18 MINUTES was born after a blog post I wrote for the Harvard Business Review became one of the most popular and most commented posts on the site. The post, titled “An 18 Minute Plan for Managing Your Day,” began with a humbling admission:

“Yesterday started with the best of intentions. I walked into my office in the morning with a vague sense of what I wanted to accomplish. Then I sat down, turned on my computer, and checked my email. Two hours later, after fighting several fires, solving other people’s problems, and dealing with whatever happened to be thrown at me through my computer and phone, I could hardly remember what I had set out to accomplish when I first turned on my computer. I’d been ambushed. And I know better.”

Think about your own daily battles with work tasks and obligations. Have you … continue