How to be Productive

Foxhound5366 said:
As someone in a high-pressure project management role, my tip here is simple: use an electronic task list of some kind. The ability to edit tasks and drag them up and down to increase or decrease priorities, or drag them into different buckets of tasks, is priceless. I often wonder who still uses paper diaries. I couldn't survive in my job with one: things just change too rapidly all day to possibly track it on paper. I recommend Asana: it's free and as powerful as you'll ever need.

The basic routine is:
Email in - capture task/s to task list - file email (critical for staying on top of stuff long-term) - action task - update task list - update weekly / month reports. Repeat.
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The nice thing about paper is that it doesn’t wear down on your brain’s executive function. Silicon Valley is acutely aware of this fact and that is why operating systems are getting digital well-being features, why computer science students are obsessing about books by Cal Newport

I still use a lot of apps though, like Trello and note taking apps. I just use them in conjunction with scheduled web filters.
 
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Nike7 said:
The nice thing about paper is that it doesn’t wear down on your brain’s executive function. Silicon Valley is acutely aware of this fact and that is why operating systems are getting digital well-being features, why computer science students are obsessing about books by Cal Newport

I still use a lot of apps though, like Trello and note taking apps. I just use them in conjunction with scheduled web filters.
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Can you clarify what a "scheduled web filter" is? Something that blocks you from accessing Facebook at certain times of the day?
 
Productive habits are key.
- Quit smoking, cut sugar, stop excessive drinking, drugs etc..
- Healthy foods, cut processed nonsense out your diet
- Drink self boiled water
- Smile when people irk you, wish them well, call them buttercup or cupcake and move on

• Wake up 3-4am
• 1st quick HIIT exercise session using Kettlebell
• Shower and meditation (singing, tuvan throat singing, let mind find peace and focus on the TODO's for the day)
• Breakfast, boiled free range eggs/oranges/grapefruit/leftover chicken/meat
• In office 5-6am, get TODO's done or plan accordingly, relax a little and read myBB and others
• 7:30am- 8am greet staff, delegate
• Get away and avoid complaining/miserable/negative slaves/peasants/people
• Hit Gym/2nd breakfast
• Finish off requirements for the day
• Get home, take shoes off and chill barefoot on the grass, enjoy the sunset with loved family/friends
• Have a good meal with a glass or two of red wine (merlot or sauvignon)
• Once every 2 months or so, go for a DMT + Changa experience
• Live a life of good, with no regrets and try everything at least once, rinse repeat
 
Polymathic said:
Better to have 1 goal and do it well then 10 goals a day where most aren't completed and the ones that were completed were of a low standard, no?
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There is no point in setting yourself up for not being able to achieve and/or complete; realistic cultivation by far outweighs over stacking the cart of disappointment. Besides "the goal" isn't always a literal translation of 1 item if 1 minutes of work. Also you need to learn when to relax the tension to create drive to thrive. That is why I said: balance is key.
 
newklear said:
Productive habits are key.
- Quit smoking, cut sugar, stop excessive drinking, drugs etc..
- Healthy foods, cut processed nonsense out your diet
- Drink self boiled water
- Smile when people irk you, wish them well, call them buttercup or cupcake and move on

• Wake up 3-4am
• 1st quick HIIT exercise session using Kettlebell
• Shower and meditation (singing, tuvan throat singing, let mind find peace and focus on the TODO's for the day)
• Breakfast, boiled free range eggs/oranges/grapefruit/leftover chicken/meat
• In office 5-6am, get TODO's done or plan accordingly, relax a little and read myBB and others
• 7:30am- 8am greet staff, delegate
• Get away and avoid complaining/miserable/negative slaves/peasants/people
• Hit Gym/2nd breakfast
• Finish off requirements for the day
• Get home, take shoes off and chill barefoot on the grass, enjoy the sunset with loved family/friends
• Have a good meal with a glass or two of red wine (merlot or sauvignon)
• Once every 2 months or so, go for a DMT + Changa experience
• Live a life of good, with no regrets and try everything at least once, rinse repeat
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Jesus. Too complex.
 
