Five strategies to help you stop overloading your workday. --- Francesca’s patterns of overcommitment revealed five elements of magical thinking about her time — traps that many of my clients fall into. We devised antidotes for each. 1. My heavy workload is just temporary. 2. The next time will be easier. 3. I will collect immediate rewards. 4. Others will follow my instructions. 5. Without me, this work will be poor quality.

I need to make writing something besides a daily referendum on my worth as a human

Whose mercy are you at, and why? Is it a very good reason? In that complex equation of getting big things done well, why not value a good night’s sleep, time with your family, or a drink with a friend?

"If you want to work on big things, you seem to have to trick yourself into doing it. You have to work on small things that could grow into big things, or work on successively larger things, or split the moral load with collaborators. It's not a sign of weakness to depend on such tricks. The very best work has been done this way."

Great, of course.

On "shortening your workweek" in every way: outsourcing, clever promotion techniques, social engineering, and focusing on the right things.