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Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity (2007)

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Re: Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity (2007)

#21

Post by mostlysimilar »

all2 wrote: post #10
number6 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds unreal: Job + parenting + study? How are you doing this? This can't just come from keeping lists and or touch typing?! Can you give me some background on what you are doing?

Consider: - 8 hours of work (a generous estimate). - 4 to 6 hours of parenting (between children's wake time in the morning and the evening). - Commute time? Is she driving? Public transit? Other? We'll neglect this. - 3 hours on study (an hour per day per semester hour). With a two hour commute, that's a 19 hour day. Without, 17 hours. That leaves no room for other daily necessities, though those could be built into…

> Personally, I struggle with focus, energy, and decision making. I've tried lists, and other things. Sometimes I think it is a discipline issue, other times I think its diet, lack of exercise, or maybe even my semi-regular sleep schedule. I'm not really sure, and I'm too tired to figure it out.

Oof. Feels like I could have typed that myself.

Many of these "the power of scheduling" posts seem to be written from the vantage point of either a newly begun regimen or a high water mark that isn't reflective of the mode. I say this less as a judgement on others and more anecdotally for myself. I've had those weeks of high output, and they always came coupled with proud forum posts giving thanks to and detailing my careful scheduling. This is never sustainable and quickly crumbles apart.

Maybe I'm not trying hard enough or I'm missing some crucial detail. Or maybe a life of every detail planned isn't the right life for me.

Re: Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity (2007)

#22

Post by operakadabra »

paultopia wrote: post #6

Um. "I don't keep a calendar" means "I consider my time more important than yours, so we'll meet at my sole convenience." I would love to do that, but everyone else in the world would rightly understand it that way and would treat it as a refusal to do core elements of my job. A: "Let's schedule a committee meeting." B: "I don't keep a calendar." A: "So what you're saying is everyone else on the committee has to find…

Good point, but actually, to you, your time is more important than everyone else's. You need to put yourself first.

When the oxygen mask falls from the ceiling of the airplane you're instructed to put yours on before helping others. You're not going to be helping anyone if you pass out.

And by the way, both you and Arnold Schwarzenegger are human beings and able to have some of the same experiences. Putting yourself down is not helpful.

Re: Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity (2007)

#23

Post by operakadabra »

blastbeat wrote: post #11
paultopia wrote: post #6

Um. "I don't keep a calendar" means "I consider my time more important than yours, so we'll meet at my sole convenience." I would love to do that, but everyone else in the world would rightly understand it that way and would treat it as a refusal to do core elements of my job. A: "Let's schedule a committee meeting." B: "I don't keep a calendar." A: "So what you're saying is everyone else on the committee has to find…

Fully agree. Also the rest of the article has questionable advice. I doubt the helpfulness of later lists and anti todo lists. Not answering the phone or pretending to be incompetent sounds like an idiotic idea too.

Nobody is promising that every suggestion will work for you. Try everything until you find something that does work.

Re: Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity (2007)

#25

Post by 0x262d »

paultopia wrote: post #6

Um. "I don't keep a calendar" means "I consider my time more important than yours, so we'll meet at my sole convenience." I would love to do that, but everyone else in the world would rightly understand it that way and would treat it as a refusal to do core elements of my job. A: "Let's schedule a committee meeting." B: "I don't keep a calendar." A: "So what you're saying is everyone else on the committee has to find…

difficult to believe the article isn't satire

Re: Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity (2007)

#26

Post by tuxxy »

> When someone emails or calls to say, "Let's meet on Tuesday at 3", the appropriate response is: "I'm not keeping a schedule for 2007, so I can't commit to that, but give me a call on Tuesday at 2:45 and if I'm available, I'll meet with you."

Is it just me, or does this come off as exceptionally arrogant? It's literally just telling people to plan their lives around yours. It just seems like time spent with this individual is a token of charitable _grace_. This is the opposite of what I'd expect professional behavior to look like.

Re: Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity (2007)

#27

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

coldtea wrote: post #12
paultopia wrote: post #6

Um. "I don't keep a calendar" means "I consider my time more important than yours, so we'll meet at my sole convenience." I would love to do that, but everyone else in the world would rightly understand it that way and would treat it as a refusal to do core elements of my job. A: "Let's schedule a committee meeting." B: "I don't keep a calendar." A: "So what you're saying is everyone else on the committee has to find…

> Um. "I don't keep a calendar" means "I consider my time more important than yours, so we'll meet at my sole convenience." I would love to do that, but everyone else in the world would rightly understand it that way and would treat it as a refusal to do core elements of my job. The advice is for free persons, not for us salaried workers. (Not to mention that TFA already covers this: "I'm totally serious. If you pull…

So basically it's for the already affluent. "If you're rich and have no obligations only work when you want to" doesn't seem that novel. It's productivity when there's little value on said productivity.

Re: Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity (2007)

#28

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

operakadabra wrote: post #22
paultopia wrote: post #6

Um. "I don't keep a calendar" means "I consider my time more important than yours, so we'll meet at my sole convenience." I would love to do that, but everyone else in the world would rightly understand it that way and would treat it as a refusal to do core elements of my job. A: "Let's schedule a committee meeting." B: "I don't keep a calendar." A: "So what you're saying is everyone else on the committee has to find…

Good point, but actually, to you, your time is more important than everyone else's. You need to put yourself first. When the oxygen mask falls from the ceiling of the airplane you're instructed to put yours on before helping others. You're not going to be helping anyone if you pass out. And by the way, both you and Arnold Schwarzenegger are human beings and able to have some of the same experiences. Putting yourself…

Arnold Schwarzenegger can afford to lose a job, and his personal productivity can't make or break his ability to pay this month's mortgage.

You have to be willing to work with people, and you have to work with more powerful people on their terms.

Re: Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity (2007)

#29

Post by yawaworht598 »

lqet wrote: post #20

While I think that completely avoiding a calendar or any fixed appointments is a bit unrealistic (think of doctor's appointments), I agree and deeply sympathize with the gist of it. One of the main reasons I quit my previous job was that I was unable to get any meaningful work done, because the day was very tightly organized around a central ticketing system. Oh, you had a nice idea to solve one of the problems in th…

wow i feel a lot like you describe. I've been thinking about taking a few months off just to reset and somehow figure out what I want to really be doing but... it's scary. I have the money saved up for it to not be a problem. But after the 6 months... then what?

What did you end up doing? Any advice?

Re: Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity (2007)

#30

Post by muzani »

fluffycat wrote: post #4
MRD85 wrote: post #2

Some of the points in this article I disagree with but others I like. Compared to my past self I am "super productive". I have a full-time career, a single parent to two young kids (approx 70% of the time I'm not at work I'm parenting) and I study nearly full time (3 units per semester) with a perfect GPA. I somehow still have time for "wasting", like commenting on online discussion boards, going on dates, etc. * Kee…

You get angry when you see someone does not touch type? This sounds petty and weird.

I do get angry too, in a sense that this person has not spent any time optimizing when it's their full time job. How can a person who cannot optimize basic things for themselves be expected to lead a group? It smells a lot like either corruption or incompetence.
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