On Planning: Productivity Priniciples Part 1

How can we ensure we get done what we want to get done, whilst accepting the finitude of time?

Hi everyone, 

This week's newsletter is a collaboration with my friends Imaan Khadir and Jonas Kgomo. It is the first part of a three part series around our favorite productivity principles :)

We’ve all experienced the feeling of an endless to-do list, and often it's not ambition or motivation that prevents us from completing it. Rather, it's the realization that we simply won’t have the time to complete everything, no matter how hard we try. 

This week's post focuses on “planning” - how can we ensure we get done what we want to get done, whilst accepting the finitude of time? 

1. Prioritisation

• We think the first step to becoming more productive is realizing - and accepting - that we can never do it all. Oliver Buckerman calls it “accepting the finitude of time”. His book “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals” expands on his philosophy. If you live until you’re 80, that’s roughly how many weeks you’ll get — a sum that is, as Oliver Burkeman puts it, “absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short.” Once you have accepted this (or at least reminded yourself of it), you can approach the following tips with more realistic expectations. 

• A quote I like to keep in mind is “direction over speed” - if you’re going in the wrong direction, it doesn’t matter how fast you’re traveling. For this reason, taking time to reflect on your goals and values, and making sure you prioritize them appropriately, is critical. The rest of this week's post shares suggestions for how to do this. 

Remember: You don’t have time to do everything you want, you must make tough choices

2. Planning 

• The to do vs the today list: I usually start my day writing down everything I want to get done. This usually includes way more than I can do in one day, so the next step is deciding which of these tasks I should do today (this is a combination of the urgency and importance of the task, as well as what I feel like doing). Doing this allows me to ignore the rest on your to-do list, helping me feel less overwhelmed. 

• The “daily highlight”. I learned this method from the youtuber Ali Abdaal and it basically means choosing one thing you absolutely want to achieve today from your to-day list. 

• Allocating time and Parksinson’s law: My next step is to plan the order of the tasks, ensuring the daily highlight gets done. I guess how long each task will take me to have a somewhat realistic plan. Here, I like to keep Parkisnon’s law in mind - work fills the time allocated to it. I think this is surprisingly true. But of course, your allocation still needs to be realistic + sometimes it also makes sense to spend longer on a task than necessary (e.g., because you want to gain a deeper understanding, or because you enjoy the task and don’t want to rush it). 

• The order of tasks: When deciding on the order, consider which tasks you can batch together (e.g., admin tasks). Also think about whether it makes sense to split a task to gain the benefits of reflection (e.g., you might start an essay in the morning and then do chores in the afternoon as this gives you time to reflect on the essay which you can then come back to in the evening) 

Remember: Set a priority for each day, and plan your day strategically around it

3. Weekly reviews

• Weekly reviews are a part of the “get things done” system by David Allen but they are a great practice regardless of what system you use. A weekly review allows you to refocus your intention and direction for the next week through systematic reflection. “It turns chaos into clarity by clearing work from the past week and planning for the upcoming week.” You can read more here and here. 

• Here is a sample routine for how you might conduct a weekly review 

1. Sunday/ another day to process how your week went: check in with how you felt; what you want to do the next week.

2. Use it as a habit - three sections: check-in, actions, planning.

3. Check-in: Brain dump what is currently weighing on your mind. You can afterwards/ alternatively ask yourself the following questions: “How have you felt this week overall?, What has kept you motivated?, What were your biggest takeaways/challenges?, How present were you this week? What are you most grateful for?" 

4. Actions - "Am I satisfied with the things that I have accomplished this week?", "What progress have I made towards my monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals?", "What can I do right now to make next week better?", "What tasks have I been avoiding?"

5. Planning: "What are my priorities for next week?", "How will I make time to rest this week?"

6. Optional 4th section - systems review - keep an account of the current productivity system that you are using and evaluate whether it's working for you. You can use this section to evaluate any new things or habits that you have been working on.

Remember: By reflecting on the week gone by, you can reset yourself for the week ahead

4. Epistemic Housekeeping

• It is only when we silent the blaring sounds of our daily existence that we can finally hear the whispers of truth that life reveals to us, as it stands knocking on the doorsteps of our hearts. — K.T. Jong 

• Epistemic housekeeping refers to the practice of regularly evaluating and updating our beliefs and knowledge. “You don’t know what you don’t know. And much of what you “know” is actually wrong. Start by rethinking your life from first principles.” (Upgradable) Epistemic housekeeping thus involves identifying and addressing inconsistencies, errors, and biases in our thinking, as well as keeping track of sources and evidence to ensure that our beliefs are well-supported. This helps to ensure that we have an accurate and up-to-date understanding of the world around us. It also helps us stay aligned to our values. 

• There are many ways you can implement epistemic housekeeping in your life: You can decide on a particular value that you'd like to think more about and do some research about good books/podcasts/articles on the topic. You can also talk to people about it, and perhaps even write an essay about it (which will help with being able to think about it and articulate your thoughts. 

  Remember: Reflecting on your beliefs and knowledge is essential to living a life that is aligned to what you truly want.

We hope you found this helpful!

All the best, 

Imaan, Jonas and Caroline