Blog

productivity

24 essays

1. Time Anxiety: What It Is, Why It's Hard, and What Helps

   Time anxiety is the persistent worry that you're not using time right. What it is, how it differs from FOMO, why it hits harder for neurodivergent people, and what actually helps.

2. To Be More Creative, Schedule Your Work at 80% Capacity

   I’m fortunate to work with great partners, including a wonderful design studio right in Southeast Portland called Jolby & Friends . I was recently with the Jolby crew on a site visit, and o

3. The Feeling of the Entire Day Unfolding Around You

   Originally posted February 6, 2012. — In JFK I got on the 16-hour Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong.

4. The Crunch

   You’ve been here before. The weeks and months have gone by, and now you find yourself at the point where something big is due.

5. Consider the Dominoes

   It’s not that you’re too busy, or that you’re doing too much. You’re known for taking on challenges and doing the impossible. You know your metrics.

6. The Goal

   1. To wake in the morning full of life and energy, awaiting the day with anticipation and purpose.

7. Thoughts on Working from the Drugstore

   The drugstore in my neighborhood has a deliberate policy of wasting every customer’s time.

8. Re: “Let’s talk when you’re free”

   Productive people are never “free.” They don’t have 15 minutes on their lunch break to “have a quick call.” They don’t “kill time”—a terrible phrase.

9. How Valuable Were Your Last 40 Minutes?

   Q: What are your tricks for time management? “The simple answer is to attempt to avoid, at all costs, situations that waste people’s time.” “Regarding my

10. A Better Approach to “Never Check Email in the Morning”

    You’ve heard the conventional wisdom: never check email in the morning. That sounds great, unless your job involves communicating with people, or if you

11. My Morning Routine: Why I Do the Same Things Every Day, and How I Work from Anywhere

    I’ve been a longtime fan of MyMorningRoutine.com, which regularly interviews interesting people to learn how they spend their mornings.

12. It’s Not How Much Email You Get, It’s the Lack of Purpose in Your Life

    If you misidentify a problem, your proposed solution probably won’t work. Let’s say you have a headache, so you decide to amputate your leg.

13. Morning Rituals

    When I’m not jet lagged from flying around the world, I have a clear routine that I follow as much as possible.

14. The Limits of Lifehacking: What Happens When you Approach Optimization

    I have a weird memory of my dad explaining math to me when I was a kid. I never actually learned real math, at least once it went beyond how to pocket extra

15. If You Find Yourself Dreading Appointments You Made Long Ago, Start Asking “Would I Do This Tomorrow?”

    You know the feeling you get when an appointment approaches on your calendar and you’re not looking forward to it? Maybe you’re even dreading it?

16. The Second Best Thing You Can Do Right Now

    Wondering what to do during this time of chaos? I have a proposal. First, the best thing you can do is what you already know about: keep people safe by

17. Habits of Highly Effective Real People

    “Everybody talks about wanting to change things and help and fix, but ultimately all you can do is fix yourself. And that’s a lot.

18. How to Have More Time: 8 Practical Strategies

    Want more time without sacrificing sleep? Eight practical strategies to reclaim hours in your day—including a few that go against typical productivity advice.

19. The Key to Productivity Isn’t More Rest, it’s Intentionality

    Link: “Darwin Was a Slacker” For some of us, the notion that working only part-time on a legacy project is the best approach is tempting.

20. The Best Productivity Hack is to Care About What You Do

    I’m heading out to speak at a tech conference this week. The conference will undoubtedly have many smart people in attendance.

21. 168 Hours Time Tracking: What I Learned Tracking Every 15 Minutes (+ Free Template)

    Tracking every 15 minutes of my week — what I learned, the patterns I didn't expect, and a free 168-hour spreadsheet template you can download to try it yourself.

22. Working Hard at Something That Doesn’t Matter

    “Our greatest fear should not be failure but succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” Last year, pre-pandemic, I went to a three-day yoga

23. “More” Is Not the Answer to Too Much

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24. What to Do About That Thing You’ve Been Putting Off

    You know how there’s something you’ve been putting off? Maybe you’ve been putting it off for a long time.