Nike7 said:
The nice thing about paper is that it doesn’t wear down on your brain’s executive function. Silicon Valley is acutely aware of this fact and that is why operating systems are getting digital well-being features, why computer science students are obsessing about books by Cal Newport

I still use a lot of apps though, like Trello and note taking apps. I just use them in conjunction with scheduled web filters.
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On that note, it definitely doesn't help if you stack your day with items where all of them requires 100% think-work. For example if you program 8 hours a day, it is rather bad form to only do activities before and after which requires same or more type of (intensive) effort without diversity.
 
Napalm2880 said:
My typical day at work looks like this:

8:00-9:30am - Meeting
10-12:30am - Meeting (overlapping with two other meetings)
12:30-13:00 - Lunch
13:00-15:00pm - Meeting
15:00-16:00pm - Meeting

I've complained to my line manager about too many unproductive meetings but he didn't seem to think it's a problem. I usually work on other tasks and answer e-mails from clients during meetings but I struggle to do that and focus on whatever is being discussed and often sound like a tard when someone on the call asks a question.

Is it even possible to be productive in this kind of environment without impacting your work/life balance?
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I currently have 47 hours pre-scheduled, re-occurring meetings per week. That is without additional meetings being scheduled.
 
Get decent sleep
No booze during the week
Some form of exercise daily even if its a 30min walk around the block
Plan your day, hour by hour and stick to this, push anything you don’t finish over to the next day / schedule.

Ive also found that putting my phone onto work mode and closing WhatsApp / Telegram on my desktop helps a ton.
 
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newklear said:
• Once every 2 months or so, go for a DMT + Changa experience
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Hmmm. Tell me more.

I've never done anything other than high grade weed strains. Indica makes me lazy and stupid. Sativa makes me overthink things and overly critical. Recently decided to abstain from weed for a bit and it's doing me well going on 2 months.

Keen to try some psychoactive products though.
 
Napalm2880 said:
My typical day at work looks like this:

8:00-9:30am - Meeting
10-12:30am - Meeting (overlapping with two other meetings)
12:30-13:00 - Lunch
13:00-15:00pm - Meeting
15:00-16:00pm - Meeting

I've complained to my line manager about too many unproductive meetings but he didn't seem to think it's a problem. I usually work on other tasks and answer e-mails from clients during meetings but I struggle to do that and focus on whatever is being discussed and often sound like a tard when someone on the call asks a question.

Is it even possible to be productive in this kind of environment without impacting your work/life balance?
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This is exactly my problem as well. I'm on middle management level, but have no direct reports. - by choice because I hate managing people.

I've also complained to my manager once that I spend too much time in meetings and that I struggle to finish what i have to with quality and on time. His response? "This IS your work".

I never asked him again!

When I get given a task, I ignore the deadline and put it right at the back of other tasks on Jira. Today I only have 30 minutes to do actual work, the rest of the time it's meetings, like right now.

At one point I thought about putting my Out of Office reply on to say that I won't be able to reply to mails during office hours, but changed my mind because that would have caused even more kak.

This is Oulook right now. If you want me to reply, call me!

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static_sa said:
Be a functional coke user. You will naturally gravitate to business duties and perhaps even open a second business with a friend.

It's literally the most productive tip in this thread with only a single step
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Coke from a strippers ass?
 
TheBadMadMan said:
Hmmm. Tell me more.

I've never done anything other than high grade weed strains. Indica makes me lazy and stupid. Sativa makes me overthink things and overly critical. Recently decided to abstain from weed for a bit and it's doing me well going on 2 months.

Keen to try some psychoactive products though.
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Not here to sell the idea but if you know of someone that can help, do research and make your own mind about it. Everyone would have a different experience, for me it was a game changer.
 
The Jam said:
The hardest bit is that there's often always something to do that requires your soft skills and your core role - the technical one you love best and are good at - takes a back seat. That's management for you.

Try to balance things by putting at least an hour or two aside to the tech stuff in your day.

Another thing for me... Get off caffeine. Caffeine is addictive and performance suffers when you're on it regularly. Good sleep is way better than caffeine. Shut down earlier if you can.
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Caffeine is the ultimate productivity drink. There's a reason why so many people choose to work in their laptop in coffee shop.

You're probably an edge case.
 
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