Largest Number - Find out the largest possible number which can be built from N after removing exactly K digits (Easy)

Given an integer N which has D digits. You have to delete exactly K digits in integer N.

Find out the largest possible number which can be built from N after removing exactly K digits.

Input Format:

First line contains two space separated integers: N K
 
Output Format:

Print the largest possible number which can be built from 
 after removing exactly 
 digits.

Constraints:


Sample Input
3412 1
Sample Output
412
Time Limit: 1
Memory Limit: 256
Source Limit:

Explanation

After removing exactly 1 digit, we can make

412
312
342
341

Among, them 412 is the largest possible number.

Solution:

Couple of intuitive questions to ask yourself before jumping to code:
1. What is the power of 10 that will remain from the original number after removing K digits?
   Ans: D - K
2. What is the position and value of the largest digit in the remaining number?
   Ans: The largest digit must be in the first D - K digits of the original number.
   If largest digit is not in the first D - K digits, we go for the second largest digit.

Psuedo Code

Initialize empty stack
For each digit in N:
    While stack not empty AND
          last digit in stack < current digit AND
          deletions remaining:
        pop stack
        decrease K
    push current digit to stack

If deletions still left:
    remove last K digits from stack

Answer = digits in stack joined together

My Code

Q: Explain the solution to this problem in layman terms. Give clear descriptions of what this problem is trying to teach/assess, what design pattern, what problem solving trick/technique.

Great problem choice 👍 — this is a classic interview + competitive programming problem, and it teaches an important way of thinking.

I’ll explain this in layman terms, then connect it to what it’s testing, the design pattern, and the core trick.

---

🔍 Problem in simple words

You are given:

• A number N (as digits)

• A number K (how many digits you must delete)

👉 Your task:
Delete exactly K digits from N
without changing the order of the remaining digits,
so that the resulting number is as large as possible.

---

Example

ini
N = 3412
K = 1

Possible results after deleting 1 digit:

• Remove 3 → 412

• Remove 4 → 312

• Remove 1 → 342

• Remove 2 → 341

✔️ Largest = 412

---

🧠 Key constraint that matters

You cannot rearrange digits.
You can only delete digits.

This is what makes the problem non-trivial.

---

🧩 How to think about it (layman explanation)

Let’s think like a human looking at the number:

“If I can delete some digits, I want big digits to come as early as possible.”

Because:

• A bigger digit at the left makes the number larger

• Later digits matter less

---

💡 Core idea (greedy thinking)

Whenever you see:

• A smaller digit before a bigger digit

• AND you still have deletions left

👉 Delete the smaller digit

Why?

Because keeping the bigger digit earlier makes the number larger overall.

---

Example walk-through

ini
N = 3412
K = 1

Compare adjacent digits:

cpp
3 < 4 → delete 3

Now:

412

No deletions left → stop

✔️ Correct answer

---

🧰 Design Pattern Used

✅ Greedy Algorithm

You make the best local choice at every step:

“If removing this digit makes the number bigger, do it now.”

Greedy works here because:

• Earlier digits dominate the value of the number

• Once a digit is fixed, future digits can’t compensate for a bad choice

---

🔄 Implementation Technique

Monotonic Stack

This problem is usually solved using:

• A stack that keeps digits in decreasing order

• While:

  • Stack top < current digit

  • AND deletions left

Pop the stack (delete digit).

---

Why a stack?

It helps you:

• Look back at previous digits

• Remove them efficiently

• Maintain the best possible prefix

---

✏️ Pseudocode (human-readable)

sql
Initialize empty stack
For each digit in N:
    While stack not empty AND
          last digit in stack < current digit AND
          deletions remaining:
        pop stack
        decrease K
    push current digit to stack

If deletions still left:
    remove last K digits from stack

Answer = digits in stack joined together

---

🧪 Edge cases this problem tests

1. Digits already decreasing

   ini
   N = 9876, K = 2 → 98
   

   → Just remove from the end

2. Leading zeros

   ini
   N = 1002, K = 1 → 102
   

3. K = D
   → Result is empty or 0 (depending on problem definition)

---

🎯 What this problem is really assessing

Skill	Tested
Greedy thinking	✅
Stack usage	✅
Digit manipulation	✅
Order preservation	✅
Edge-case handling	✅
Algorithmic intuition	✅

---

🧠 Big takeaway

To maximize a number, fix the leftmost digits first
by deleting smaller digits when you get the chance.

