it is worth noting that, while productivity is a rather non-specific thing that can be systemized in a myriad of ways, certain suggestions end up repeated across many different self-help books, youtube videos and guides to various productivity software. i can attest from my practical experience that this particular advice sticks firmly in all kinds of situations, and, in my opinion, the usefulness of these tips is so significant that they should be considered axiomatic and diligently applied to every productivity system ever created.
listed below are five tips that i consider essential in any productivity scenario and should be given primary attention to when designing a productivity system. these are fundamental to any system that truly sticks.
each item here is gonna be prefaced by quotes from the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. even if the core idea of the book doesn’t sound like it will stick with you [it definitely didn’t stick with me], i still highly suggest checking it out because many other ideas it presents are quite revelatory and highly influential across much of self-help content you see nowadays.
i think much of the advice presented here may be summarized by this quote in particular:
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
don’t design around motivation, design around personal convenience
When scientists analyze people who appear to have tremendous self-control, it turns out those individuals aren’t all that different from those who are struggling. Instead, ‘disciplined’ people are better at structuring their lives in a way that does not require heroic willpower and self-control.
[…]the truth is, our real motivation is to be lazy and to do what is convenient. And despite what the latest productivity best seller will tell you, this is a smart strategy, not a dumb one.
a major mistake pretty much everyone makes when starting out with designing a productivity setup is overthinking things. like the new year’s resolutions, we begin with grand plans and set rigid goals months in advance, scheduled down to a second without so much as an opportunity for a wasted breath to leak through. the resolve we feel when coming up with such intricate plans can even get us to follow them - for the first couple of days, at least. but, much like that abandoned gym membership, these systems do not last long, exhausting themselves in the blink of an eye and leaving us with nothing but weeks-long backlogs of unfulfilled plans and dreams.
you cannot count on productive peaks every day. motivation comes and goes, and it is a shaky foundation for something that is supposed to last. design your setup so you can still check off those tasks even when you really don’t feel like it. make things lenient enough that you can consistently achieve something on any day, high and low, and you’re able to keep the car running through any obstacle you may face.
rigidity is the biggest enemy of productivity. a system that requires a lot of motivation and self-control to maintain is counterproductive and ineffective in the long term.
give yourself the right time and place
Whenever you want to change your behavior, you can simply ask yourself: How can I make it obvious? How can I make it attractive? How can I make it easy? How can I make it satisfying?
a major point of friction between us and getting things done is our environment. it may be that your surroundings are so messy that just thinking about cleaning them up fills you with dread. perhaps you share a cramped space with your parents where making room for your work feels like a game of tug-of-war. or maybe your devices are conveniently set up to give you instant access to steam or your social media platform of choice to distract you from getting things done at maximum efficiency.
either way, consider creating a dedicated environment where you can commit as much attention to your work as possible. make it a place where you do nothing but what you intend to do. this space can be physical [different place/different room], metaphorical [same desk you use, but cleaned up and prepared specifically for the task], virtual [different profile on your computer or browser], or a combination of these. while the ideal setup may not always be readily available, setting boundaries can make it much easier to stick to your work
remove distractions, prioritize ergonomics, make your workspace conducive to whatever you want to accomplish.
think less, act more
Some people spend their entire lives waiting for the time to be right to make an improvement.
you might have a massive project you want to take on, or perhaps there is a list of tasks that you want to go through. either way, it can be daunting to figure out where to start and what to do to achieve the desired result.
the less you spend time on thinking what to do, the more you spend time actually working on things. thus, the main goal of getting through the overwhelming set of tasks is to eliminate ambiguity.
you could start by sorting the tasks based on importance and urgency to determine what you should do first and what you can delegate or eliminate entirely. you can organize the tasks by difficulty and project so you can easily identify relevant tasks and allocate time accordingly. or, if that is still not enough and you can’t decide what project to tackle today, just flip a coin, spin the WHEEL, make it a decision, sit down and get to work.
the productive environment should serve as an inspiration
The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement. Ultimately, it is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress.
making a productivity system frictionless is already a huge step towards ensuring longevity, but it is worth paying extra attention to ensuring that your system is not just “not boring”, but actually fun to engage with. even in simple ways, like making things look nice and fit whatever vibe that suits you. don’t be afraid to spruce it up and make it look cool. a particular person i can think of in terms of cool here is struthless, a youtube creator who tends to pitch the productivity and life tips by drawing them on paper.
there is a concept often touted a lot in productivity circles that is called gamification, i.e. adding more mechanics reminiscent of game loops like a reward system encourage more frequent use. there are even entire productivity apps built around the concept, such as habitica, a habit tracker styled as an open-ended RPG with currency and various collectibles. i am not a fan of habitica myself, but i can’t deny that this approach can work very effectively when set up properly.
what i’d like to bring more attention to, however, is that gamification does not necessarily have to involve game mechanics in themselves. in game design, you can create a highly intricate game mechanic with a lot of technical depth, and have it fall flat because it doesn’t feel enjoyable for the end user–the player.
what the game mechanic misses in this situation is game feel.
if i had to pick a game design talk to illustrate my point on productivity, it would be juice it or lose it, where the presenters show in real time how they make a simple breakout game much nicer to play through visual improvements like graphics, smooth and responsive animations, sound, and visual effects such as particles and screen shake. none of the improvements affect the game itself, yet the way they enhance how the game feels make it a lot more fun. these principles do not directly map to productivity [although i’ve seen screenshake used well in timers], but they highlight how making things not just functional, but also appealing, can greatly enhance the enjoyment and stickiness of things.
spend less time on a productivity system than you do on actual work
It is easy to get bogged down trying to find the optimal plan for change: the fastest way to lose weight, the best program to build muscle, the perfect idea for a side hustle. We are so focused on figuring out the best approach that we never get around to taking action. As Voltaire once wrote, ‘The best is the enemy of the good.’
setting up a productivity system may take some time, but if you spend more time managing it than you do actually doing work, something isn’t right.
it’s easy to fall into the trap of overengineering a productivity system. the problem is made worse by the abundance of applications and public premade community setups for apps like Notion or Obsidian, which present themselves as one-size-fits-all solutions for everything, cram every productivity concept under the sun and look like they were purpose-built to be shown off at /r/unixporn.
in practice, these pre-made setups can be quite daunting, especially to those without the necessary experience [and trust me, those with experience never adopt these wholesale either]. any attempt to personalize them often reveals that they are about as stable as a Jenga tower, breaking unpredictably in ways that are a hassle to troubleshoot, getting in the way of actually getting things done.
however, it wouldn’t be right to blame them for all the problems. they do serve as a testament to how much can actually be achieved with a functioning productivity system. trying to take on it all at once, however, is a major mistake, and so is figuring out how to do all of it before doing the work itself
when designing a productivity system, you should start small and incorporate things gradually, so you can develop your own taste for what works and what doesn’t work for you. create a system that complements your work, serves as an extension of it, and doesn’t get in the way. take it slow, and with time and patience, you will arrive at the setup that fits you like a glove and covers all you need from it.