I'm at a stage in my life where I have a true love/hate relationship with productivity.<p>I have a business, a job, two young children and there's this thing going on in the world that makes everything kind of strange and our of our control. Every time I read an article like this one, and this one isn't particularly good, if I may add, I feel like saying, yes, right, you go ahead and try that calendar blocking thing with two children at home generating an almost infinite amount of entropy in all four dimensions. And do tell me how that willpower thing is working out for you, that thing about just cranking on with the most important goals every day, when your nights are most unreliable, and you're just generally exhausted all the time.<p>But I keep clicking those links anyway, secretly hoping that one day, I'll crack the mystery of productivity for stressed-out parents...<p>But since we're on the topic, I'll share what I think is the secret now: the less you try to accomplish, the more you'll accomplish. Super-laser-focus is the only thing that works for me. That, and being kind to myself when I have unproductive days, which is almost every day.
I keep finding that the more complicated the setup I use for productivity, the less I go back to it whenever there is a hiccup. Simple methods survive long term.<p>Currently my wife and I use a shared google doc, and while it is far from perfect, it ends up working well for us since it works on our phones and computers, is easy to bookmark, and the interface never changes.
"Productivity" has been fully productized to the extent that there are paid tools built around methodologies like bullet journaling, lists, zettelkasten, spaced repetition, pomodoro timers, stoicism etc.<p>The end result of which is an ocean of SEO blogspam written by the the purveyors of such tools, reducing the signal-to-noise ratio the well below the threshold of usability.<p>I find that in my 30s, the solution for productivity woes is much the same as the ancient wisdom of my parents' computer-free generation:<p>(i) ensure decent nutrition and sleep<p>(ii) step away from the screens periodically<p>(iii) spend time outdoors<p>(iv) review your goals at the start of each day<p>(v) perfection is rarely necessary
IME the single greatest yes simplest productivity tip that can be applied in almost any situation or context:<p>"If it's not a definite yes, then it's a no."<p>Everything else I've found is noise.
That's the thing about productivity - it's a very <i>meta</i> word since the human brain works non-stop since birth (some even say that before being born, the brain is still working).<p>Dossing about, loafing, or idling are not the work of the devil, they are necessary to getting things done since we need to pause and reflect, and conjure up ideas typically in silence.<p>My favorite phrase regarding this matter is as follows:<p>"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time".
This title, reminds me of the backstory of ALL the productivity "gurus." They say they read everything and tried everything so you can take it from them. The only thing is...what they got good at was getting you to pay them to teach you about productivity!<p>Ironically, I got this by reading everything about productivity. Not a joke...back in the 80's, I read every book on the subject because I really wanted to know. And have been a bit of a productivity addict ever since. But now, getting the long view, I wish I had just learned more about who I really am, what matters to me, and just used the energy to live my own life.<p>Recently, a guy passed away in our little town. I thought to myself that he was a rare thing, just himself, not to shaped by some idea of what he should be. Taking to him was like sitting near a stream, or a warm campfire. Somehow so nourishing. Would like to see more of that in the world.
I had a colleague who would block out almost his entire calendar as a defensive strategy against being given new tasks.<p>He even tried it once with his wife to avoid clearing out the garage. That tactic he only tried once, though, for obvious reasons.
I feel like individual productivity is a pretty much solved problem and comes down to picking your tools. Whether it's one out of a million 3rd party Todo/Note taking apps, or just whatever is available in your OS, is a matter of taste. If you want to be productive you will find your way and most importantly, just don't get too obsessed about not being at maximum productivity.<p>Group productivity and collaboration, however, is a problem with square root complexity (if not worse) of the number of collaborators. It is <i>not</i> a solved problem at all. I hate all the existing ways and tools for sharing, working on something together, planning, scheduling, all the Asanas, Trellos and Jiras of the world. They all feel somehow wrong and counter-productive for any more or less non-trivial collaboration.<p>I think we all know there's a golden opportunity here, just not clear yet what a better collab tool should be like for 2021 and onward.
If you want to try time-blocking: <a href="https://crushentropy.com/" rel="nofollow">https://crushentropy.com/</a> It's like markdown for planning.
Sounds like Cal Newport's Time Blocking method taken to an extreme (because it suggests to block time <i>for everything</i>): <a href="https://www.timeblockplanner.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.timeblockplanner.com/</a>
Oh. Disappointing.<p>Since it was in Bloomberg, I thought the article might be about <i>productivity</i>, dollars of GDP produced <i>per unit of effort</i>. An update to Chad Syverson's 2011 survey article, <i>What Determines Productivity</i>, perhaps.<p>Instead it's part of the victim-blaming industry of "if you're not frantically busy, you're wasting your life".
I pity people who worship “productivity” without asking deep questions about what the ultimate value of the increased “productivity” is. The amount of stress and health problems produced by people worshipping productivity is jaw dropping.
I believe you will like TimeStrip - <a href="https://timestripe.com/" rel="nofollow">https://timestripe.com/</a> (no relations).
Writing about productivity seems like a nice racket.<p>What's with the excessive productivity propaganda the past few years. Is that what humans are? What humans exist to be/do? Be products that produce as much as possible? So much time/resources/etc wasted to be more productivity. What's the end goal here?