"Not having willpower, but not having to use willpower indicates that you set yourself up for success"

Doing the work required and doing it in a smart way leads, somehow unsurprisingly, to success

What does make a significant difference along the whole intelligence spectrum is something else: how much self-discipline or self-control one uses to approach the tasks at hand

If you make a plan, you impose a structure on yourself; it makes you inflexible

Having read more does not automatically mean having more ideas. Especially in the beginning, it means having fewer ideas to work with, because you know that others have already thought of most of them.

Only if nothing else is lingering in our working memory and taking up valuable mental resources can we ... focus on the work right in front of us without getting distracted by competing thoughts.

"Only if nothing else is lingering in our working memory and taking up valuable mental resources can we ... focus on the work right in front of us without getting distracted by competing thoughts."

Only when all the related work becomes part of an overarching and interlocked process, where all bottlenecks are removed, can significant change take place

most distractions do not come so much from our environment, but our own minds

There is no point in having great tools if they don't fit together

What does make a significant difference along the whole intelligence spectrum is something else: how much self-discipline or self-control one uses to approach the tasks at hand

Even hard work can be fun as long as it is aligned with our intrinsic goals and we feel in control.

success is not the result of strong willpower and the ability to overcome resistance, but rather the result of smart working environments that avoid resistance in the first place

focus on the work right in front of us without getting distracted by competing thoughts.

Editing is work that needs focus.

Writing is, without dispute, the best facilitator for thinking, reading, learning, understanding and generating ideas we have. Notes build up while you think, read, understand and generate ideas, because you have to have a pen in your hand if you want to think, read, understand and generate ideas properly anyway.

If you want to learn something for the long run, you have to write it down. If you want to really understand something, you have to translate it into your own words. Thinking takes place as much on paper as in your own head.

you never start from scratch – you already have ideas on your mind to be tested, opinions to be challenged and questions to be answered.

Don’t cling to an idea if another, more promising one gains momentum.

accidental encounters make up the majority of what we learn.

Good tools ... help to reduce distractions from the main work

More is unnecessary, less is impossible.

Tools are only as good as your ability to work with them.

a history of unwritten ideas

Truth does not belong to anyone

Having a clear, tangible purpose when you attend a lecture, discussion or seminar will make you more engaged and sharpen your focus.

The first system is designed to find things you deliberately search for, putting all the responsibility on your brain. The slip-box is designed to present you with ideas you have already forgotten, allowing your brain to focus on thinking instead of remembering.