Experiment Without Limits

Experiment without Limits, a self-improvement book by Chris Sparks. http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/2019-08-13-SparksExperimentWithoutLimitsInsideTheCreativeProcess

CHAPTER 1 Setting Goals (Goal Setting)

GOAL GENERATION

Life Story

Values

Take the Outside View

GOAL SELECTION

Minimize Opportunity Cost

Maximize Expected Value

Time (upfront): Time (ongoing): Excitement : Difficulty: Impact (90 day): Impact (25 yr

How long will this take to get this up and running and start receiving benefits? Remember speed of implementation. How long will this take to grow and maintain? Can this be passively managed in the future? Remember opportunity cost. How much does the idea of this excite me? Will I enjoy the process or have to use willpower to push through? Do I currently have (or have access to) the necessary skillset? How likely is sucess? How much variance in potential outcomes? How much immediate impact will this have? What short-term opportunities does it create? Momentum builds on itself. How much impact could this have towards my life’s mission? Will the skills and experience gained be worthwhile even if I fail?

rewrite each of them until they are SMART

GOAL FRAMING

Experiments

It is useful to think of your life as an ongoing experiment and your goals as hypotheses. You expect that taking these actions will lead you to the desired results but you cannot be sure until you actually run the experiment.

Commit to each goal for 30 days as an experiment, collecting data to test your initial hypothesis. After 30 days, you can decide whether to commit further. These small experiments add up to massive changes over time.

CHAPTER 2 Designing Systems

A system is a group of interacting parts working together to accomplish a specific goal

THINKING IN SYSTEMS

BOTTLENECKS

FEEDBACK LOOPS

The Improvement Loop

LEVERAGE

Leverage is famously illustrated by the Pareto Principle or 80/20 Rule. You can achieve 80% of the results with just 20% of the effort

CHAPTER 3 Building Habits

Actions taken to change your habits precede the actual habit change. To redirect the river, you must go upstream from the intended destination. Thus, the actions you take to change your habits are called upstream effects.

UPSTREAM EFFECTS

THE HABIT LOOP

HABIT TRIGGERS

Breaking Bad Habits

HABIT BEHAVIORS

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Rewards (Motivation)

HABIT REWARDS

Structuring Rewards

My personal keystone habits are planning, journaling, gratitude, exercise, meditation, and a “power hour” where I complete my most important task to start the workday

KEYSTONE HABITS

CHAPTER 4 Creating Routines

A routine is a container for a chain of similar habits.

A routine is a container for a chain of similar habits. The completion of one habit acts as a trigger to begin the next habit in the chain

These four routines can act as containers for all of your keystone habits.

THE FOUR ROUTINES

Morning Routine

exercise, meditate, journal, gratitude

Power Up Routine

Power Down Routine

Evening Routine

CREATING YOUR ROUTINE

Rewrite your routine with timestamps for each step.

Offline Training

Practice offline training anytime you wish to optimize a current routine or start building a new one. This is not a mental simulation—walk through each step as you would normally.

Routine Best Practices

Reduce the risk of burnout by giving yourself options and variety.

Minimum Viable Routines

A minimum viable routine takes less time to perform and requires no outside tools

Have a minimum viable routine in place to eliminate all excuses for skipping your routines

What changes would you make to your routine so that it took 20% of the time, but still gave you 80% of the benefits?

CHAPTER 5 Maximizing Time

am I working on the right things?

Creating A Project Menu

list of all the potential projects available to you

IDENTIFYING TOP PRIORITIES

Prioritizing Projects: Important vs. Urgent

Prioritize opportunities with potential 10X outcomes

TRACKING YOUR TIME

THE POWER OF PLANNING

Day Planning (DailyReview)

planning the night before.

Today’s Theme

Today’s Top Priorities

Day Planning Template

Weekly Planning (WeeklyReview)

CHAPTER 6 Maximizing Attention

BEST PRACTICES OF ATTENTION

REDUCING SOCIAL DISTRACTIONS

REDUCING PHYSICAL DISTRACTIONS

REDUCING DIGITAL DISTRACTIONS

CHAPTER 7 Maximizing Energy

Start With Momentum

ENERGY LEVERAGE POINTS

Get outside in the first hour of waking up.

95% of your energy levels are determined by your lifestyle choices: eating well, sleeping well, and getting enough exercise (Diet and Exercise, Sleep)

DAY STRUCTURING

your most valuable activities match up with your peak energy levels.

MATCH ACTIVITIES TO ENERGY

For one entire day, set an hourly timer. Whenever the timer goes off, note down your current energy level (1-10).

TAKING BREAKS

Take a break only when you have reached a deliverable

Close all open loops and just let your mind wander

SLEEP

Use a sleep tracker

Being future-oriented at bedtime leads to insomnia and stressful dreams. Falling asleep is accelerated by capturing thoughts in a journal and reading fiction before bed.

Break a sweat every day. This means you will hit a target of 30 minutes of daily exercise

Stretch in the morning

Approach exercise obliquely. With organized sports, martial arts, dancing, climbing, and acrobatics you get a great workout without the feeling of hard work.

EXERCISE

Fasting burns fat, regenerates cells, reduces problematic late-night eating, and can bring additional mental clarity.

NUTRITION

Caffeine has a 6-hour half life

CAFFEINE

CHAPTER 8 Overcoming Procrastination

PROCRASTINATION EQUATION

Motivation = (Expectancy x Value) / (Impulsiveness x Delay)

PROCRASTINATION ALGORITHM

Notice when you are procrastinating. Having personal warning lights in place as an objective signal is very helpful here. Ask yourself: “What am I avoiding?” Be specific

Time Estimation

PREVENTING PROCRASTINATION

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