The CHAOS Framework
If you’ve heard about the CHAOS Framework, you most likely heard it from Ali Abdaal – one of the most successful YouTubers on personal productivity. I’ve bee...
Posts by Year
2024
5 Proven Forms of Online Writing
Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash Writing online can take different forms. According to Nicolas Cole, a v...
5 Whys for Building Your Own Website
How many people have a personal website? Photo by Carlos Muza on Unsplash How many people have a personal we...
How to Make Effective Decisions According to Peter Drucker
Making effective decisions is one of the most important things a leader has to do. Photo by Ben Rosett on Unsplash ...
I Am Changing My Publishing Pace
Since October 2023 I’ve been publishing two articles per week consistently: one article on Thursdays and another one on Sundays. Until now, I’ve written more...
Create and Host Your Website for Free with GitHub Pages: A Step-by-Step Guide
Having your website gives you the freedom to publish whatever content you want when you want. And building your website has never been easier than it is toda...
Cluster Your Articles with this Simple Method: the Content Map
In the past year, I’ve written more than 100 articles online. The articles are spread among different topics. They are in different formats (short-form and...
The 6 Stages of Online Writing
Photo by Kanhaiya Sharma on Unsplash When I started writing online, I saw it as an experiment at first. My pr...
A Deep Dive into The Art and Business of Online Writing
A little while ago, I stumbled upon the book The Art and Business of Online Writing. As someone who writes online regularly, the title instantly grabbed my ...
7 Surprising Lessons from a Year of Online Writing
I always thought that the concept of “writing about writing” was a bit odd. It is quite popular on Medium though. There exist dozens of writers who only writ...
The Single Most Important Ingredient to Happiness
What makes people happy? When asked about their life goals, millennials mention money or fame. But do money and fame make us happy? ...
Learnings from Contagious: Why Things Catch On
Photo by Zach Lucero on Unsplash Some weeks ago I published an article on the STEPPS framework, summarizing t...
A Proven Energy Booster: Micro-Breaks
Productivity is a matter of optimizing energy, not just time. Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash Productivit...
My 100th Blogpost
Wow, I can hardly believe it—this is my 100th blog post! When I first started this journey, I never imagined I’d get this far. Whether you’ve been with me f...
Why You Should Start with Why
Why? This simple question packs a punch. It’s more powerful than “How?” or “What?” because it digs deeper into why we do what we do: our true motivation and...
4 Important Leadership Traits in Less Than 150 Words
Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash What is the main job of a leader? To be there for your team. If you put sh...
6 Step Guide on How to Make Ideas Spread
Have you ever wondered why certain ideas are shared more than others? Word of mouth and sharing are indeed powerful ways to spread information. Actually, it...
A Summary of The Effective Executive
Don’t we all want to be effective in what we do? In The Effective Executive Peter Drucker, one of the most renowned economists and management researchers, s...
6 Essential Lessons for Better Leadership
There are countless leadership lessons to help you become a better leader. In this brief article, I’ve gathered some key insights from my leadership journey....
The Energy Investment Portfolio: Juggling Long-Term Goals and Short-Term Wins
No matter how many productivity hacks you try, there’s always a limit to how productive you can be: your energy. That’s why it’s crucial to manage your ener...
My 6 Top Learnings from Psychology of Money
I’ve read many books about investing, personal finance, and money. Some focus on creating valuable businesses (The Millionaire Fastlane, Million Dollar Weeke...
How Running Boosted My Productivity
Energy and (physical) fitness are closely linked. If you are fit, you usually have more energy as well. I think everyone knows that. I knew that. ...
A Deep Dive into Leaders Eat Last
Have you ever wondered what sets great leaders apart? I did. And for the last couple of years, I’ve read many books on leadership. Some simply summarize co...
The Energy Balance: Factors Shaping Your Energy Levels
We need energy to function. We can increase our productivity to get more done in less time, but at some point, our energy becomes the bottleneck as I discuss...
