The 5 Best Articles
Productivity is a major theme of the blog, as such, I’ve written hundreds of articles on the subject. If you’re not sure where to start, here are the best five to get you going:
- How to Finish Your Work, One Bite at a Time The first article introducing my weekly/daily goals system, which I’ve used for years to stay productive.
- Why is Taking Action Hard?
- What is Productivity Guilt, and How to Prevent it? We all feel pressure to do more than we’re doing now. While your intentions may be good, this guilt may do more harm than help.
- Seven Habits that Seem Lazy (but Actually Let You Get More Done)
- Rethinking Discipline Some speculations on what really motivates us to stick to things.
My Books on Productivity
I’ve written two ebooks on productivity: The Little Book of Productivity and Think Outside the Cubicle.
- The Little Book of Productivity is a compilation of 99 ideas to make you more productive. Perfect if you’re looking for an easy read with a high ratio of ideas to pages.
- Think Outside the Cubicle, despite having a somewhat confusing title, this book isn’t about quitting your job, but about how to be productive when you don’t work in an office. Students, entrepreneurs, freelancers and a growing number of people who don’t work in the normal office environment, nonetheless need to find ways to meet those productivity challenges. This book is a guide for rethinking the way we work.
Time Management
- How to Find Time A short essay on how to find time for what matters.
- Why You Need to Run a Timelog (and How to Do It)
- How to Work on Your Goals When You Don’t Have Time Strategies for sticking to your goals when time is scarce.
- What’s More Productive: Counting Hours or Tasks Accomplished? Comparing two common metrics of productivity.
- Why You’re Probably Not Working as Much as You Think You Are Timelogs are an underused, and powerful way to see where you really spend your time.
- How Much Time Do You Spend on Your Most Important Goals in Life?
- Schedule Footprints VS Deadline Counts: How to Hack Your Stress Levels A guest post from Cal Newport.
- Don’t Pay Yourself by the Hour Why thinking in terms of results, not hours worked, makes more sense.
- 20 Tips for Batching to Save Time and Cut Stress Batching small tasks in one go can save a lot of time and free your time up for deep work.
Energy Management
- Rethinking Discipline
- Energy Management
- 7 Tips for Morning Alertness Without the Caffeine
- What Does it Mean to Work Hard
- Why Focusing Can Often Feel Lazy
- The Stupidity of Cutting Sleep
- Why Focus (Not Effort) is the Key to Getting Stuff Done
- How to Nap (Without Feeling Exhausted After)
- Energy Management is More Important for Creative Work
- What is Effort?
Motivation, Preventing Procrastination and Staying Focused
- How to Cultivate Mental Stamina
- Stress, Not Working Too Much, Causes Burnout
- The Complete Guide to Increasing Your Focus
- The Irony of Focus: Why Doing One Thing Actually Helps You Accomplish More
- Could Obsessive Research Be the Cure for Procrastination?
- Why You’re Lazy (and How to Fix It)
- Work Less to Get More Done
- 20 Tips to Survive When You’ve Overloaded Your Schedule
- The 7 Essential Rituals for Focused Work
Systems for Getting More Done
- Double Your Output (While Working Fewer Hours)
- The Art of the Finish (How to Go From Busy to Accomplished)
- Too Much Work? Here’s How to Handle It
- Do You Trust Your Productivity System?
- Boost Productivity with a To-Don’t List
- How to Speed Up Highly Creative Tasks
- plus, the original article describing two-flow theory.
- Kill Open Loops
- Twenty Ways to Stay Productive When Working From Home
More Thoughts on Productivity
- What’s the Point of Productivity?
- How Procrastination Can Help You Succeed
- 20 Unique Ways to Use the 80/20 Rule Today
- Don’t Be Busy
- Just Finish It
- Does Enjoyment Trump Efficiency?
- How to Juggle Pursuits and Still Get Stuff Done
- The 10 Really Obvious Ways to Be More Productive
- Taoism and the Art of Productivity
- How to Keep Productivity from Making You Into a Robot
- Build a Motivation Catalyst
- 10 Tips for Staying Productive While Being Scheduled to Death
- Do the Real Thing
Have a question related to productivity, procrastination, and getting things done that I haven’t covered here? I’m always looking for new things to write about, so ask your question in the comments and I can consider it for a future article. Get in touch.
I'm a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, podcast host, computer programmer and an avid reader. Since 2006, I've published weekly essays on this website to help people like you learn and think better. My work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, TEDx, Pocket, Business Insider and more. I don't promise I have all the answers, just a place to start.
