Productivity
How did it start? In March, we "celebrated" the one-year anniversary of pandemic in Poland! An unexpected shift to remote work brought many problems to the table. One of the most important issues for me was proper time management and keeping work-life balance. The natural consequence was reading numerous articles and blog posts about work from home. It was not hard to spot common ideas and concepts, like:
- productivity in general
- time management (time blocking, time boxing, pomodoro)
- deep work versus distractions
- and many, many more
After reading it all I became a little confused, so many techniques, so many methodologies, so many tools. At the end of the day it is not important how much knowledge you have about productivity, but what was actually done. I got the knowledge, but no reasonable plan for using it. Which techniques to pick and how to create a reliable system for long term maintenance of work and life?
Course
The answer came to me from different podcasts where guests mentioned the "productivity step by step" course and how helpful it was to them. I checked the website produktywnosckrokpokroku.pl, did some research and signed in for the March edition.
March edition? Yes, it is a one-month course which sounds like a lot of work. Will I have time for it? The answer is yes. It takes approximately 15 minutes a day, and what is important, EVERY day (weekends are optional). As the course name says, with each step new things are uncovered. Why is it important? The course is not only about knowledge, but it helps you build a habit (habits itself are covered in the course as well). Another benefit of knowledge delivered in small chunks is that
it leaves space to rethink it through the day.
What is this course about? It taught me a few important things:
- goals in the order, cleanup organisational mess
- simple and reasonable planning
- manage energy, focus and how to fight with distractions
- proper rest
- how to get back on the planning track
Summary
Now I have a quite simple, reasonable and maintainable system to manage my time and goals, both in the short and long term. It led to a more peaceful mindset where I know what and when to do and when to rest. What is even more important, I know what I don't want to do. I highly recommend this course to literally everyone.