Chris Bailey > Quotes

“When someone says they “don’t have time” for something, what they’re really saying is that a task isn’t as important or attractive as whatever else they have on their plate.”
― Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

“We have to work with intention as much as possible—this is especially true when we have more to do than time within which to do it. Intention enables us to prioritize so we don’t overload our attentional space.”
― Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus: How to Work Less to Achieve More

“Directing your attention toward the most important object of your choosing—and then sustaining that attention—is the most consequential decision we will make throughout the day. We are what we pay attention to.”
― Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus: How to Manage Your Attention in a World of Distraction

“how important it is to choose what you consume and pay attention to: just as you are what you eat, when it comes to the information you consume, you are what you choose to focus on. Consuming valuable material in general makes scatterfocus sessions even more productive.”
― Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus: How to Manage Your Attention in a World of Distraction

“1.   How much of your time you spend intentionally 2.   How long you can hold your focus in one sitting 3.   How long your mind wanders before you catch it”
― Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus: How to Work Less to Achieve More

“When it comes to productivity and creativity, scatterfocus enables you to do three powerful things at once. First, as I’ll discuss in this chapter, it allows you to set intentions and plan for the future. It’s impossible to set future intentions when you’re immersed in the present. By stepping back and directing your attention inward, you’re able to switch off autopilot and consider what to do next. Your brain automatically plans for the future when you rest—you just need to give it the space and time to do so.”
― Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus: How to Manage Your Attention in a World of Distraction

“The dread of doing a task uses up more time and energy than doing the task itself.”
― Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

“the more you see yourself like a stranger, the more likely you are to give your future self the same workload that you would give a stranger, and the more likely you are to put things off to tomorrow—for your future self to do.”
― Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

“By removing every object of attention that’s potentially more stimulating and attractive than what you intend to do, you give your brain no choice but to work on that task.”
― Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus: How to Work Less to Achieve More

“meta-awareness. Becoming aware of what you’re thinking about is one of the best practices for managing your attention. The more you notice what’s occupying your attentional space, the faster you can get back on track when your mind begins to wander, which it does a remarkable 47 percent of the time.”
― Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus: How to Work Less to Achieve More

“I see drinking alcohol as a way of borrowing energy from tomorrow;”
― Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

“Productivity isn’t about doing more things—it’s about doing the right things.”
― Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

“by focusing deeply on just one important thing at a time—hyperfocusing—we become the most productive version of ourselves.”
― Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus: How to Work Less to Achieve More

“the internet is basically the world’s largest candy store for your limbic system.”
― Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

“Nearly all habits that lead us to calm exist in one place: the analog world. The more time we spend in the analog world, as opposed to the digital one, the calmer we become. We best unwind in the analog world, acting in accordance with how our ancient brain is wired.”
― Chris Bailey, How to Calm Your Mind: Finding Presence and Productivity in Anxious Times

“ingredients of productivity—time, attention, and energy”
― Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

“Ask yourself: After consuming one of those products, will you be happy with how you invested your time and attention?”
― Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus: How to Manage Your Attention in a World of Distraction

“Ideas, tasks, and insights only have value when you capture and then act on them. Keeping notepads everywhere has helped me hold on to a ton of them.”
― Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

“One study found that when we continually switch between tasks, our work takes 50 percent longer, compared with doing one task from start to completion.”
― Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus: How to Manage Your Attention in a World of Distraction

“Productivity is about how much you accomplish.”
― Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

“Setting specific intentions can double or triple your odds of success.”
― Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus: How to Manage Your Attention in a World of Distraction

“By controlling how much time you spend on a task, you control how much energy and attention you spend on it.”
― Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

“Compounding this is the fact that the brain’s prefrontal cortex—the large part of the forebrain that lets us plan, think logically, and get work done—has a built-in “novelty bias.” Whenever we switch between tasks, it rewards us with dopamine—that amazing pleasure chemical that rushes through our brain whenever we devour a medium-sized pizza, accomplish something awesome, or have a drink or two after work.”
― Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus: How to Manage Your Attention in a World of Distraction

“Continually seeking novel stimuli makes us feel more productive—after all, we’re doing more in each moment. But again, just because we’re busier doesn’t mean we’re getting more accomplished.”
― Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus: How to Manage Your Attention in a World of Distraction

“Procrastination gets in the way of accomplishing more since it is, in its simplest form, a gap between your intention and action.”
― Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

“Meditation had such a profound effect on my productivity because it allowed me to slow down enough so that I could work deliberately and not on autopilot.”
― Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

“existen técnicas científicamente probadas que nos ayudan a superarlo. También hay otras vías que nos permiten descifrar este fenómeno y comprenderlo de manera personalizada, por ejemplo revisando los seis «factores del burnout», y teniendo en cuenta cuál es el umbral de burnout específico de cada persona. En el mundo moderno nos enfrentamos a un enemigo habitual de la calma: nuestro deseo de dopamina, una sustancia neuroquímica presente en nuestro cerebro que nos induce a la hiperestimulación. Reduciendo nuestra exposición a los factores liberadores de dopamina a los que estamos expuestos conseguiremos aproximarnos a la calma.”
― Chris Bailey, Cómo calmar tu mente: Consigue serenidad y productividad en tiempos de ansiedad

“The common-sense rules of the “real world” are a fragile connection of socially reinforced illusions.”
― Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

“Comenzaré compartiendo todo esto contigo, explorando las dos fuentes principales de ansiedad en la actualidad: la «mentalidad del más» y nuestra tendencia a caer víctimas de los superestímulos, versiones altamente procesadas y exageradas de cosas que por naturaleza nos atraen. Investigaremos cómo estos factores nos influyen para que acabemos estructurando nuestras vidas en torno al neurotransmisor dopamina y aceptar niveles anormales de estrés crónico. Cuando sea útil, contaré historias de mi viaje e ideas de relevantes investigadores que conocí por el camino; y, por supuesto, te daré consejos prácticos para manejar todos estos estímulos.”
― Chris Bailey, Cómo calmar tu mente: Consigue serenidad y productividad en tiempos de ansiedad

“But busyness does not translate into productivity if it doesn’t lead you to accomplish anything.”
― Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy