[WORK IN PROGRESS]
2020 was my year for learning about Productivity, Goal-setting and becoming an adult potato. I have read many books, watched countless YouTube videos, attended many an online course and ultimately realised that application is key. With anything, I can amass a plethora of knowledge, but it will not bear fruit in my life unless I apply that knowledge. We are all different and this will be a journey of trial and error. You gotta learn how and when you work best.
Gallup StrengthsFinder Test – not necessarily a productivity tip in itself, but this helps to figure out why we operate a certain way.
Gretchen Rubin’s Better Than Before – much like the StrengthsFinder, this book is all about habits and the Four Tendencies, i.e. the different types of people and how habit-establishment works for them. Rubin’s website can help with figuring this out.
GTD (Getting Things Done) – is a system coined by David Allen. The underlying principle is that our brain is designed to formulate ideas and information, not to retain is. Hence, we record all ideas, deadlines and information, ideally in one space, as they arise. Once they are recorded and the brain knows we will be coming back for that data, it will let go off that data and therefore free up brain space. The next idea is then that you regularly sort through all that data and file it. To get an in-depth idea of how this works, read the book or this summary.
How I live this on a daily basis: I save all articles or ideas to my notion clipping space. Same goes for my tasks and deadlines. And then once a week, usually Sunday night, I go over them, sort through them, move them to the appropriate spaces and assign tasks deadlines, if need be. This is my weekly reset, i.e. I finish the old week and set my new week up for a win. I can also check whether I have tackled all tasks or whether I need to reschedule something.
Finding an accountability or study/work buddy. – Co-working (especially on ZOOM) has been my top way of writing my thesis and getting necessary work done. If you don’t have anyone in mind yet, there is Facebook groups and apps like Focusmate that facilitate finding these buddies. Or you can message me, I’d be glad to connect people to make this work 🙂
Notion – is one of the most powerful tools I know. The ability to have databases and interconnect different endeavours has been so powerful for me. My Notion space is the hub for all my ideas and goals. Quick Disclaimer: this is not encrypted, so there are some data privacy concerns here. You have to weigh whether the pros of Notion outweigh this and potential other cons. I have learned all I know by trial and error and with the use of YouTubers like Marie Poulin, Tiago Forte, August Bradley and MuchelleB.
I have adapted Forte’s Second Brain method which means that I have all knowledge in one spot. (I actually have one second brain for all my “personal” knowledge and then another one for all my Law notes, but the underlying systems are identical.) My books, articles, online seminars, you have it, are in there with sources and notes. They are also all tagged with global topics of interest that span across all different databases, so I can tag my Books, my Webinars, my Articles and so forth with e.g. “Anti-Racism” and then open that Tag to see what I have compiled over time and can read next.
Doing a weekly or monthly Reset – I really liked Rowena Tsai’s Youtube video on her quarterly reset. She first reviews the past quarter and then evaluates what has gone well and what still needs work.
I have mapped out my goals and projects at the end of last year. Because of my thesis, I slacked and didn’t do a reset for a long time and am now checking with my goals and projects to see what I wanna tackle when. As I said earlier, I aim to do a weekly reset, a monthly reset and then the biggest one would be a quarterly (and yearly) reset to really check in with how it’s going and reevaluate.