Stevea Robbins here.

Welcome to the Get It Done guys quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.

Life is simple when I keep on track.

Most of the productivity training says to keep on track,

just block out the time you need to do stuff and do it then.

But if you really want to keep on track,

the secret lies not in the big blocks

of time, but in the milliseconds between them. When we transition in or out of an activity,

that's when we risk getting swept away to the desert of distraction. If you want to be super

you, get good at your tasks, but also get good at your transitions.

Distraction start immediately. It starts when I get to work. I want to keep on track,

but distraction lurks behind my office door, ready to pounce. I arrive at the office, sit down in front

of my computer and place my hand lovingly on the mouse. I scan the colorful glowing desktop looking for

icons to click. Sometimes I click the prettiest ones first. Oh, look! A website! I read about the

first three sentences, and then I furrow my brow in deep, reflective thought, for about two

and a half seconds. Then I click on an ad with a picture of an Abercrombian and Fitch model. An hour later, I am the proud owner of six new pairs of jeans that will magically

give me washboard abs, a fabulous pre-torn t-shirt, a lifetime subscription to the ANF

catalog, and a permanent case of body image insecurity. What I am not is any further along

on my work for the day. Keep on track during transitions.

In this hypothetical example, of course hypothetical, what I'm missing is a good habit for how to

transition into work so I get useful stuff done. A transition is a ritual that's so ingrained,

it keeps me moving smoothly between tasks. Inside a task,

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