There are plenty of people who give the illusion that they have everything under control and they get astounding amounts of work and activities done and completed on time. How do they do it?

The truth is, they don’t. They’ve figured out what they need to do to get what is important done and then limit their involvement in other things. They learn to say yes to the things that matter and no to the things that don’t. And when you can do that, you can relax in your down time and still look like you’re in total control of your life.

Here are some tips on how you can accomplish that illusion for yourself:

1. Accept yourself as a human being. You’re not a machine and neither are the people around you. We have been battling the illusion that people can be treated like machines ever since the Industrial Revolution. But even machines suffer from wear and tear and need repair and eventually replacement. By forcing yourself to continue going on and on as if there were no end in sight, you’re at risk of total burnout.

2. Identify your top values and remained focused on them. Once you know what is important in your life, it becomes easier to make decisions based on whether they support your values or or they don’t. Things that don’t support your values can easily be turned down. Things either hurt or help you on your journey. If it helps, do it. If it doesn’t help, turn it down.

3. Focus on one task at a time. There is no truth in the theory that multitasking makes us more productive. In fact, it’s been proven to be a fallacy. In order to be productive and efficient, choose the most important task facing you and put your best effort toward it. If you are most productive in the morning, then do it first thing in the morning. If you’re a night owl and you hit your stride sometime between 10 pm and 2 am, then focus on your important task at that time.

4. Be flexible and accept your best effort as the best. Life has a tendency to throw a monkey wrench into all your best efforts and being flexible gives you other options. Being inflexible is not a lot different than simply being stubborn. The last time you met someone really stubborn, how well did your efforts at collaboration work? People usually prefer to work with those who are more flexible in their attitude and the way they approach things.

5. Celebrate all wins. It doesn’t matter how big or how small the win, celebrate it. Take the time to savor the feeling that you did something and you finished it. Teach this to your co-workers, your employees, your children. Celebrating all wins just feels good and when something feels good, we want more of it. That means we’re willing to go that extra mile the next time in order to get that good feeling again.

Looking for a way to improve your memory about something? Ditch the technology.

I know that technology is a time saver, it keeps everything in one place, but it does absolutely nothing to boost your brain power because your brain knows that once you’ve typed it into a file, it’s stored and it doesn’t have to think about it again.

The next time you have to write something down, try picking up a pen and paper.

Something in the brain engages when we write by hand rather than using a keyboard. Perhaps because we have to actually slow our brain down to keep up with our pen. It was our first tool when we began the process of reading and writing, and evidence demonstrates that kids learn to read faster when they are taught to write by hand than on the computer.

In a recent study, college students were divided into two groups. One group was instructed to take notes by hand. The other group was allowed to input notes on their laptop.

The students who typed out their notes were able to take more notes, their conceptual understanding of the material was markedly decreased. Even more striking, even when both groups were allowed to study their notes for an exam several weeks after the lecture, those who handwrote their notes performed much better than those who had a near-perfect transcript of the lecture.

How can that be? Writing by hand takes longer. It’s slower. The notes aren’t nearly as complete. The authors of the study believe that is the key. Faster learning isn’t necessarily better learning. Slowing down improves retention and understanding.

Pen and paper note takers also had to stop taking notes when they needed to understand something. Those using a keyboard were able to keep up with the flow of words without any problem, but their ability to retain what they heard is where they failed. Their fellow students who paused from time to time had to process the information in real time.

The more notes, the poorer the results. Taking notes with a keyboard can be done in a relatively mindless fashion. Pen and paper students were forced to pay careful attention.

The next time you find yourself typing up notes, for whatever reason, consider your purpose. Studies have shown that keeping a journal is an especially productive and insightful practice. But those who use their keyboard to journal demonstrate fewer specific memories of events than those who journal the old fashioned way, with pen and paper. If you need to really remember something, grab a pen and paper.

Photo Credit : writing in the journal from Erin Kohlenberg via Flickr