Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Productivity Manifesto

I have begun distilling and synthesizing approaches to productivity (also known as “effectiveness”) from various sources into a structure that makes sense for me. I have a lot more to learn on this subject, but I’m starting to see the framework.

I have learned a lot from Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits” and David Allen’s “Getting things Done.” If I had to boil it all down to two pithy lines, they would be these:

  1. Decide what is important
  2. Nurture the important

Ok, but maybe that’s a little too pithy. Here are some more specific guidelines I’m trying on for size. Notice that the scope for everything is a day. This is really a manifesto about how to run a day:

  1. Whatever else has to give, you will not sacrifice your diet, exercise, and sleep.
  2. Every day, you will decide what deserves doing and honor that choice.
  3. You will fight the twin productivity gremlins: Fake Urgency and Fake Industry.
  4. With the understanding that to achieve something dazzling takes more than a day, take a step toward dazzling every day.

I’ll have more to say about each of these in turn in future posts.