(2.) Quantified self: Targeting productive and unproductive time with RescueTime, and committing to explicit targets with Beeminder.
(3.) Less but better. Less input but better input. Less output but better output. Afford the luxury of being slow and having time for introspection and inspiration.
(4.) When you can't sleep, don't try to.
- RescueTime: Productive and unproductive time, or specific software/website categories, automatically logged by the computer;
- Draft: Words written every day (just started, but looks promising);
Also successful: binary variables (1 or 0 every day, either done or not done).
I just find it much more satisfying to produce small amounts of (what I consider to be) good output rather than large amounts of mediocre output. This isn't appreciated in all contexts, which is why I've called it a luxury.
I accept the fact that won't ever be mentally at 100% all the time, so I fill my day with many side-projects and can rotate whenever I'm exhausted with one task.
The output quality of each task might not be as high as when I committed myself exclusively to one thing, but overall I learn more and achieve more.