Tony Schwartz's Blog

A 90-Minute Plan for Personal Effectiveness
Focus, Mental Needs, Renewal | September 20, 2011
For nearly a decade now, I've begun my workdays by focusing for 90 minutes, uninterrupted, on the task I decide the night before is the most important one I'll face the following day. After 90 minutes, I take a break. To make this possible, I turn off my email while I'm working, close all windows on my computer, and let the phone go to voicemail if it rings.
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A 90-Minute Plan for Personal Effectiveness
Focus, Mental Needs, Renewal | September 19, 2011
For nearly a decade now, I've begun my workdays by focusing for 90 minutes, uninterrupted, on the task I decide the night before is the most important one I'll face the following day. After 90 minutes, I take a break. To make this possible, I turn off my email while I'm working, close all windows on my computer, and let the phone go to voicemail if it rings.
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Take Back Control of Your Work (and Your Life)
Creativity, Focus, Mental Needs | March 16, 2011
I just got back from the SXSW interactive conference in Austin. I went there to give a talk about fueling sustainable productivity by balancing periods of fully absorbed attention with intermittent renewal. Peering out into that vast hall, I fear I saw the future: a sea of the digital elite hunched over blinking technologies, tweeting and texting as I talked. Here's what I later learned some of them were saying, all in 140 characters or less:
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Take Back Your Attention
Focus, Mental Needs, Technology | February 10, 2011
As I sit down to write this blog, I'm facing a blank page. I know it's going to be difficult, because it always is. Maybe I'll just check my email first, or update on Facebook or Twitter, or read the morning headlines on The New York Times, or sneak a peak at Google Analytics, or read the comments readers have left overnight on my earlier posts.
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A 90-Minute Plan for Personal Effectiveness
Focus, Mental Needs, Renewal | January 24, 2011
For nearly a decade now, I've begun my workdays by focusing for 90 minutes, uninterrupted, on the task I decide the night before is the most important one I'll face the following day. After 90 minutes, I take a break. To make this possible, I turn off my email while I'm working, close all windows on my computer, and let the phone go to voicemail if it rings.
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