Unlock the Secrets to Effective Communication with the DISC Model
Everyone communicates differently. But have you ever wondered why? Our personalities, shaped by our beliefs, experiences, upbringing, emotions, and current ...
The Best Book For Your Personal Finances: Psychology of Money
There are many books about money, investing, financial success, … and I’ve read many of them. However, there has been one book that stood out for its practic...
Say Goodbye to Energy-Sucking Questions
Did you hear of the concept of an “emotional vampire”? According to Mark Manson, emotional vampires […] tend to drain the emotional energy out of everyone t...
6 Lessons from Good Strategy, Bad Strategy
Are you curious about what makes a strategy truly effective? Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash In “Good Strateg...
10 Ingredients for a Powerful Strategy
What does a good strategy look like? Is a good strategy a detailed plan crafted based on a vision, is it a set of guiding rules to keep you on the right pat...
A Simple 3-Step Framework to Give Valuable Feedback
Feedback is a powerful tool for leaders. Positive and constructive feedback sparks growth, boosts performance, and strengthens trust within the team. By sha...
My Top 21 Productivity Books
As an avid reader and productivity enthusiast I’ve curated a list of my favorite productivity books I’ve read so far - their rank has no underlying meaning (...
A Proven Method to Check How Aligned You Are: Wheel of Life
Have you ever asked yourself how aligned your life is with your values? It’s a difficult question. Photo by Slav Roma...
How to Get a Job You Really Want
How do you find or design your dream job? There is the classic way: applying to dozens of job advertisements, hoping you get to the next stage and win them ...
A Simple Method to Boost Your Productivity
There are many strategies, methods, and guidelines to increase your productivity (the GTD method, Peter Drucker’s The Effective Executive, the role of habits...
The Infinite Mindset: A Powerful Strategy to Improve Your Leadership Style
What do successful companies such as Apple, Microsoft (in its early days and the recent months) as well as American Airlines have in common? ...
A Proven Method to Increase Your Productivity: Choose Your Character
Last month, I read Feel-Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal. One idea really caught my attention: picking your own productivity character. ...
The Ultimate Strategy to Boost Your Conversations
Our mindset is important. It has the potential to change not only the way we see things but also how we approach them. This is true in many areas of our liv...
A Summary of Feel-Good Productivity
Getting more done in less time is a big topic these days. It’s called personal productivity. There are many guides to help, like the GTD method, Peter Druc...
If You Can’t Decide, the Answer is No
Photo by Caleb Jones on Unsplash According to Harvard Business Review, we make about 35,000 decisions per day...
30 Learnings From Think Again
Think Again is a best-selling book by Adam Grant about the power of critical thinking and why our intuition sometimes can fool us. ...
Elon Musk’s 3 Strategic Principles
These days, any article with ”Elon Musk” in the title feels like it’s just trying to get attention (this article won’t). ...
Managing Energy, Not Time
There is a limit to how efficiently you can use your time: your energy! Photo by Riccardo Annandale on Unsplash ...
Why Rethinking Is Powerful
Somehow this year I’ve read a lot on motivation, mental models, and thinking in systems. A book I’ve recently finished is “Think Again” by Adam Grant. Essen...
A List of Proven Mental Models
This year, I’ve learned a lot about mental models and systems. Using these tools can really boost your productivity. P...
7 Habits to Become Highly Effective
I am a productivity enthusiast. In the past four years, I’ve read well over 50 books on the topic and some are truly remarkable. One of them is ”The 7 Habit...
5 Methods to Stay Productive in Times of Low Pressure
There are times when we are stressed out - we don’t know what to do, because there are hundreds of things to do. Being stressed reduces our cognitive ability...
Improve Your Time Management with this Proven Method
Managing time efficiently is key to personal productivity. By aligning our activities with our energy levels, we can achieve more and stay motivated longer....
10 Challenges that Will Make You Mentally Invincible
A book that ranked particularly high on my reading list this year was “Can’t Hurt Me” by David Goggins. It’s a motivational book where David Goggins tells h...
