On taking action: Productivity Principles Part 2
How to get started, keep going and stay on track of your work
Welcome to the second edition of our productivity principles series. In this post, Jonas, Imaan and I will be diving into how to take action, once you have figured out what you want to do (see our last week's post for this).
Getting started, keeping going and staying on track of our work can be daunting, especially in a day and age where working on a laptop has become the norm. How can we deal with the countless distractions such as notifications or Netflix, manage hundreds of open tabs, and find notes we saved in some obscure folder 10 years ago? This edition will give actionable insights into managing these challenges.
1. Getting started: Overcoming activation energy
Getting started is often the most difficult part. We probably all already procrastinated on some important task. I think procrastination is often the result of two common mistakes: i) not fully understanding the task; ii) setting too high expectations.
Understanding the task: When we don’t understand a task, we, by definition, won’t know what to start with or focus on. Of course, some tasks, especially creative ones, cannot be fully defined at the outset. Yet, even for these tasks, having a clear vision for how you imagine your outcome is important. It might change in the process, but at least you will have a starting point. I believe this problem often arises when we don’t want to ask clarifying questions because we fear being annoying/ coming across as stupid. Whilst these fears are understandable (though almost certainly not true), working on clear communication is one the best things you can do for yourself and your team. A question asked now is a worry saved later.
Lowering your expectations: Whilst it’s good to have an ambitious vision for the end outcome, setting expectations at the outset can make starting very daunting. I usually title my first drafts “crappy first draft” because it lowers my expectations and reminds me that this can be bad. Once I have written something, I often come back and realise it’s not so bad after all. And even if it is, editing is a lot easier than writing something afresh. I also like writing my essays in bullet points rather than full sentences first, since again this lowers the expectations, especially when it comes to sentence structure/ word choice.
Results lead to motivation: I think the saying that motivation leads to results gets it the wrong way round: Results lead to motivation, which then leads to more results. Therefore, it is important to make getting results when you first get started/ are stuck as easy as possible. For instance, you could set a timer for ten minutes with the goal of writing anything. Continuing to write after these ten minutes is a lot easier because you have already achieved something.
Remember: To overcome procrastination, make sure you understand the task and lower your expectations for your first output.
2. Keeping going: Overcoming distractions
After you start, at some point, keeping going will become difficult: Your motivation and concentration will fade, distractions will get the hold of you, and you might realize you have been staring at your laptop for 20 minutes without doing anything.
No notifications whilst working: A rule for me whilst working is to not have my notifications on - if you are expecting an important message, this of course won’t work - but generally, I think it’s very helpful. You should manage, and be in control of, your phone, not the other way around. Switching tasks (e.g., answering a message, then continuing a presentation), costs the brain a lot of energy, and getting back to your initial level of concentration can take surprisingly long - research suggests 23 minutes.
The Pomodoro technique: The famous pomodoro technique (studying for 25 minutes, then taking a 5 minute break), is a good way to get started. I like listening to background music whilst working, and there are lots of playlist following the pomodoro technique on Youtube (e.g., this one). You can also adjust the intervals to your preference; studying for 45 minutes, and taking a 15 minute break can be better for some tasks (e.g., those that take long for you to understand and get started).
Dealing with distracting thoughts: Often, distractions don’t only come from the outside, but from our own brain. You might remember that you need to write an email, or answer someone, in the middle of a work session. Here, I think a “brain dump sheet” can be very helpful. I just write all distracting thoughts on a sheet of paper next to me (often on the notes section of my to-do pad), so I can come back to them after finishing my current task. Writing your thoughts down gets them “out of your brain” - they no longer take up unnecessary headspace and you don’t need to worry about forgetting them.
Taking effective breaks: At some point your concentration dips simply because you are a human who needs breaks to recharge. The importance of breaks should be obvious, but I think we often take breaks in a non-ideal manner. I believe we hugely underestimate how effective our brains work “in the background”. Thus, whilst going on my phone, or watching an episode on Netflix is fine, it creates even more information for my brain to process. I therefore prefer going on a run or walk, or just making myself a cup of coffee, as this allows my brain to continue processing the information I studied/ worked on.
Planning a fun activity to look forward to: Be it meeting up with friends, or watching a movie, having a fun activity planned as a reward can motivate you to keep going “over the final meters”, especially for tedious tasks.
Remember: Working without distractions is a superpower in this day and age. Cultivate it by switching off notifications, using the pomodoro technique, noting down distracting thoughts and not over-stimulating your brain when taking breaks.
3. Finding the right task management system for you
Whether it be keeping on track over different areas of life (e.g., work, exercise, relationships) or different projects, the right task management system will help you do so more intentionally and effectively. Task management can be defined as correctly allocating time and effort to the length, importance and urgency of a task.
Value of pen and paper: For me, personally, nothing does quite compete with a beautiful physical planner and “to do” pad. After having tried out different apps, it is what I always come back to.
App minimalism: Nonetheless, apps that are suitable to your working and thinking style can hugely assist your productivity and help reduce the time you spend on admin (e.g., sorting your notes). I think app minimalism helps you get the balance between not overwhelming yourself with too many apps but also not foregoing their undeniable efficiency gains. When trying out a new app, try to understand how it works and stick with it for a bit before trying out something different/ adding an additional new app.
Our recommendations: That being said, here are some apps we can recommend for better task management.
Ticktick and Amie: Both apps are alternatives to Google Calendars, combining task management and calendar functionalities, thus helping you stay on track of your to-dos. Here is a video to get more insights on Ticktick; and here is a video to get more insights on Amie.
Raycast and Cerebro: Everything is a shortcut on your Macbook (Raycast) and Windows (Cerebro). These are not traditional applications but they tend to help with productivity management of other applications and routine tasks on the desktop, using only shortcuts.
Notion: Knowledge management is made easy through Notion. Whilst setting it up can take some time, it allows you to organize your life in one place - be it keeping track of travel plans, book reviews, cooking recipes or uni work. Here you can learn more about setting it up.
Goodnotes: For those who prefer handwritten notes, Goodnotes is ideal. It lets you create digital notebooks on your ipad thus bringing the offline experience online in an arguably superior manner.
Sidekick: On the browser, task management is also tab and application management. Without an efficient tab management system in place, you'll find yourself dealing with an overwhelming number of open tabs (combinatorial explosion). Browsing productivity management is made easy through Sidekick. It allows you to group tabs for a project together, close them and reopen them when needed. This helps prevent you being stuck with hundreds of unorganized open tabs.
Remember: When it comes to productivity apps, make sure they fit your working and thinking style. Less is often more.
Final tip: Supercharge your productivity using AI
Everyone seems to be speaking about AI. Whilst there are many things GPT cannot do, its power is undeniable. In this post, Jonas demystifies the concept of automated productivity, helping you gain clarity over the many opportunities AI presents for you and your work.
Jonas explains the different domains of automated assistance - Passive assistance (real-time suggestions and autocompletions), active assistance (clearly defined tasks completed for human review), and embedded assistance (integrates directly into tools and workflows). He also shares insights on how to use language models most effectively. Common mistakes to avoid include asking overly complex prompts as well as not giving the AI appropriate context to complete the task.
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Thank you for reading and all the best,
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