Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Analog: A simple productivity system

ugmonk.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 97 posts

Re: Analog: A simple productivity system

#61

Post by dmje »

Hilarious. $65 for a pack of index cards and a block of wood.

Good on em if they can make this work. It's genius. For all the wrong reasons.

I started worrying about "my method" when I was 14 and back then my revision time largely involved colouring in new and increasingly complicated revision timetables.

35 years later and I've finally nailed it: stop fannying about with endless "techniques". Stop procrastinating with the latest task fad. Stop buying new software, new hardware, new (lol) blocks of wood and index cards.

Instead, just do. The. Work.

It might involve a notepad, it might involve a task app. But either which way, push the how to the back and bring the do to the front.

Turn off email. Turn off your phone. Turn off notifications.

This is the true way that work gets done.

Re: Analog: A simple productivity system

#62

Post by garyrob »

dpweb wrote: post #47
garyrob wrote: post #4

I'm using this in combination with a Python script I wrote that sends me SMS messages for tasks as hard deadlines approach. So, if I get too distracted for some days, because of a technical issue or whatever, to pay much attention to the paper task process, I still get the SMS messages. Since I always check any SMS messages that come in, this prevents me from missing a deadline. And the physical setup of the Analog s…

Same concept maybe, I use emails as my todos and snooze them to popup at the right time. Inbox always at zero so its easy to see something I gotta take action on. Things will definitely get missed otherwise and my email is always with me.

I didn't know about snooze as an email feature, but a quick google shows it as something for gmail? Is that what you use?

I see that there are 3rd-party solutions for MacOS. MacOS' Mail doesn't have that feature that I'm aware of. (I use a powerbook.)

Re: Analog: A simple productivity system

#63

Post by rileytg »

dmje wrote: post #61

Hilarious. $65 for a pack of index cards and a block of wood. Good on em if they can make this work. It's genius. For all the wrong reasons. I started worrying about "my method" when I was 14 and back then my revision time largely involved colouring in new and increasingly complicated revision timetables. 35 years later and I've finally nailed it: stop fannying about with endless "techniques". Stop procrastinating wi…

for me the $35 stand is well worth it. i’ve been following something like this pattern for 15y, and the stand just makes it a little easier and more pleasant. I couldn’t make this kinda thing for less, i don’t have a wood shop.

Re: Analog: A simple productivity system

#64

Post by cultofmetatron »

dmje wrote: post #61

Hilarious. $65 for a pack of index cards and a block of wood. Good on em if they can make this work. It's genius. For all the wrong reasons. I started worrying about "my method" when I was 14 and back then my revision time largely involved colouring in new and increasingly complicated revision timetables. 35 years later and I've finally nailed it: stop fannying about with endless "techniques". Stop procrastinating wi…

after all this time, I find the mist effective way to get shit done.

pen and notebook. I write down my objective for the day and the smaller steps required to accomplish that. Then I just mark down as I go.

no complicated process needed, just do it

Re: Analog: A simple productivity system

#68

Post by smoldesu »

rileytg wrote: post #63
dmje wrote: post #61

Hilarious. $65 for a pack of index cards and a block of wood. Good on em if they can make this work. It's genius. For all the wrong reasons. I started worrying about "my method" when I was 14 and back then my revision time largely involved colouring in new and increasingly complicated revision timetables. 35 years later and I've finally nailed it: stop fannying about with endless "techniques". Stop procrastinating wi…

for me the $35 stand is well worth it. i’ve been following something like this pattern for 15y, and the stand just makes it a little easier and more pleasant. I couldn’t make this kinda thing for less, i don’t have a wood shop.

What's stopping you from buying a pack of miniature notebooks from Amazon/Staples/Office Depot/Alibaba for a fraction of the price? What are you getting with this system that cannot be replaced by a cheaper, more versatile solution?

Sorry if this sounds antagonistic, but I'm trying my hardest to wrap my head around a $30/month paper-as-a-service solution.

Re: Analog: A simple productivity system

#69

Post by egypturnash »

spicybright wrote: post #24
egypturnash wrote: post #15

I am honestly surprised to find that the cards used in this incredibly overproduced riff on Getting Things Done's method are the same size as commonly-available index cards, so you can use the cute tray without spending $10 for a pack of 50 cards. Or maybe not - the tray has rounded corners designed to fit snugly with the branded cards, while a $5 pack of 300 blank white index cards from Office Depot has sharp corner…

I'm going to sound like a party pooper, but the core market for these kinds of products are people that want to get organized so they buy these things to feel like they're doing it, only to put it at the back of their desk drawer after a week of use.

Yyyyyyep.

Re: Analog: A simple productivity system

#70

Post by [deleted] »

dmje wrote: post #61

Hilarious. $65 for a pack of index cards and a block of wood. Good on em if they can make this work. It's genius. For all the wrong reasons. I started worrying about "my method" when I was 14 and back then my revision time largely involved colouring in new and increasingly complicated revision timetables. 35 years later and I've finally nailed it: stop fannying about with endless "techniques". Stop procrastinating wi…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN