction by
setting goals for each role.

18. Setting goals
• Set a good, hard goal for this date next year
• Set a hard goal within your year-goal for this
date next month
• Set a weekly goal to achieve your monthly
goal
• Iterate

19. My ‘son’ role goals
• For a year:
– make so my mom will be happy with our
communication
– make one of her dreams come true.
• 1st month:
– set up a reminder to call her every day and made it a
habit
– start to visit regularly
• 2nd month:
– research on good photo camera (She wanted to start a
photographer)

20. My ‘son’ role goals
• 3rd month:
– Buy and present photo camera
– Find good articles and books on photography
• 4th month:
– Make it easy to transfer photos from camera to
iPad (her only ‘computer’)
– Make a habit for my mom to take pictures every
couple of days
• 5th month (in progress):
– Teach her how to share photos with others

21. III. Everyday tasks

22. How to manage everyday tasks
• Use Eisenhower's matrix for everyday tasks
• Decide what no to do

26. Eisenhower’s matrix tips
• Q1 tasks won’t happen if you take care of Q2
• If you’ve ever heard ‘be proactive, not
reactive’ – that’s your Q2
• How to accomplish Q2:
– Decompose a task
– Set a deadline for the first part
– Just start doing it
• Automate Q3 if you can’t delegate it

27. Eisenhower’s matrix tips
• Write down all the tasks
• Assign each written task to a quadrant
• Set a deadlines
– for each task from Q1, Q2, Q3
– no deadlines for Q4
– don’t move Q1 and Q2 tasks.

28. Decide what no to do
• “I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't
done as the things I have done”, Steve Jobs
• Say no to almost anything that has nothing to
do with your goals or roles
• Read ‘Start with NO’ by Jim Camp

29. III. Physiology

30. Physiology affects your productivity

31. Physiology
• Good sleep
– Duration: 7-8 hours for most people.
– You are not an exception!
– Learn about phases of sleep
– Wake up while you are in a ‘fast sleep’
– Use apps for sleep or a fitness bracelet
– Set the right room temperature before going to
bed
• Physical activity improves productivity
– Exercise in the morning

32. Physiology
• ‘Eat a frog in the morning’
– Start doing the hardest task in the morning
• Eat healthy food
• Don’t overeat
• Use sugar, coffee and other stimulants only in
extreme circumstances
• Watch room temperature
• Sit or stand while working

33. IV. Psychology

34. Psychology
• Learn to ignore the problem until you can act
• Learn have limited attention span
• Use ‘flow’ state
– Minimize interruptions by others
– Try to move from real time conversations to slow
time
– Try to educate and reform your organization on
this subject
– Use music / white noise if it helps minimize your
distractions

35. Psychology
• Try using something like pomodoro technique
– Experiment with timers. 25 minutes could be hard
for ‘flow’ work
• If something is not working for you
– It’s okay! We all different
– Adapt
– Don’t forget your goals

36. V. Learning and habits

37. Learning curve

38. Forgetting curve

39. Forgetting curve

40. Learning
• Don’t get discouraged after learning becomes
hard. It’s normal. Keep it up
• Repeat new important information:
– The next day
– After a week
– After a month
• Use scientific approach to everything you can
– HADI cycles
– Say no to ‘because I said so’

41. Habits
• Learn useful habits!
– All the time
– You need 21 day on average
– Write them down / use gadgets and apps
• Adapt
– Don’t get discouraged
– Make changes and check results
– Iterate
• Read my group: https://vk.com/usful_habits
=)

42. VI. Mechanics

43. Mechanics
• Touch typing
• Don’t use mouse – use touchpad instead
• Multifinger gestures with touchpad
• Do learn hotkeys!
– OS hotkeys
– Browser hotkeys
– Slack hotkeys
– IDE / Photoshop / Office hotkeys
– Everything else!

44. Demo

45. VII. Programs and OS

46. Programs and OS
• To Do / GTD apps
– Wunderlist
– Things
– Remember the milk
– Calendar
– Evernote
– Etc
• Use sublime text for text
• Minimize amount of programs you use

47. Programs and OS
• Automate your webservices with Zapier
• Minimize amount of notifications on your
phone and laptop
• (Controversial!) Try to use OSX

48. Wunderlist for me

49. VII. Apply extra effort

50. Apply extra effort
Motivational picture. Hyperbolized =)

51. Apply extra effort
• Easy is the synonym for accustomed
• If you try to do only the things you’ve
accustomed to – you won’t change and move
forward
• So sometimes you need to do things that are
hard. Not necessary complex, but hard
• Those extra efforts will have multiplicative
effect

52. VIII. But! Remember to balance

53. Balance
• Problems from one part of your life will always
spill over to the other
• So try to balance
– Family
– Career
– Friends
– Learning
– Leisure

54. IX. Other people

55. Other people
• They are as important and unique as you
• Learn their values. Work with those who share
yours
• Give to others. They will help you back. In
most of areas they are much more productive
then you
• Control your emotions.
– If you are angry let those chemicals leave your
system. Drink a glass of water

56. Other people
• You could make mistakes. Own that!
• Talk about ideas, not things and people
• While solving problem in a group the only
thing that you are looking for is the best idea
– Doesn’t matter whose it is
– If you have other goals – skip that discussion
– Learn about 6 hats of thinking. Make others wear
the same hat and change it through the
conversation

57. Other people
• Win win is better then zero sum game
• Learn how to delegate
– State your goal (what, not how)
– Set boundaries
– Set rules (as minimum as you can). Think about fail
safe
– State recourses other person have in his/her disposal
– Clarify the reporting
– State Reward / Punishment (not money, something
from inner motivation)

58. What do you want to talk about next
week?

59. Questions?

60. Thank you