This idea appears in many problems:

• Remove K digits

• Build largest/smallest number

• Stock span problems

• Next greater element

---

🏁 Final one-line summary

This problem teaches you how to:

Use greedy decisions + a stack to build the best possible number while deleting digits without changing order.

If you want next:

• Full Python code

• Dry-run with more examples

• Why greedy is provably correct

• How this compares to brute force

Just tell me 🙂

---

---

Full Python Code From ChatGPT

Here is the clean, correct, interview-ready Python solution using the greedy + monotonic stack approach we discussed.

This works efficiently even for very large N (up to 10¹⁸).

---

✅ Full Python Code

python
def largest_number_after_k_deletions(N, K):
    digits = list(str(N))
    stack = []

    for d in digits:
        # Remove smaller digits from stack if possible
        while stack and K > 0 and stack[-1] < d:
            stack.pop()
            K -= 1
        stack.append(d)

    # If deletions still remain, remove from the end
    while K > 0:
        stack.pop()
        K -= 1

    # Join digits and remove leading zeros if any
    result = ''.join(stack).lstrip('0')

    return result if result else "0"


# ---- Driver code ----
N, K = map(int, input().split())
print(largest_number_after_k_deletions(N, K))

---

🧠 Step-by-Step Explanation (Layman Friendly)

🔹 Convert the number into digits

python
digits = list(str(N))

We treat the number as characters so we can remove digits easily.

---

🔹 Use a stack to build the best number

python
stack = []

The stack keeps digits in descending order, as much as possible.

---

🔹 Main greedy logic

python
while stack and K > 0 and stack[-1] < d:
    stack.pop()
    K -= 1

This means:

• If the previous digit is smaller than the current digit

• AND we still have deletions left

• Remove the smaller digit to make the number bigger

---

🔹 Handle leftover deletions

python
while K > 0:
    stack.pop()
    K -= 1

If digits are already decreasing (like 9876), we remove digits from the end.

---

🔹 Clean result

python
result = ''.join(stack).lstrip('0')

Removes leading zeros if they appear.

---

🧪 Example Walkthrough

Input

yaml
3412 1

Stack evolution

Step	Digit	Stack	K
1	3	[3]	1
2	4	[] → [4]	0
3	1	[4,1]	0
4	2	[4,1,2]	0

✔️ Output: 412

---

⏱️ Time & Space Complexity

Metric	Value
Time	O(D)
Space	O(D)

Where D = number of digits in N.

---

🎯 Why this solution is optimal

• No brute force

• No recursion

• No permutations

• Works for large numbers

• Industry-standard greedy solution

---

🧩 What this problem teaches

• Greedy decision making

• Monotonic stacks

• Digit-level manipulation

• Why earlier digits matter more

---

If you want next:

• A brute-force validator

• Handling K > 3

• Explanation of why greedy always works

• Similar problems to practice

Just say 👍

---

---

What is the greedy algorithm in 100 words?

A greedy algorithm is a problem-solving approach where, at each step, you make the best immediate (locally optimal) choice with the hope that these choices lead to an overall optimal solution. It does not look ahead or reconsider past decisions. Greedy algorithms work well when a problem has the greedy-choice property, meaning a locally optimal choice is also globally optimal. They are usually simple, fast, and memory-efficient. Common examples include activity selection, coin change (with certain coin systems), shortest path algorithms like Dijkstra, and problems involving monotonic stacks such as removing digits to form the largest number.

The Day Silence Spoke Louder Than Words

All Buddhist Stories

It was late at night.
The kind of night where the house feels smaller than usual, and sleep comes in patches.

The phone rang.

You know that sound — not the casual ring of a friend calling late, but the sharp, wrong kind of ring.
The kind that instantly wakes you up, even before you pick up the receiver.

A stranger’s voice told me my father had been rushed to the hospital.

From that moment on, time stopped behaving normally.
Days blurred into nights.
My mother and I sat beside his bed for two weeks, counting breaths, watching machines, hoping the zigzagging line on the screen would keep doing its job.

One quiet Sunday morning, it didn’t.

The line flattened.
Two men in black arrived.
And just like that, my father was gone.

I was an only child. Which meant grief didn’t arrive alone.
It came with logistics.

Comfort your mother.
Call relatives.
Organize the memorial.
Write the obituary.
Notify the banks.
Answer questions you don’t yet have answers to.

It was the busiest time of my life.

And one morning, after making sure my mother was cared for, I did something that probably looked selfish from the outside.