Why I Do Not Like the Pomodoro Technique
As a confessed productivity enthusiast I’ve tried out many different productivity methods & techniques. But there is one technique I am not very fond of...
Leadership Lessons From a Parenting Book
This sounds awkward, right? How can you draw lessons for leadership from a book about parenting? And yes, this had been my first thought as well after readi...
Beyond Talent: The 5 Principles of Deliberate Practice
Our world sometimes seems to be obsessed with talent. The thing is we don’t just see talent. What we see is achievement and there is more to achievement tha...
The Luck Formula
How lucky are you? Everybody has lucky moments, but can you influence your luck? Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash ...
Do Not Be an Early Bird Unless You Want To
A common theme among productivity enthusiasts seems to be the “waking up early” mentality. There are countless recommendations like “Why I wake up at 5 a.m....
Why Simplicity Always Wins
We live in a complex world. And I think this is a good thing! There are tons of information created and connected each day (according to Forbes, 2.5 quintil...
The 1 Method to Creating Your Own Path to Fulfillment
Did you ever wonder where life might take you within the next 5 years? Have you made plans for the future like, changing your job, buying a car, or running ...
2 Approaches to Get Unstuck and Design a Life You Love
What prevents us from living a life we truly want to live? An object at rest remains at rest, and an object in motion remains in motion at constant speed...
Design a Life You Love, Starting From Where You Are Right Now
In the past years, I’ve read many books on career advice. Some focus on building small habits to gradually transform your life, while others focus on the pow...
Work for Learning, Not for Money
Why do we work? Is it just for the money? Do we want to do something that we enjoy or something that contributes to society? ...
The Tech Trinity: IT, OT, and Digitalization Skills
Digitalization and IT are similar but not the same as I’ve explored in one of my recent articles where I’ve defined the tech trinity and analyzed their diffe...
A Snapshot of My 2024 Reading So Far
I’ve always enjoyed reading. Until some years ago I mostly read fiction. After completing my PhD, I was still hungry for more knowledge. So I started readin...
What role does IT play in the digital transformation of our world?
In some of my recent article, I unveiled my journey in becoming head of digital transformation management. But what does digitalization have to do with IT? ...
Why following your passion might not be the best career choice
Follow your passion. This is one of the most said career advice. And yes, it sounds plausible! Why shouldn’t you do what you’re passionate about in your jo...
Tribute To Daniel Kahneman
One of the greatest psychology researchers just died. Daniel Kahneman received the Nobel Prize for his work in behavioral economics in 2002. Besides his sci...
I Have Written 50 Articles Online, Here is What Happened
It’s amazing how quickly time flies. It seems like just a few weeks ago I started writing online at Medium and matthiaskarner.com but now half a year has pa...
7 Valuable Insights in Digital Transformation Management
The ever-evolving landscape of the digital realm never fails to captivate me. For over four exciting years, I’ve been steering the ship as the Head of Digit...
6 Simple Strategies to Identify and Refute Misinformation
In today’s world, it’s hard to escape the term “fake news.” It became even more common during and after the election of Donald Trump, who often labeled news ...
Improve Your Happiness with 6 Simple Strategies
Happiness is something we all want, but sometimes it feels like it’s just out of reach. But what does happiness actually mean? ...
5 Proven Ways to Unlocking Wealth and Wisdom
In the past few years, I’ve been reading a lot of books on the topics of happiness and wealth. One book that is often seen on “best book lists” on those topi...
5 Learnings from A Head of Digital Transformation Management
For more than four years now, I’ve been responsible for Digital Transformation Management at my company. In this article I want to share some of my learning...
Unveiling My Journey in Digital Transformation Management
The digital world is fascinating. Think about how the world looked like just some years ago in 2007. We didn’t have smartphones back then. Could you imagine ...
