12. The power of the next-action decision
Most of it is re-iteration of previous ideas: you have to turn "input" into "next actions". This reduced your cognitive load because when you know what the "next action" is the "input" becomes concrete and you have an easier time thinking about it. It takes work to determine "next actions", but you have to do it. It is particularly difficult for long term projects. c.f. http://www.aaronsw.com/webl...
Adopting a culture of "next action" has huge benefits in organizations. He recommends that after half the time allocated for a meeting has elapsed someone ask "What's the next action?" Answering will usually take up the rest of the meeting.
The only interesting bit was the part about "Bright people procrastinate more". The main premise is that bright people have both active imaginations and the mental ability to follow hypothetical situations pretty well. These usually lead to great amount of anxiety about things that may happen.
This strikes me as utterly wrong. Maybe because by "bright" I understand "3-5 sigma above average" people and he just means "1-2 sigma". In my experience, "bright" people are lazy, effective, and in control. By lazy I mean "as lazy as possible given the desired outcome", not that they never work. In other words lazy is maximized but effective > lazy.