A non-standard productivity book productivity that in reality is based on the author’s personal experiences but has a bunch of “studies” and anecdotes to make it look more authoritative.

Do Fewer Things

  1. Limit the Big.
    1. Limit missions.
    2. Limit projects.
    3. Limit daily goals.
  2. Contain the Small.
    1. Put tasks on autopilot
    2. Synchronize - reduce interruptions and process similar items in a batch by using office hours and docket-clearing meetings.
    3. Make other people work more.
    4. Avoid “task engines” - projects that generate lots of small tasks/lots of communication overhead.
    5. Spend money: delegate/hire people to do small things for you.
  3. Pull instead of push work. How to simulate a pull based process:
    1. Setup a holding tank and active items list.
    2. Intake procedure: new requests go into the holding tank by default along with a reply communicating the ETA.
    3. List cleaning: update ETAs, update priorities, update stakeholders on new ETAs.

Work at a natural place.

  1. Take longer.
    1. Make a five-year plan.
    2. Double your time estimates.
    3. Simplify your work day (cut your daily task list in half, block time off for deep work).
    4. Forgive yourself when slow productivity causes missed opportunities. Step back and recalibrate.
  2. Embrace seasonality.
    1. Schedule slow seasons.
    2. Define a shorter work year.
    3. Implement “small seasonality”.
      1. No Meeting Mondays (or Tuesdays or Fridays).
      2. See a matinee once a month.
      3. Schedule Rest projects.
      4. Work in cycles (Basecamp does 8 weeks on; 2 weeks cooldown).
  3. Work poetically (bad title).
    1. Match your space to your work (no specific advice here).
    2. Strange is better than stylish. Separate remote work from working from home. “When we pass the laundry basket outside our home office, our brain shifts towards a household-chores context”. “When seeking out where you work, be wary of the overly familiar”.
    3. Rituals should be striking. Form your own rituals around the work you find most important. Ensure your rituals are sufficiently striking to effectively shift your mental state into something more supportive of your goals.

Obsess over quality.

  1. Improve your taste (judgment).
    1. Become a cinephile (or any other domain).
    2. Start your own inklings - form a group of like-minded professionals, all looking to improve what they’re doing.
    3. Buy a $50 notebook - invest in your tools.
  2. Bet on yourself
    1. Write after the kids go to bed - devote precious, uncluttered time to your main pursuit.
    2. Be okay with reducing your salary.
    3. Announce a schedule for getting something done - social commitment.
    4. Attract an investor - someone willing to pay for the quality of your output.