Does anyone have any recommendations for books like that? A productivity book written for people who can’t for the love of god stick to any system? I’ve tried a lot of them. Read a bunch of books, implemented gazzilion of systems, but everything seems to last only for a few days (during which I procrastrinate by setting it up), then it holds for a while, before being forgotten almost instantly.
And most importantly, all those books just assume that if you plan your day, you’re actually going to stick to that plan. And once you start moving tasks from one day to the next, the whole thing falls appart…
Use your productivity moments to set up the realistic reminders about must do things and automate what can be automated.
Practice triage. “I’ve let the dishes go for 3 days but if the trash doesn’t go out in the next 3 hours then it will be a week therefore trash comes first”
Enlist cheerleaders that get you and be your own cheerleader to celebrate overcoming things that are obstacles to YOU. “I was feeling physically for a few days which put me behind on doing a bunch of important things around the house, and that made me feel s***** mentally. I fell off the rails with diet, sleep and exercise, and was feeling overwhelmed by all the things waiting for me to get done, but I did triage. I managed to get the trash to the road, and after doing one important thing I also did the dishes that were 3 days behind. I didn’t really crush it the rest of the day, but I feel good about how the morning went.” " Hey, that’s really great. It’s hard getting going again isn’t it? Good for you! Sometimes getting the dishes done is impressive as hell!"
I never really was able to summon the initiative to read a book about organization etc.
But I have learned that short term accountability is really effective to me. The system that has evolved and seems to be working okay is:
Every week I have a meeting with my boss to talk about ongoing projects and what specific tasks I am going to complete on which dates in the coming the coming week.
Every night after the kids are in bed my wife asks me if I have completed everything on my list for that day. (She doesn’t need to know what they are)
What works for me is that I’m not overburdening any single person with what’s traditionally considered personal organization, and my boss isn’t micromanaging me, and doesn’t have to follow up with every task. But, I’m still getting the micro accountabilities that give me that sense of urgency because I don’t want to tell my wife I didn’t succeed.
It’s meant to be used like a field guide while you’re in the shit. It’s broken down by section (overwhelmed, unmotivated, etc) and you flip to that section and it helps you break it down further to get going.
Not a book but I love the Cortex podcast (website, youtube) for a more vibe-centric approach to productivity and it’s great to listen through the back catalogue to see what changed over the years, because neither Myke nor Grey just had a productivity system that was perfect from the start and Grey is very open with his struggles. Episode #101 has a bit of a primer on how to get started, but don’t get hung on the apps discussion and more on the parts where they talk about what if someone needs to organise their life. Yearly Themes is also great, especially since the new year is almost here, and you can expect an episode on it this month.
Little warning upfront though, the target audience is very much people who have a lot of tech in their life. You might need to filter through that, and it’s easy to bounce off because it’s a lot of two relatively rich guys talking about how spending money is solving all their problems. If that’s too much, I understand.
From that podcast I’ve gotten the recommendation of Getting Things Done, which is about the trappings of organising your tasks in your head (especially relevant for people with ADHD, I think) and Triggers, which is about how the environment makes certain tasks easier or harder. Both are good, but both are business books.
Does anyone have any recommendations for books like that? A productivity book written for people who can’t for the love of god stick to any system? I’ve tried a lot of them. Read a bunch of books, implemented gazzilion of systems, but everything seems to last only for a few days (during which I procrastrinate by setting it up), then it holds for a while, before being forgotten almost instantly.
And most importantly, all those books just assume that if you plan your day, you’re actually going to stick to that plan. And once you start moving tasks from one day to the next, the whole thing falls appart…
Outsource.
Use your productivity moments to set up the realistic reminders about must do things and automate what can be automated.
Practice triage. “I’ve let the dishes go for 3 days but if the trash doesn’t go out in the next 3 hours then it will be a week therefore trash comes first”
Enlist cheerleaders that get you and be your own cheerleader to celebrate overcoming things that are obstacles to YOU. “I was feeling physically for a few days which put me behind on doing a bunch of important things around the house, and that made me feel s***** mentally. I fell off the rails with diet, sleep and exercise, and was feeling overwhelmed by all the things waiting for me to get done, but I did triage. I managed to get the trash to the road, and after doing one important thing I also did the dishes that were 3 days behind. I didn’t really crush it the rest of the day, but I feel good about how the morning went.” " Hey, that’s really great. It’s hard getting going again isn’t it? Good for you! Sometimes getting the dishes done is impressive as hell!"
If you ever find out you come back here and let me know.
Bold of you to assume any of us will remember to do that ;-)
:'-(
! remindme (when I figure it out)
…aw, old habit from that other site lol
If they do, I’ll know their discovery works at least.
https://automatetheboringstuff.com/
This. Struggling really hard to get through this book because ADHD sucks sometimes…but simple Python to solve annoying problems is awesome.
But I just stumbled through writing my first BASH script to automate an annoying process I kept typing by hand on Linux, and it feels incredible.
I never really was able to summon the initiative to read a book about organization etc.
But I have learned that short term accountability is really effective to me. The system that has evolved and seems to be working okay is:
Every week I have a meeting with my boss to talk about ongoing projects and what specific tasks I am going to complete on which dates in the coming the coming week.
Every night after the kids are in bed my wife asks me if I have completed everything on my list for that day. (She doesn’t need to know what they are)
What works for me is that I’m not overburdening any single person with what’s traditionally considered personal organization, and my boss isn’t micromanaging me, and doesn’t have to follow up with every task. But, I’m still getting the micro accountabilities that give me that sense of urgency because I don’t want to tell my wife I didn’t succeed.
https://anti-planner.com/shop/the-anti-planner-how-to-get-sht-done-when-you-dont-feel-like-it/
It’s meant to be used like a field guide while you’re in the shit. It’s broken down by section (overwhelmed, unmotivated, etc) and you flip to that section and it helps you break it down further to get going.
Occupational therapy is probably the way to go.
Or joining a radical militia and getting put on a watchlist.
Can’t we just have a little bit of revolution, please? A few moltovs then a few pints.
Not a book but I love the Cortex podcast (website, youtube) for a more vibe-centric approach to productivity and it’s great to listen through the back catalogue to see what changed over the years, because neither Myke nor Grey just had a productivity system that was perfect from the start and Grey is very open with his struggles. Episode #101 has a bit of a primer on how to get started, but don’t get hung on the apps discussion and more on the parts where they talk about what if someone needs to organise their life. Yearly Themes is also great, especially since the new year is almost here, and you can expect an episode on it this month.
Little warning upfront though, the target audience is very much people who have a lot of tech in their life. You might need to filter through that, and it’s easy to bounce off because it’s a lot of two relatively rich guys talking about how spending money is solving all their problems. If that’s too much, I understand.
From that podcast I’ve gotten the recommendation of Getting Things Done, which is about the trappings of organising your tasks in your head (especially relevant for people with ADHD, I think) and Triggers, which is about how the environment makes certain tasks easier or harder. Both are good, but both are business books.