productivity Archives - Page 2 of 2

Manage Your Psychology

I make the most progress on programming, design, and other creative work in the morning. I process email best after accomplishing one big item. For me, A 30 minute meeting destroys at least an hour of productive work time; context switching has a high cost. I know these things about myself and try to mitigate any activities that trigger these “black holes” of productivity loss or momentum killers. Don’t let your workflow be defined by your surroundings. Know how you work and defend the process that works best for you.

Your Brain Isn’t for Remembering

I’m reading through the productivity classic Getting Things Done. This book has helped me create systems to manage the deluge of information thrown at us every day. The never ending stream of information is overwhelming if not managed with discipline and systematically processed using systems. That’s what this book is about: creating systems to manage constant streams of information. One of the main points that David makes is that our brains aren’t made to remember information when we need it. Our intellect is great for creative thinking, but remembering that you ran out of paper clips when your at Walmart isn’t where we excel – especially when we’ve processing information all day long…

Busyness is Laziness

I hate saying I’m busy; I cringe when I hear myself say “I’m good, it’s just been busy!”. It’s so easy to do, and it feels so good; “I’m busy: I’m accomplished and valuable. People want me involved in projects.” Tim Ferris is right when he says “being busy is a form of lazyness”. It’s hard to swallow; but it’s the hard truth. If you are always busy, you aren’t being disciplined in managing your tasks, effective enough at delegating your work to others, or creative enough at eliminating work through automation. Busyness is not effectiveness. The number of hours worked does not equal results.

Tag: productivity