A Definition of Happiness
We want to feel happy. We pursue it. The pursuit of Happiness is even part of the US Declaration of Independence. But what does happiness actually mean? ...
10 Effective Approaches to identify false information and refute it effectively
The term “fake news” has become a common term in today’s information-overloaded world. During and after the election of Donald Trump he often called news fak...
The Critical Factor in Identifying False Information
We work with a lot of data each day - according to Forbes, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created each day. But, having lots of data doesn’t guarantee we...
Gravity Problems: How to Deal with Unsolvable Challenges in Your Life
Life consists of many challenges: some are easy to deal with, some are more daunting and there are some problems you could solve, but just seem almost too ov...
7 Strategies to Make the Most of Meetings
In the corporate world, meetings are omnipresent. According to Forbes, there are 55 million meetings each day - and half of them are a waste of time. But wh...
Let Your Thoughts Wander and Unleash Your Creativity
I’d define myself as a productivity enthusiast - I enjoy reading non-fiction and improving my efficiency. I am a big believer that we at least need some stre...
Making the Most of Meetings - 4 Easy Rules
According to Forbes there are 55 million meetings each day - and half of them are a waste of time.
The Power of Persistence
From early childhood, we are often told that talent is the key to success and happiness. Whether it’s in academics, sports, or the arts, our society values i...
Literary Treasures at No Cost: 7 Exceptional Free Books
A great thing about books is that there are so many treasures available - enticing novels, insightful non-fiction books, and great literature. You can read ...
My Number 1 Strategy to Think Clearly
Do you know the feeling of having 1,000 problems, ideas etc. in your head at the same time? I often feel like that. Sorting through all the thoughts is a bi...
My Online Writing: What I’ve learned so far
In the last few weeks, I wrote 34 articles, and I must say, it was a fantastic experience. As I’ve written in my about me story on Medium, I’ve always loved...
Milestones in My Writing Journey: 33 Articles and Counting
Writing online has been a great journey so far and I definitely want to continue. It’s a fantastic way to express thoughts and ideas, and it’s open to feedba...
Craft Your Ideal Week: a User-Friendly Guide
A key element of personal productivity is managing our time efficiently. By making the most out of our energy levels throughout the day we can get more thing...
Mastering Effective Note-Taking: A Comprehensive Exploration
The human brain is great at having ideas, but it is terrible at remembering them. However, our busy life depends on us memorizing information (like names, n...
Anchor Problems: How to Overcome Huge Challenges in Your Life
In life there are challenges - some are easy to deal with, some are more daunting and there are those challenges that seem so huge you think you won’t be abl...
The Eye-Opening Journey to Embracing Stress in My Life
In our fast-paced world stress is often perceived as a badge of honor, although we are taught that stress is something negative. Stress leads to the product...
The Decoy Effect: How the Industry Tricks You into Buying More Expensive Products
There are many cognitive biases we have to watch out for - in a recent article, I unveiled 11 of them. Some days ago I stumbled upon another one: the Decoy ...
Navigating Leadership: 5 Learnings from Becoming a Department Head at 29
When I think back, I always had the goal of becoming successful. But what did (professional) success mean to me? I imagined success as being exceptionally go...
The 8 Faces of Leadership
The landscape of leadership literature is vast: At Medium alone the topic “Leadership” has 2.2M followers - there is so much advice out there, that it can be...
2023
Fit for Success: 5 Quick Tips to Choosing Your Career
In the fast-paced world of career development, we can find ourselves stuck in jobs that drain our energy and leave us feeling unfulfilled. But how to choose...
My top 7 Books for 2024
As a member of the Goodreads community, I eagerly dive into a yearly reading challenge. In 2023 I conquered 27 books exceeding my goal of 15 books by quite ...
Supercharge Your Management Skills: 5 More Books to Maximize Productivity
After the positive reception of my latest piece on management literature, I’ve chosen to continue the momentum by introducing five additional books focused o...
