By Tonya Mott
A colleague recently recommended the book , Two Awesome Hours by Josh Davis. The title peaked my interest; I would kill to feel like I climbed a mountain in two hours. My reality has been more like go, go, go , all day , all night and pray that by the time I’m crashing into bed, I’ve accomplished something of significance. It’s typically a feeling of tiredness and then confusion, what the heck did I do today. I must’ve done something because I feel like I a marathon.
I started to read the book on a flight home from a work trip. I got a few chapters in and of course, the minute the plane landed I was off and running again. Still finding myself without those “Two Awesome Hours” to finish the book, I was able to get good summaries through a podcast, and a book summary.
- The Less Doing Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-less-doing-podcast/id605938952?i=1000345906234
- Book Summary: https://www.summary.com/book-reviews/_/Two-Awesome-Hours/
Here’s a few tips I learned that have helped me take back control of my days and find my two (probably three) awesome hours:
- Machines and computers can be efficient for 8 to 10 hours a day but humans cannot.
- Mental Energy – What time of day are you most productive? Are you a morning person or an afternoon person? Use this time to work on the tasks that require focus or the difficult tasks you’ve been putting off.
- Before and after your two, three, four awesome hours is a free for all. Handle and manage anything and everything that comes your way (Davis says “two” is an arbitrary number, you can determine how many hours you’re most effective in a day).
- Remove all the clutter from your workspace, it’s distracting and can cause unnecessary guilt and anxiety. Even if it’s just throwing everything in a box and hiding it under desk.
- Decision Points – Moments in the day when you are deciding what to do next. Don’t operate on auto pilot instead make a conscious effort to decide what to do next.
- And last but not least, my favorite – Stop attempting to get to inbox zero first thing in the day. This will kill your mental energy and cause brain fatigue. I’ve stopped coming in first thing in the morning and going through each email one by one thinking when I get to zero I’ll feel accomplished. Instead I skim through looking for anything urgent and for everything else:
- ⏰ Schedule it
- ✅ If it takes less than a minute, I take care of it
- Or, I file it.
Good luck to you on the journey to find your two awesome hours, I hope this article gets you closer to your goal!
