Thoughts on Being Productive

I’ve been reading Manage Your Day to Day (Amazon), which is a nice book on people’s personal approaches to productivity. It’s reminded me of some things, and given me some things to reflect on.

I used to be really into productivity, but now I have some things that I keep in mind, and that works for me. So, rather than pulling out highlights, I thought I would write down some of the things that I remind myself of continually, that I think make me more productive.

Work

• My task list fits on one post-it, I rewrite it when it gets messy (typically, 2-3 times a week).
• My job is not to respond to email (email is never top priority).
• Coding is important, send out at least one CL every day.
• Always have a big (career improving) goal to work towards – make progress on it every week.
• When I’m mentally done, leave (don’t stay and break things!)

Life

• Exercise is important, prioritise it.
• Sleep is important, prioritise it.
• If it’s less than 30 minutes, walk.
• One day a week, no computer.
• Don’t be one dimensional (read, watch, visit things that are not related to the tech industry).

A while ago, I wrote about making time for side projects.