I got into my car.
And I drove.

Four hours.
Along narrow, winding roads.
Up the California coastline.

I didn’t have a destination in mind—just an instinct to keep moving until the noise inside me stopped shouting.

Eventually, I parked.
Stepped out.
Sat on a bench high above the sea.

And then something strange happened.

Nothing.

No one spoke.
No phone rang.
No opinion arrived demanding my attention.

There were bells tolling somewhere down the road.
Water cooling itself around the rocks.
Bees hovering around lavender.
Wind moving through tall grass like it had all the time in the world.

For two hours, I didn’t solve anything.
I didn’t analyze my feelings.
I didn’t “process” my grief.

I just sat there.

And when I finally got back into my car, I knew exactly what I needed to do next.

Not because I’d thought it through—
but because silence had cleared the argument.

I trust that kind of silence.

Because silence doesn’t try to win.

Words are always dividing us.
I believe this. You believe that.
I voted for them. You voted for these people.
I’m right—so you must be wrong.

But when people sit together in silence, something deeper happens.
You’re no longer defending an idea.
You’re just sharing a moment.

I know many people find this through yoga or meditation.
And that’s wonderful.
But I also know how intimidating those words can sound.

The beauty of silence is that it doesn’t require training.
Or belief.
Or a subscription.

It’s available to everyone.

You can find it in a church, even if you’re not religious.
In a quiet corner of your room.
In your car with the engine off.
For twenty minutes.
Or two hours.
Or just one deep breath.

And yes — we all know silence has a dark side too.

There’s the silence after an argument.
The silence that punishes.
The silence that threatens.
The silence that hurts more than a lie.

But that’s not the silence I’m talking about.

I mean the kind that feels alive.
The kind you can almost touch.

For me, it’s like stepping out of a crowded skyscraper and walking into an open field.
Getting out of your head.
And back into your senses.

Because let’s be honest—we’re drowning in noise.

Notifications.
Breaking news.
Opinions disguised as facts.
Facts disguised as outrage.

Sirens outside.
Construction everywhere.
A phone ringing mid-sentence—“Sorry, I have to take this.”

We can’t hear ourselves think.
Sometimes we can’t even hear the people we love.

And all we really want is a way to turn the volume down.

For the past 34 years, I’ve found that by stepping into silence whenever I can.
Sometimes for two weeks.
Sometimes for two days.
Sometimes—like after my father died—for just two hours.

It’s funny.
I’m not religious.
And yet, a Catholic retreat house has given me some of the clearest moments of my life.

Because when the mind grows quiet, something else wakes up.

You notice the light on the water.
The birdsong.
The ocean breathing far below.
Rabbits moving through the undergrowth.

You stop thinking so hard—and start listening.

And something else happens too.

When I spend time in silence, I feel closer to my friends.
Even when they’re not in the room.

I know what matters six months from now—
instead of panicking about what needs to happen six minutes from now.

I’m convinced the deepest part of us exists beyond language.

Of course, silence isn’t always peaceful.
Sometimes it’s just rain on the roof.
Or an old heater rattling.
Or a cabin shaking in the wind.

But even then, it offers release.

And when reality makes a house call—as it does in every life—when the phone rings in the middle of the night, or nurses rush in to check for a pulse — what you draw upon is your inner savings account.

And that account is built quietly.
Minute by minute.
Breath by breath.

Silence doesn’t ask you to believe anything.
It doesn’t care what side you’re on.
It reaches places no argument ever can.

Thomas Merton once wrote,
“When the mind is silent, the forest becomes magnificently real.”

Your phone is probably ringing right now.
The news is shouting again.
You’re worried about tomorrow.
About that conversation last night.
About the state of the world.

I know.

But think about the moments that truly matter—falling in love, watching a sunrise, losing someone you love.

The truest response is often no words at all.

We worry about climate change, wars, technologies moving faster than wisdom.
And we should.

But nearby is a quieter place — where debates stop, and reserves are built.

A place where we hear an intelligence that isn’t artificial.

So maybe—just for a moment—step there.

Nothing bad will come of it.

And something good—something useful—just might.

After a long week of words, what a relief it is to say nothing together.

Sunday, Budget, and the Art of Selling Dreams

See All News by Ravish Kumar

Hello.

Tell me—did the budget ruin your Sunday?
Or are you already feeling Monday on a Sunday?

