Thanks for this. Having read many productivity books I can confirm this is an excellent summary (and better than reading most of them). And includes some useful points I hadn’t seen elsewhere (eg the idea of evaluating every subtask of a project after doing it, not just the whole project). So I hope more people will read it.
A few comments arising:
You can also of course do a daily & weekly evaluation (possibly combined with gratitude for things that went well—as recommended to increase happiness). Also monthly & annual ones—the latter maybe lasting a whole day or two! At some point I will write up all my thoughts on how to do this.
I strongly recommend the books of Mark Forster. Not so well-known (not apparently being a self-publicist, or in it for the money!), but a very good thinker with many apparently original ideas (not all of which I agree with). His methods have developed over time, so his latest book Secrets of Productive People is probably the best to read, though IIRC it doesn’t include everything from his previous books, and goes into less depth on the reasoning behind his ideas.
Re prioritisation, in addition to importance, timing and deadlines need to be considered. It isn’t always optimal to do the most important thing first: if that can wait, but there is a less important thing with a tight deadline, that should usually be done first. So importance & timing need to be balanced, in ways that aren’t always obvious. I wrote more about this here
Re delegating, the consideration isn’t just your area of expertise. That may be right for work, but as you should maximize leisure productivity too (as you point out), you can delegate some leisure things and do others even though you’re not expert at them. (Eg sport, cooking, playing an instrument, childcare.) I think the correct consideration for whether to delegate is what is best use of your time—i.e. delegate things that aren’t. In work the best use of your time is probably doing things you’re expert at; but in leisure it’s things like what you enjoy. So if you really enjoy cooking dinner for friends, and have time to, it can make sense to cook dinner yourself rather than delegating it to Deliveroo. Again, I wrote more about this in the above link.
Maybe the reason your post hasn’t had more upvotes is it’s so long, so hasn’t been read. I suggest you could produce a much shorter version, almost a listicle of tips with less explanation (and link to the full version for those who are interested). I know the Internet is full of junk productivity listicles, but yours would be a very good one.
I think I might make a short version when I feel like I have more practical experience with some of the things I’m suggesting. Maybe in half a year or so. Thanks for the kind feedback and suggestions :)
Thanks for this. Having read many productivity books I can confirm this is an excellent summary (and better than reading most of them). And includes some useful points I hadn’t seen elsewhere (eg the idea of evaluating every subtask of a project after doing it, not just the whole project). So I hope more people will read it.
A few comments arising:
You can also of course do a daily & weekly evaluation (possibly combined with gratitude for things that went well—as recommended to increase happiness). Also monthly & annual ones—the latter maybe lasting a whole day or two! At some point I will write up all my thoughts on how to do this.
I strongly recommend the books of Mark Forster. Not so well-known (not apparently being a self-publicist, or in it for the money!), but a very good thinker with many apparently original ideas (not all of which I agree with). His methods have developed over time, so his latest book Secrets of Productive People is probably the best to read, though IIRC it doesn’t include everything from his previous books, and goes into less depth on the reasoning behind his ideas.
Re prioritisation, in addition to importance, timing and deadlines need to be considered. It isn’t always optimal to do the most important thing first: if that can wait, but there is a less important thing with a tight deadline, that should usually be done first. So importance & timing need to be balanced, in ways that aren’t always obvious. I wrote more about this here
Re delegating, the consideration isn’t just your area of expertise. That may be right for work, but as you should maximize leisure productivity too (as you point out), you can delegate some leisure things and do others even though you’re not expert at them. (Eg sport, cooking, playing an instrument, childcare.) I think the correct consideration for whether to delegate is what is best use of your time—i.e. delegate things that aren’t. In work the best use of your time is probably doing things you’re expert at; but in leisure it’s things like what you enjoy. So if you really enjoy cooking dinner for friends, and have time to, it can make sense to cook dinner yourself rather than delegating it to Deliveroo. Again, I wrote more about this in the above link.
Maybe the reason your post hasn’t had more upvotes is it’s so long, so hasn’t been read. I suggest you could produce a much shorter version, almost a listicle of tips with less explanation (and link to the full version for those who are interested). I know the Internet is full of junk productivity listicles, but yours would be a very good one.
I think I might make a short version when I feel like I have more practical experience with some of the things I’m suggesting. Maybe in half a year or so. Thanks for the kind feedback and suggestions :)