How to uplevel: 30+ mind levers to get the edge

(This is from Edition 35 of The Upleveler, our weekly smartletter)

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There's plenty of advice on #upleveling situations such as decision-making, sticking to a routine, learning better, etc. However, we falter in applying them because there can be too much advice!

Instead, we recommend starting with just one 'mind lever' for each situation. Add these to your mental toolbox, and gain instant leverage over different situations. Here's what we have been using:

  1. Decision-making: learn to do pre-mortems

  2. Habit-creation: piggyback on existing habits

  3. Sticking to a habit: use the Seinfeld Method

  4. Motivation: small wins, regularly

  5. Productivity: learn the Pomodoro method

  6. Giving feedback: keep it actionable

  7. Learning: do it in cohorts that share the same purpose

  8. Knowledge Retention: after reading something, try to recall 3 things without looking

  9. Delegating: give examples along with guidelines

  10. Meetings: begin with publicly stating the ideal outcome for the meeting

  11. Talking about ideas: make it concrete; show, don't tell

  12. Spreading ideas: use a story

  13. Capturing attention: unexpectedness

  14. Curiosity: sample new things semi-randomly

  15. Reading: You have permission to put it down if you don't like it

  16. Brainstorming: seek analogies in unrelated areas

  17. Emails: start with what action you want the recipient to do

  18. Task management: don't use email

  19. Making it interesting: use references from popular culture

  20. Reducing error: use checklists

  21. Ideas for messaging: ask what Trump would do

  22. Making moments memorable: focus on the Beginning and End

  23. Goal setting: visualise a concrete future

  24. Get people to choose in uncertain situations: use social proof

  25. Large To-do list: use the Eisenhower Matrix

  26. Dealing with failure: wait for a day before trying to assess

  27. Networking: ask what's the story behind a name (the person, the org, the product)

  28. Information Diet: Explore, Filter, Exploit

  29. Making charts & visualisations: use the Rule of Thirds (same with photos)

  30. Explaining something: recognise the Curse of Knowledge

  31. Staying healthy: get good sleep

  32. Starting a task: start with 'why are we doing this'

Most of them are simple ideas, or ideas you can quickly learn about. So get going!


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