Productivity Hack #1
Not try to remember anything

I consciously and obsessively try to NOT remember things.
So that my mind dispenses the least amount of energy in remembering tasks or even context.
Hence, I carry a notebook with me always.
I take notes like a school student
I put tasks in a calendar
I send myself emails in the future

My mind's energy should be spent in thinking.
Not remembering!
Productivity Hack #2
Document EVERYTHING!

At any point I have 3 notebooks
1. Ideas
2. Todos lists for the day
3. Meeting notes

And I write down things.

Writing helps tell the brain that this is important.
And it helps me not "try and remember" anything.
Productivity Hack #3
I put everything on a calendar

My calendar is my lifeline.
Everything is on my calendar.
Bills to pay, birthdays to remember, threads to write, weekly routines.
This is my calendar screenshot for next week.

50%+ of my waking time goes towards things that are important, but not urgent! :)
Productivity Hack #4
I schedule emails to myself, for the future

There are so many things that interest me, that it becomes important to prioritize.
And for me prioritization is about scheduling.

Future emails serve that purpose.
For instance, this is an email I had sent to myself last Nov. This is SO powerful.
I don't have to add this to my mental bandwidth.
I schedule it for a time when I think I will have the bandwidth.
If I don't - no sweat - I snooze it!
Productivity Hack #5
Using technology for everything possible

There are a lot of tasks that suck your time, but do not make you move forward.
Consider using technology to solve for them.
Simple things such as template replies for your emails (see attached), managing your calendar (I use @xdot), setting recurring emails (I use @baydin), organizing my thoughts (I use @NotionHQ)
Productivity Hack #6
Sharing my calendar with my wife

I kid you not, this is a game changer.
She has 100% access, so she can add, edit and delete things from my calendar.
So I do not have to think about anything, when it comes to family events, birthdays, or even things she wants me to do.

She simply adds it to my calendar.

Productivity MAX!
Productivity Hack #7
The WhatsApp self group

Create a group on WhatsApp with someone else.
Once done, delete that someone else.
Now it's just you in the group.
Pin that Group to the top.
And use it for easy sharing and access.
I have 2 such groups
1. Docs/Images
Which is where I store my important images (PAN Card, License Copy, passport copy etc) and documents for each access (tickets etc)

2. Thoughts
Which I use to just type something on the run, or click something, or record/shoot something
Productivity Hack #8
Afternoon nap

I grew up in a home where Ma insisted we sleep for an hour after lunch.
I guess that's just stayed.
Then I remember going to China and Korea and saw that in offices too, there was a culture of an afternoon nap (heads down on the table)
Never implemented it in nearbuy, but did implement it personally.

I used to grab 15 mins of a power nap while in office. And since stepping down from nearbuy, I have tried to get in an hour.
My daughter and I sleep together. Nothing feels better :)
Productivity hack #9
Setting the right environment

I never work from my bed, always on a table.
I never read lying down, always on a chair.
I never eat while watching something.
I never work in a dark room. Always natural light.
Even something as basic as, while WFH, do change into "office attire" while working and not work in your PJs - subconsciously tricks your mind to get into the zone!

Do not underestimate your surrounding, while trying to create flow!
Productivity hack #10
Create sensory hooks for what is important (not what is urgent)

As a species, our senses have evolved, to work for us. What we see, smell, touch, hear and taste, drives almost all of our reactions.
I use my senses, to drive action.
Keep your phone in another room, while sleeping.
Place your dumb-bells right next to your bed
Keep the book where you can see it easily
Set your alarm to that song that lifts you up
Apply your favorite deo/perfume when starting the day

These things work!
As the world progresses, it is getting easier to slump into laziness and feel lethargic
And it is getting equally easier to life yourself out of slumber and get moving.

It is frankly a matter of intent.
Not capability anymore.
Not even access.
The human mind is conditioned to feel happy and fulfilled, while making progress.

