Six knowledge elements and six habits people need to accomplish productivity
Productivity is about doing! Taking action! Once you get past this basic concept, then it becomes more interesting. I have productive days. (I had six hours of zoom calls.) I have nonproductive days when I do nothing except veg out in front of football games. Being productive means:
1. Doing the right things first.
1.1 Taking action.
1.2 Having organized knowledge.
1.3 Having a mindset lets you decide what is important to you, choose what you want to do, and take action.
1.4 Having an organization system, so you know what to do and when is crucial.
1.5 Knowing what you can ignore.
My Knowledge system structure
I built my knowledge system around PARA from Tiago Forte’s Building a Second Brain course (next cohort starts November 3rd.) with some personalized tweaks.
1. G for goals — These are big things I want to accomplish. They may take a year or longer to achieve. More to come as we get closer to January.
1.1 P for projects — These are more minor things I want to do that may be part of a goal. However, a project is a piece of work that moves me closer to my ultimate goal.
1.1.1 A for areas of responsibility — These are those parts of my life that require my regular attention but don’t have an end date like goals and projects. A significant example for me is financing since I’m retired and on a limited budget. Another is health.
1.1.2 R for resources in my digital brain — contains notes from books, articles, and ideas that I have saved for future reference.
1.1.3 A for archived projects and goals that are complete.
1.1.4 T for tasks that need action — these are the to-dos of my life—the never-ending list of usually small things that require effort. For example, one of my tasks under my Health area is to get my annual blood test.
So once you have organized what you know, we have to develop processes that help you ensure you get the right things done, take action, and most importantly, don’t become overwhelmed by your lists.
taking My productivity system processes
It’s nice to have a structure like in the previous section, but the knowledge structure doesn’t get anything done. For example, the knowledge structure didn’t get the task of writing and publishing this essay done — action did. So how do I ensure that I take action on the right things at the right time? Several processes force me to look at steps I need to perform: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. I will highlight each of them below, but unless you’re a glutton for punishment, you will try one master it and then add the next one.
Daily Processes
It would help if you had daily processes that become habits for you. For example, my daily process is simple.
1. list the meetings or calls from my calendar
1.1 check my to-do and chose between one and three depending on the number of meetings I have
1.1.1 Check my projects list and see if any projects are urgent.
1.1.2 Daily review of what happened
I keep the list in front of me and work through my meetings and to-do in order. I also note any surprises that occurred. Each surprise caused me to do something I hadn’t planned on doing. I tried to see why they were missed and should I have known they were coming. My review is concise and includes:
1. Why didn’t I get some tasks done?
1.1 What caught me by surprise and why?
1.1.1 Then I give myself a grade minus, zero, or plus for the day
Weekly reviews and plan
For the review, I take a quick look back at the week I just finished.
1. Did I get everything done?
1.1 If not, why not?
1.1.1 What is my score for the week minus, zero, or plus?
To plan for the next week, I look at
1. Goals to focus on during the coming week.
1.1 Areas to focus on during the coming week.
1.1.1 Projects to focus on during the coming week.
I don’t look at tasks here because I look at them every day. Here we’re taking a higher-level look at what is coming up and needs attention.
Monthly and Quarterly Review
These processes are the same as my weekly but looking at things with a longer time frame in mind. The basic idea of these three reviews is to ensure you don’t get surprised by due dates. To the extent that you spend time on the weekly, monthly, and quarterly reviews, you will make your days more productive.
You and your productivity
There is no productivity or increased productivity without you. Your productivity is about taking action and getting the right things done. But you can take productivity to the extreme where you’re always working on getting more and more things done. The term for being too productive is “Toxic Productivity,” which is the inability to stop working and take adequate time to rest and recharge.
Think of productivity as a line. Starting at one end, we have nonproductive (like a baby). And at the other end, we have toxic productivity (a workaholic).
We probably will move along this line from the baby, to teenagers, to adults. But at every stage or point, it’s up to you to determine what level of productivity you want to have. So be productive without getting into toxic productivity.
“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today.” — Nolan Bushnell