Sculpting Your Best Year Yet: A Practical 6-Step Guide to Life Design in the New Year
As the year draws to a close, it’s that special time when we pause to ponder the events of the past twelve months and envision the possibilities that lie ahe...
Why the Early Bird Mentality is Wrong
In the past years and month I’ve read a lot of books and articles about personal productivity. One of the overlapping recommendations is “waking up early” - ...
9 Learnings from “Thinking, Fast and Slow” You Can Apply in Your Day-to-Day Life
The workings of the human mind can be quite mysterious, particularly when considering our subconscious thoughts. Daniel Kahneman dissects this phenomenon in...
The Psychology of Choice: Understanding How Heuristics Shape Decision-Making
Let’s dive into the secrets of our minds, especially the part that thinks without us even realizing it. Did you know that a huge 90% of what we think is inf...
In the Realm of Thought: 11 Cognitive Biases and Heuristics Unveiled
In the recent years I read many non-fiction books, but one truly stands out: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. In the book the Nobel Prize-winning...
The Productivity Pulse: Uncovering 5 More Books for Success
After the positive reception of my latest piece on productivity literature, I’ve chosen to continue the momentum by introducing five additional books focused...
From Ivory Tower to Corporate Tower: 9 Learnings from My Transition to the Corporate World
Academia and the corporate world can vary significantly across various dimensions such as project execution, cultural dynamics, and task management approache...
Strategic Synthesis: Progressive Summaries Shaping Your Second Brain
In a recent article I delved into why you need to engage with your notes to increase their value. For effective learning, our brain requires challenges. Mere...
Taking It Further: 5 Additional Lean Approaches for Personal Productivity
In a recent article, I delved into the exciting realm of translating lean manufacturing methods into the realm of personal productivity. The world of lean of...
Learning Journey: My Top 33 Non-Fiction Bookshelf
The landscape of non-fiction books is vast. In this post I want to share my top 33 picks accompanied by a brief summary with you. ...
Building Success Brick by Brick: The Role of Habits
In this article I want to share what I learnt so far about the power of habits from sources like The Infinite Game, Atomic Habits and Leaders Eat Last. C...
7 Books for Highly Productive Managers
The world of management and leadership literature is expansive. In this piece, I aim to introduce seven captivating books from this realm that I enjoyed pers...
Notes That Work: How Engagement Drives Retention & Value
Notetaking is a crucial step in retaining information, storing valuable concepts and also to spark new ideas. In a world filled with an overwhelming amount ...
Lean into Productivity: 5 Methods for Personal Efficiency
In the recent decades lean manufacturing has established itself as the go-to form of organizing manufacturing. It improves the value for the customer, reduce...
The Total Recall Productivity Method
Efficiency and effectiveness are becoming more and more important to succeed in today‘s challenging corporate world. In my quest to supercharge my personal ...
Mastering Innovation: A Deep Dive into ‘The Lean Startup’
Agile project management, has reshaped the software development landscape in the past decade. In “The Lean Startup”, Eric Ries delves into agile methodologi...
My Productivity Revolution: A Story of Progress
In this article I want to share my productivity journey with you: starting from my first job in applied science to my current position as a manager in digita...
7 Books for Highly Productive People
There are tons of books about personal productivity out there. In this article I want to show you my personal top 7. The Effective Executive The Effective...
Inside the Mind of ‘Getting Things Done’: The GTD Methodology
The demands of work and personal life can often feel overwhelming, leading to stress and a sense of being perpetually behind. If you’re looking for a soluti...
Remembering in the Digital Age: Insights for Text, Audio and Visual Info
According to The New York Times, the average person consumes a staggering 34 gigabytes of data daily — that’s equivalent to 17 billion words or roughly 1,740...
Recall & Reflect: My Personal Approach to Remembering Books
Reading is fun. You can dive into the minds of great scientists, explore the thoughts of creative minds and learn new things. Reading a non-fiction book is l...
First Post
Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash Hi and welcome! My name is Matthias Karner and what you are reading is my ...