There’s an old saying in the stock market: nothing bad happens on a Sunday.
Well, congratulations. That record has been broken too.
The Sensex fell by nearly a thousand points.
Eight lakh crore rupees disappeared into thin air.

To call this budget “good,” even the most loyal TV experts had to work overtime.
They twisted words, stretched logic, and stitched together forced optimism.
And even after all that hard work, they still couldn’t find much to praise.

So finally, they found duty.

Yes—duty.

Three kinds of duties were announced in the budget.
The same duties the Prime Minister reminds us of in every budget speech, every village speech, every national address.

Earlier, they were called targets.
Before that, vision.
Then foresight.
Now—duty.

The budget has slowly stopped being a financial document.
It has become a long speech.

And this didn’t happen suddenly.
For years, budgets have been moving in this direction.

First, Atmanirbhar Bharat.
Then Amrit Bharat.
Then Viksit Bharat.
Then New India.
So many versions of India were launched, finally someone remembered—oh yes, duty.

We even renamed buildings.
The Finance Ministry now operates from Kartavya Bhavan.
Ministers, however, are still not called Kartavya Mantri.
That reform may come later.

The Finance Minister delivered a long speech — what vision lies ahead for which sector.
Seaplanes.
Waterways.
Textile parks.

Listening to it, you felt a strange familiarity.
Like hearing an old song on repeat.

Seaplanes?
Weren’t they launched during the Gujarat elections?
Big dreams were shown.
Then the seaplane quietly stopped flying.
Since 2021, it hasn’t taken off.

Now we’re talking about air taxis on the Sabarmati riverfront.
And suddenly—seaplanes are back in the budget.

Before you start dreaming again, remember: you’ve already seen this dream.
And you’ve already seen it crash.

Last year, with great enthusiasm, the PM Internship Scheme was announced.
It was said to change the future of India’s youth.

This year, its budget has been cut by 95%.

From ₹10,830 crore in estimates
to just ₹526 crore in revised figures.

In October 2024, companies offered 1.65 lakh internships.
Only 33,000 students joined.

This is not a statistic.
This is a reality check.

But let me pause here—
because there’s an announcement you probably didn’t notice.

People were expecting tax relief on insurance premiums.
It didn’t happen.

So let me say something boring—but important.

Health insurance is also a form of savings.
Illness doesn’t come with advance notice.
You can’t carry cash in a bag when emergencies strike.

Today, there are plans that cover diabetes, BP, thyroid, asthma from day one.

And term insurance — the purest form of life insurance — the earlier you take it, the cheaper it is, and the premium stays locked for life.

Every earning member should have one.
It ensures your family doesn’t collapse financially if you’re gone.

This isn’t budget advice.
This is life advice.

Now back to the budget.

We’re told Amrit Sarovars will be developed for fish farming.
Please, visit one in your district.

In 2020, we were told every district would revive ponds.
75 ponds per district.

It’s 2026 now.
Look around.

You’ll understand budgets differently after that visit.

Smart Cities failed.
So now we have City Economic Zones.

Labels change fast in this government.
Reality doesn’t.

Delhi itself is gasping for breath.
But we’re promised new urban dreams — so that you keep dreaming every Sunday.

Make in India?
Skill India?

Curiously absent.

Manufacturing was talked about loudly in 2014 and 2015.
This year, the Finance Minister forgot to even mention Skill India.

The CAG says thousands of crores were misused.
So perhaps silence is safer.

Manufacturing’s share in GDP has fallen from 19% in 2006–07 to about 14% today.

China moved ahead.
India is now sixth in Asia.

If India had made even one product that scared China, we would have heard about it daily.

But there isn’t one.

And yet, we are now told—
India will manufacture containers.

China makes 95% of the world’s containers.
India makes a few thousand.

China makes 50 lakh containers a year.
India plans to scale up from 3,000.

This is called ambition.

Or maybe—budgetary fiction.

The same story repeats with lifts, fire-fighting machines, boring machines.
Global companies dominate.
We enter late.
Very late.

And then there are waterways.

Twenty new waterways in five years, we’re told.

India has been announcing waterways since 1988.
In 2016, it finally started.
In 2023, Parliament was told—63 waterways couldn’t start
due to lack of funds and staff.

Out of 111 notified waterways, only 29 work.

But speeches flow smoothly.

AVGC—animation, gaming, comics—labs in schools, colleges.

Children already learn this on YouTube. What they need is freedom.

In a country where videos invite FIRs and threats, creativity cannot flourish.

