11–20 of 56 posts
- be intentional, consciously engage, and be present.
- participate by being active rather than passive.
- be consistent and reliable in timing, expectation, and quality.
- be finite by constraint around time, effort, or action.
If one wants just to keep winging it, it is still a choice and OK to be that.
Earlier in my career I went on all sorts of productivity boosting courses and read loads of books...in the end only one thing has stuck and that's the 2 minute rule from David Allen.
In short, if a tasks hits you and you can get it done in 2mins or less just do it there and then.
Explained in his voice here for those interested - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_-YOdwUDsg&t=37s
The most consistently productive I've been was using the most stripped down physical bullet journal I could. I needed to write things to organise my thoughts a bit but other than that, anything else was literally a distraction and not a system. Basic, basic, bullet journalling and google calendar reminding me of events. That's all I actually need. The only thing holding me back is my brain refusing to use these thing…
This is key; understand what works for you personally. There's plenty of workflows and frameworks out there that would rather tell you what they think you need, which is the trap most of us end up falling into.
Good on you for listening to yourself.
An example to me is note taking, it seems like the productivity people seem to fixate on doing it perfectly and in the exact right way to maximise productivity, instead of just taking the notes in a good enough fashion and doing something else with the saved time.
"Productivity isn’t about shiny tools. It is about getting things done." Earlier in my career I went on all sorts of productivity boosting courses and read loads of books...in the end only one thing has stuck and that's the 2 minute rule from David Allen. In short, if a tasks hits you and you can get it done in 2mins or less just do it there and then. Explained in his voice here for those interested - https://www.you…
When I actually got out a watch and timed it, I was like "oh shit, that was not even a fraction of my estimate".
So it's the estimation, not the actual task length/difficulty that is sometimes a problem for me.
"Productivity isn’t about shiny tools. It is about getting things done." Earlier in my career I went on all sorts of productivity boosting courses and read loads of books...in the end only one thing has stuck and that's the 2 minute rule from David Allen. In short, if a tasks hits you and you can get it done in 2mins or less just do it there and then. Explained in his voice here for those interested - https://www.you…
> our grandparents [...] woke up, put on their boots, and got to work, no excuses, no distractions, no bullshit. And mostly, I suspect, they saw tangible results for their labour. The house got built, the dress got made, the bread got baked. Its easier to get yourself to do things when the things are there, in front of you. Nowadays many of us sit at a desk building or wrangling systems that are intangible and almost…
Sadly, modern software development (and the workplace in general) is not optimized around generating immediate, tangible outcomes that might be that rewarding.
The original post was really just a troll's rant.
"Productivity isn’t about shiny tools. It is about getting things done." Earlier in my career I went on all sorts of productivity boosting courses and read loads of books...in the end only one thing has stuck and that's the 2 minute rule from David Allen. In short, if a tasks hits you and you can get it done in 2mins or less just do it there and then. Explained in his voice here for those interested - https://www.you…
Depends. 2 minutes with a context switch is very expensive. If it is just putting that cup in the dishwasher then sure!
Yes if I am working on a high importance, high bandwidth problem I will break it.
But of day-to-day with team a lot of things fall into this. I see other stick it in their To-dos or setup time in calendar where I just prefer to get it done.