Influencers make us feel that productivity is important, and yet they rarely define the term, let alone helpfully. For example, David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) book, which became very popular in software circles, uses the term productivity very loosely. Many of the core examples in the GTD method relate to general activities such as cleaning one’s garage as opposed to working with knowledge. And the GTD principles have no reference to cognitive science, even though cognitive science is the modern interdisciplinary science of understanding the information processing we do in our brains, with or without the aid of technology.
don’t just talk - do some work! Write. Curate. Connect. Architect. Build on other peoples’ ideas. Share. Ask. Reflect. Show your work. Accept feedback gracefully.
Write about the things you practice; practice the things you write about. Words without action is fraudulent. (It’s hard, but I try.)
Professionals don’t need fake deadlines and don’t respect them. Instead, we have the chance to build in appropriate slack, get our priorities straight and keep our promises.
Is it a coincidence that WFH looks very similar to WTF?
In the world of the compass, direction is important. Where are we going? Why excatly are we once again on a Monday morning feeling out of control? In the world of the compass we are concerned less about 'getting stuff done' and more about getting the right things done. Do those and we invariably have to get less stuff done tomorrow.
Change your clock for a compass.
I just noticed that I haven’t updated my Now page since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.
Of course, the idea of a ‘Now’ page is that it actually isn’t about right now, but more about describing my preoccupation and activities in the current ‘period’.
Anyway, you can see what I’m up to on the updates Now page.
Tweet: A message written by someone with nothing to say to be read by someone with nothing to do.
I thank Michael Wade for pointing me to Sippican Cottage. What a great writer!