Set your life in such a manner that you measure this progress.
Even a tiny improvement in your productivity will yield results overtime.
https://t.co/RSGMvBlYcK
Focus on being productive instead of busy.

@tferriss
And we are back to the start

https://t.co/ZksfZlaxov

More from Ankur Warikoo

How I created content in 2020

A thread...

Back in Aug 2016, I started creating content to share my experiences as an entrepreneur.
Over 3 years I had put out 1,200+ hours of content - posting every week without


Little did I know that something I started almost 4 years back would give my life an entirely new direction.

At the end of 2019, my biggest platform was LinkedIn with ~700K followers.

In Jan 2020, I decided to build a team that would help me with the content.

I ran a month long recruitment drive to hire a team of interns.

It comprised 4 detailed rounds - starting with my loved 20 questions, then an assignment, then a WhatsApp video round and finally F2F.

Through 1,200+ applications, I finally selected 6 profiles, starting March.

I am a firm believer in @peterthiel's one task, one person philosophy
So the team was structured such that everyone was responsible for ONLY one task

1. Content ideas
2. Videography
3. Video editing
4. LinkedIn (+TikTok) distribution
5. FB+IG distribution
6. YouTube distribution
10 ways I am running my current startup differently from the ones before

A thread...

Difference #1
Bootstrapped as against raising money

https://t.co/RKWB3KfMZt was a venture funded company. We raised $43Mn from top investors, but I couldn’t give them a return that I would be proud of. In the process, learning how raising money works but also doesn’t work

My current startup is bootstrapped.
I do not intend to raise money for it.
It has been profitable from Day 1 and that is the way I hope it remains.

I have raised money from customers.

Difference #2
Slow and small

For the past decade, I was in the mode of fast and big.
Being fast was the only thing that mattered.
And you either go big or go home.

Today, I am taking it slow.
Slow to add costs, slow to take decisions that are irreversible.

I am patient because all good things in life take time!

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A THREAD ON @SarangSood

Decoded his way of analysis/logics for everyone to easily understand.

Have covered:
1. Analysis of volatility, how to foresee/signs.
2. Workbook
3. When to sell options
4. Diff category of days
5. How movement of option prices tell us what will happen

1. Keeps following volatility super closely.

Makes 7-8 different strategies to give him a sense of what's going on.

Whichever gives highest profit he trades in.


2. Theta falls when market moves.
Falls where market is headed towards not on our original position.


3. If you're an options seller then sell only when volatility is dropping, there is a high probability of you making the right trade and getting profit as a result

He believes in a market operator, if market mover sells volatility Sarang Sir joins him.


4. Theta decay vs Fall in vega

Sell when Vega is falling rather than for theta decay. You won't be trapped and higher probability of making profit.
I'm going to do two history threads on Ethiopia, one on its ancient history, one on its modern story (1800 to today). 🇪🇹

I'll begin with the ancient history ... and it goes way back. Because modern humans - and before that, the ancestors of humans - almost certainly originated in Ethiopia. 🇪🇹 (sub-thread):


The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹


Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹


References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹
Great article from @AsheSchow. I lived thru the 'Satanic Panic' of the 1980's/early 1990's asking myself "Has eveyrbody lost their GODDAMN MINDS?!"


The 3 big things that made the 1980's/early 1990's surreal for me.

1) Satanic Panic - satanism in the day cares ahhhh!

2) "Repressed memory" syndrome

3) Facilitated Communication [FC]

All 3 led to massive abuse.

"Therapists" -and I use the term to describe these quacks loosely - would hypnotize people & convince they they were 'reliving' past memories of Mom & Dad killing babies in Satanic rituals in the basement while they were growing up.

Other 'therapists' would badger kids until they invented stories about watching alligators eat babies dropped into a lake from a hot air balloon. Kids would deny anything happened for hours until the therapist 'broke through' and 'found' the 'truth'.

FC was a movement that started with the claim severely handicapped individuals were able to 'type' legible sentences & communicate if a 'helper' guided their hands over a keyboard.