I like the concept of productivity as much as the next guy (assuming the next guy isn’t David Allen{: target=“_blank”}). That said, I have recently returned from the torpor of spending large quantities of free time reading about productivity instead of actually getting things done. If you’re into reading about productivity, I recommend you check out what Merlin Mann has to say about it on 43 Folders.
Personally, paralysis by analysis is my biggest hurdle to getting things done. As such, productivity blogs/books/systems to ponder are probably not where my salvation lies. Furthermore, spending time researching productivity to get more time is like trying to get rich by clipping coupons. I’m not exactly arguing that productivity is a bad thing, just that I’m not sure it should be such a high priority. For creative workers… doubly so.
If I’m always working on scratching “important” items off my todo list, I’ll never purge all of the fun stuff that is buried down on my someday/maybe list. Those are the excursions that often times spawn unique solutions for many would be mundane challenges. I’m not relinquishing my trusty moleskin, I’m just going to start filling it with creative bits instead of priorities.
Published by Ryan Parsley