Two Awesome Hours Book Summary - Two Awesome Hours Book explained in key points
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Two Awesome Hours summary

Josh Davis

Science-Based Strategies to Harness Your Best Time and Get Your Most Important Work Done

4.2 (111 ratings)
11 mins
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    Two Awesome Hours
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    In order to become awesomely effective you have to consciously recognize your decision points.

    Over the course of each day, you engage in all manner of habitual tasks. Think about how many times in your life you’ve hopped out of bed, gotten dressed, scanned your emails and attended weekly meetings without a second thought.

    In these cases, we often switch off and go into automatic to get through our daily routines. Rarely do we stop to consider whether our routines make sense. It may be that your daily tasks are causing you to waste a great deal of time and energy without even realizing.

    Take Doug. As a consultant, he was required to write a monthly analysis report. But instead of completing this rather important task, Doug ended up tending his inbox instead, responding to a dozen emails in a trance-like state. Because sorting through his emails is part of his daily routine, Doug gave it preference over what should have been his real priority.

    Like Doug, many of us let routines get in the way of real productivity. So how can we change? By recognizing our decision points.

    Decision points are those moments in times when a given task is completed or interrupted. At a decisions point, you have the opportunity to consciously choose what you do next.

    Let’s look at an example. Say a colleague comes to your desk and asks you to go to lunch with him. As a result, you’re interrupted in the middle of drafting a report. You then recognize that you’ve got a decisions point on your hands. You could either decline his offer and continue your work, or take a break and get a bite to eat.

    By consciously considering your options here, you’ll be better able to make a decision that benefits you and your productivity the most. As you become more aware of these points in time between tasks and make fewer impulsive decisions, you’ll be able to become more effective with your time.

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    What is Two Awesome Hours about?

    Between open-plan offices, telecommuting jobs and freelancing in coffee shops, the modern workplace is a minefield of distractions. Time to reclaim your brain with a little lifehacking strategy! Two Awesome Hours (2015) reveals unexpected and insightful steps to a more productive you, from managing your mental energy to letting your mind wander. 120 minutes is all you need to make a difference.  

    Who should read Two Awesome Hours?

    • Anyone feeling stressed about their workload
    • Anyone interested in finding out the best psychological and biological conditions for effectiveness
    • Freelancers looking to use their time more productively

    About the Author

    Josh Davis is the lead professor and director of research at the NeuroLeadership Institute. He received his doctorate of psychology from Columbia University, and engages with research areas such as embodied cognition and the regulation of emotions.

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