Write this down and keep it in your pocket.

The government is chasing trains that left the platform long ago.

Like that school sentence we once translated:
“By the time I reached the station, the train had left.”

That sentence now fits the budget perfectly.

For twelve years, slogans filled pages.
Now even slogans are tired.

If this budget ruined your Sunday, don’t feel bad.

At least you spent it understanding why.

Good day.
I’m Ravish Kumar.

Tags: Ravish Kumar,Hindi,Video,

What If? (By David Goggins)

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What If? — The Question That Changes Everything

There’s a moment in David Goggins’ story where the grind finally breaks—not his spirit, but his certainty. And it happens right when he thinks he’s back.

In 2014, Goggins lines up for Badwater, one of the hardest ultra races on the planet. On paper, he should be ready. Just months earlier, he dominated a brutal winter race called Frozen Otter, smashing records in subzero temperatures, running through snow and ice like he’d unlocked some forgotten gear in his body.

But something is off.

He’s heavier than usual. Eleven pounds over race weight. Ten of those gained in a single week. Doctors can’t explain it. His heart rate is spiking. His breathing feels wrong. Still, he does what he’s always done—he pushes.

And for a while, that works.

Until it doesn’t.

Halfway through Badwater, his body revolts. His legs spasm uncontrollably. His heart won’t settle. He slows to a walk. Then he stops. For the first time in his life, David Goggins quits a race.

Not because it hurts.
Not because he’s scared.
But because something deep inside tells him: If you keep going, you might die.

That moment matters. Because for a man whose entire identity is built around pushing through pain, this is unfamiliar territory. It’s not weakness. It’s something worse—uncertainty.

What follows isn’t a heroic comeback montage. It’s months of decline.

Doctors poke and prod. Blood tests come back “mostly normal.” Diagnoses shift. Medications pile up. Nothing works. In fact, things get worse. Goggins—who once ran hundreds of miles—can barely jog a mile without feeling like he’s going to collapse.

Eventually, he ends up bedridden.

And here’s the surprising part.

At what he believes is the end of his life, he doesn’t feel angry. He doesn’t feel cheated. He doesn’t even feel sad.

He feels… calm.

For the first time in decades, he stops fighting. He replays his life—not to motivate himself, not to find fuel for the next challenge—but to understand it. He sees the abused kid. The overweight man. The failures. The surgeries. The fear. And the impossible things he did anyway.

And instead of judgment, he feels gratitude.

That moment of acceptance is important. Because it’s the opposite of the “never quit” mantra people associate with Goggins. It’s the realization that you can accept reality without surrendering to it.

And that’s where the question appears.

While lying there, he notices something small but strange: hard knots in his body. At the base of his skull. Around his hips. Places that feel locked solid. He remembers a stretching expert from years earlier who once told him his body was “tight like steel cables.”

Back then, he ignored it. Stretching didn’t fit his worldview. Strength did. Suffering did. Flexibility felt soft.

But now, with no other options left, he asks:

What if he was wrong?
What if the problem wasn’t his heart?
What if it wasn’t some rare disease?
What if years of tension—physical and mental—had finally shut him down?

That single question reopens the door.

Not with rage. Not with adrenaline. But with curiosity.

Goggins begins stretching. Not casually. Not for five minutes after a workout. He stretches for hours. Then more hours. Every day. Painfully. Methodically. Relentlessly.

Slowly, his body starts to open. His range of motion improves. His energy returns. The knots shrink. His health stabilizes. He comes off most medications. Eventually, he runs again—without side effects.

What’s wild is that this isn’t just a physical recovery story. It’s a mental one.

The chapter ends by zooming out. Goggins connects his experience to an ancient idea found across cultures and religions: suffering isn’t optional. Life will hurt. Loss, failure, humiliation—they’re coming whether you like it or not.

Most people respond by seeking comfort. We avoid hard things. We stay in boxes that feel safe. And those boxes slowly turn into prisons.

But a few people ask a different question.

What if I can handle more than I think?
What if this pain isn’t the end?
What if the limits I believe in aren’t real?

“What if” isn’t blind optimism. It’s not daydreaming. It’s permission. Permission to test yourself honestly. Permission to face your past without running from it. Permission to challenge the quiet voice that says, Don’t try. You’ll fail.

Goggins doesn’t promise peace. In fact, he’s clear about the cost. Living this way never really ends. There’s always another edge. Another standard. Another hard choice.

But the reward isn’t trophies or records.

