Things to Read While Pretending to Work – Dec, 4, 2015

Here it is, 3 things I’ve been loving from the past week that will help you improve your work, life, and fitness.

As always, please let me know your requests and suggestions by replying with a comment.  Which link is your favorite?  What do you want more or less of?  Let me know!

If you haven't seen this before, here's what it's all about: Things to Read While Pretending to Work is a weekly column compiling interesting and useful articles from across the interwebs.  Instead of going on Facebook or skimming random news sites to to kill the time, each week you can use these three articles / resources to turn your "dead time" into something more productive.

Enjoy the weekend!

Alistair

Work

Manage Your Time, Not Your Energy -- This HBR article should be mandatory reading for everyone with a job.  When faced with increasing demands at work, most of us respond by throwing more time at the problem.  Instead, this article outlines why focusing on your energy management rituals is the best way to get more done faster.  This concept is central to how I work, and was also the inspiration for a recent article I wrote: How to beat the afternoon energy slump.

Life

HardCore History (podcast) -- Last week, a reader asked me to recommend some of my favourite podcasts.  I was happy to oblige, since I think podcasts are a great tool for de-stressing and recharging your mental energy after a long day of work.  Right now I’m binging on Hardcore History, which has grown a cult following in recent years.  I recommend starting with the 5-part series called Wrath of the Khans.  It's epic.

Fitness

Success Strategies: The Food Ritual -- One of the best ways to stay in shape is to have healthy food ready when you need it.  But when you work long-hours it's almost impossible to find the time to cook.  This article outlines a great solution for saving time (and money) using weekly meal prep.  I use the Sunday Ritual and do all my cooking in one or two days a week.

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Is this post useful? What do you want to learn about next week? Let me know in the comments.


Alistair Clark is a former management consultant that runs worklifefitness.co.

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