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7 Reglas de La Productividad
7 Reglas de La Productividad
Hello Gabriel,
Easily the best habit I’ve ever started was to use a productivity system. The
idea is simple: organizing all the stuff you need to do (and how you’re
going to do it) prevents a lot of internal struggle to get things done.
There’s a ton of systems out there. Some are elaborate, like Getting Things
Done. Others are dead-simple, such as simply using a prioritized daily to-
do list. Some require software. Many you can do with just pen and paper.
Being successful with a system long-term is hard. Here are just a few
common problems:
These problems can be avoided, but it takes a little thinking about what the
point of having a system is and what it can and cannot do for you.
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You still need to respond to deadlines and listen to your emotions, but
those aren’t the only things you heed when planning your day.
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Take Weekly/Daily Goals, the system I use most often. The idea is that you
have two lists, a weekly to-do list and a daily to-do list. The latter is
intended to be fixed—you decide what to work on that day and hold it
constant, even if you finish early.
This system works well when you have a bunch of concrete tasks you need
to finish that you might procrastinate on, but if you just sat down and did
them all in a burst of focus you could probably get them done easily. The
goal here is to use the potential reward of a workday finished early to get
things done in an effective manner.
This system doesn’t work as well if your tasks are ambiguous and open-
ended. It struggles more when your day is mostly meetings occurring at
fixed times on your calendar. If your daily goals list just contains one task,
“Work on X.” then it isn’t even functioning as a productivity system at all.
Therefore, before you get started with a system, it’s important to ask what
the assumptions are that underpin it. What does your work need to look
like for this to be effective?
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The guiding philosophy behind Getting Things Done is that, without writing
down what needs doing, we’re liable to forget. Although the system aims at
more than this, the key tendency it’s trying to counteract is simply forgetting
what you need to do.
The Most Important Task method works when you have a few hard tasks
that you need to prioritze. It assumes you’ll end up working on convenient,
easy tasks, rather than those that really matter. Quadrant systems that
focus on important tasks over merely urgent ones, are another tool for
prioritizing.
Breaking your day into Pomodoro chunks assumes the problem is that the
work feels too large to get started, so you procrastinate. Small chunks with
mandatory breaks focus your attention on the next mile marker and not the
entire marathon.
These tendencies need not be mutually exclusive. You could, for instance,
combine deep work hours with Pomodoro chunks or the Most Important
Task method. What matters is that these systems are balancing the
problems you’re actually facing. A sales person investing in deep work
hours probably doesn’t make sense.
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For instance—let’s say you’re a writer. You have a bunch of tasks on your
plate for the day, but all of a sudden you get a really good idea for an
essay. You should probably start writing now or you’ll lose your train of
thought. What should you do?
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This may sound finicky, but I’d argue that true success with systems
involves making numerous such slight exceptions which become a part of
the system themselves. To use a system means not only to follow its basic
guidelines, but develop a skill of handling exceptions to the system that
make it more useful, not less.
Okay, this one requires some explanation. In short, the problem with aiming
to “feel” productive rather than “being” productive is twofold:
A good productivity system should, when working properly, feel like nothing
at all. It should just be an invisible part of your routine. If it is conspicuous,
it’s probably not a habit yet, or it’s creating friction with parts of your life in
ways that it shouldn’t.
If you don’t feel more productive, how do you judge your productivity? The
obvious answer is that you should get more work done with the system
than without it. But even this can be misleading because in the short-term
it’s always possible to just work really hard and burn yourself out.
The better, long-term answer for evaluating your system ought to be that
when you look back at the last quarter, year or decade with the system,
you’ve been making a lot of meaningful accomplishments. If this is
happening, then how the system feels on a weekly or daily level is totally
irrelevant.
For some, work will be consistent enough to not need major changes. You
simply stick to the same system and you’ll get the results you want.
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For me, I’ve found that as what I’m trying to do changes dramatically, I
often need very different approaches to work on things:
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A system can only shape and direct the motivations you already have, it
cannot give you ones you don’t already possess.
Work that feels miserable to you doesn’t magically become exciting with
the right productivity system. At best, it becomes an endurable chore.
Productivity systems work better the more natural enthusiasm you have.
They work like a lens, magnifying and directing the diffuse energy you
already possess. The people, therefore, that tend to succeed with
productivity systems already have a meaning and drive for their work. They
have ambitions and recognize that getting things done efficiently is
necessary for reaching them.
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Did you find my article “The 7 Rules for Staying Productive Long-
Term” helpful or know somebody who would? I’d really love if you
could share it:
Best,
-Scott
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