It’s this: the moment when doubt speaks—and instead of listening, you calmly ask one question that changes the direction of your life.

What if?

And then you go find out.

Other Useful Links

• List of Biographies and Autobiographies (That We Have Summarized, and Books Available For Download)

Challenge #10 (After Action Reports)

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Think about your most recent and your most heart-wrenching failures. Break out that journal one last time. Log off the digital version and write them out long-hand. I want you to feel this process because you are about to file your own, belated After Action Reports.

First off, write out all the good things, everything that went well, from your failures. Be detailed and generous with yourself. A lot of good things will have happened. It's rarely all bad. Then note how you handled your failure. Did it affect your life and your relationships? How so?

How did you think throughout the preparation for and during the execution stage of your failure? You have to know how you were thinking at each step because it's all about mindset, and that's where most people fall short.

Now go back through and make a list of things you can fix. This isn't time to be soft or generous. Be brutally honest, write them all out. Study them. Then look at your calendar and schedule another attempt as soon as possible. If the failure happened in childhood, and you can't recreate the Little League all-star game you choked in, I still want you to write that report because you'll likely be able to use that information to achieve any goal going forward.

As you prepare, keep that AAR handy, consult your Accountability Mirror, and make all necessary adjustments. When it comes time to execute, keep everything we've learned about the power of a calloused mind, the Cookie Jar, and The 40% Rule in the forefront of your mind. Control your mindset. Dominate your thought process. This life is all a fucking mind game. Realize that. Own it!

And if you fail again, so the fuck be it. Take the pain. Repeat these steps and keep fighting. That's what it's all about. Share your stories from preparation, training, and execution on social media with the hashtags #canthurtme #empowermentoffailure.

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Challenge #9 (Uncommon Amongst Uncommon)

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This one’s for the unusual motherfuckers in this world. A lot of people think that once they reach a certain level of status, respect, or success, that they’ve made it in life. I’m here to tell you that you always have to find more. Greatness is not something that if you meet it once it stays with you forever. That shit evaporates like a flash of oil in a hot pan.

If you truly want to become uncommon amongst the uncommon, it will require sustaining greatness for a long period of time. It requires staying in constant pursuit and putting out unending effort. This may sound appealing but will require everything you have to give and then some. Believe me, this is not for everyone because it will demand singular focus and may upset the balance in your life.

That’s what it takes to become a true overachiever, and if you are already surrounded by people who are at the top of their game, what are you going to do differently to stand out? It’s easy to stand out amongst everyday people and be a big fish in a small pond. It is a much more difficult task when you are a wolf surrounded by wolves.

This means not only getting into Wharton Business School, but being ranked #1 in your class. It means not just graduating BUD/S, but becoming Enlisted Honor Man in Army Ranger School then going out and finishing Badwater.

Torch the complacency you feel gathering around you, your coworkers, and teammates in that rare air. Continue to put obstacles in front of yourself, because that’s where you’ll find the friction that will help you grow even stronger.

Before you know it, you will stand alone.

#canthurtme #uncommonamongstuncommon

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Challenge #8 (Schedule It In)

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Schedule it in! 

It's time to compartmentalize your day. Too many of us have become multitaskers, and that's created a nation of half-asses. This will be a three-week challenge. During week one, go about your normal schedule, but take notes.

When do you work? Are you working nonstop or checking your phone (the Moment app will tell you)? How long are your meal breaks? When do you exercise, watch TV, or chat to friends? How long is your commute? Are you driving? I want you to get super detailed and document it all with timestamps.

This will be your baseline, and you'll find plenty of fat to trim. Most people waste four to five hours on a given day, and if you can learn to identify and utilize it, you'll be on your way toward increased productivity.

In week two, build an optimal schedule. Lock everything into place in fifteen- to thirty-minute blocks. Some tasks will take multiple blocks or entire days. Fine.

When you work, only work on one thing at a time, think about the task in front of you and pursue it relentlessly. When it comes time for the next task on your schedule, place that first one aside, and apply the same focus.

Make sure your meal breaks are adequate but not open-ended, and schedule in exercise and rest too. But when it's time to rest, actually rest. No checking email or bullshitting on social media. If you are going to work hard you must also rest your brain.

Make notes with timestamps in week two. You may still find some residual dead space. 

By week three, you should have a working schedule that maximizes your effort without sacrificing sleep. Post photos of your schedule, with the hashtags #canthurtme #talentnotrequired. 

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