I came to grips with the fact that I'm a terrible multitasker, and that I'm easily distracted. Thus, I now only work on one thing at a time. That includes ema

I came to grips with the fact that I'm a terrible multitasker, and that I'm easily distracted. Thus, I now only work on one thing at a time. That includes email, IM, surfing the web, and any other sources of distractions. I only check email 1-2 times per day, and try to respond to as much of it as possible when I do check it. Check out Merlin Mann's Inbox Zero for how to efficiently deal with your inbox. I'm also a big fan of Tim Ferriss's idea of limiting the amount of information you consume. The more HN I read, the more talk shows I listen to the radio, the more twitter I read through, the stuff that's competing for attention in my head. The big realization for me was that the cost of doing these things wasn't just the time I spend doing them, but also the brainshare they take up, once I've moved back to doing something productive.