“I really don’t want to cut the legs out from under my fellow people so I can get my bread. That’s mean.”

“Well hey now we just call that ‘being competitive in the workplace’. How are you going to hold a basic job and keep paying your bills under this system then?”

😐

If you ever find out you come back here and let me know.

https://automatetheboringstuff.com/

I never really was able to summon the initiative to read a book about organization etc.

But I have learned that short term accountability is really effective to me. The system that has evolved and seems to be working okay is:

Every week I have a meeting with my boss to talk about ongoing projects and what specific tasks I am going to complete on which dates in the coming the coming week.

Every night after the kids are in bed my wife asks me if I have completed everything on my list for that day. (She doesn’t need to know what they are)

What works for me is that I’m not overburdening any single person with what’s traditionally considered personal organization, and my boss isn’t micromanaging me, and doesn’t have to follow up with every task. But, I’m still getting the micro accountabilities that give me that sense of urgency because I don’t want to tell my wife I didn’t succeed.

Outsource.

Use your productivity moments to set up the realistic reminders about must do things and automate what can be automated.

Practice triage. “I’ve let the dishes go for 3 days but if the trash doesn’t go out in the next 3 hours then it will be a week therefore trash comes first”

Enlist cheerleaders that get you and be your own cheerleader to celebrate overcoming things that are obstacles to YOU. “I was feeling physically for a few days which put me behind on doing a bunch of important things around the house, and that made me feel s***** mentally. I fell off the rails with diet, sleep and exercise, and was feeling overwhelmed by all the things waiting for me to get done, but I did triage. I managed to get the trash to the road, and after doing one important thing I also did the dishes that were 3 days behind. I didn’t really crush it the rest of the day, but I feel good about how the morning went.” " Hey, that’s really great. It’s hard getting going again isn’t it? Good for you! Sometimes getting the dishes done is impressive as hell!"

Not a book but I love the Cortex podcast (website, youtube) for a more vibe-centric approach to productivity and it’s great to listen through the back catalogue to see what changed over the years, because neither Myke nor Grey just had a productivity system that was perfect from the start and Grey is very open with his struggles. Episode #101 has a bit of a primer on how to get started, but don’t get hung on the apps discussion and more on the parts where they talk about what if someone needs to organise their life. Yearly Themes is also great, especially since the new year is almost here, and you can expect an episode on it this month.

Little warning upfront though, the target audience is very much people who have a lot of tech in their life. You might need to filter through that, and it’s easy to bounce off because it’s a lot of two relatively rich guys talking about how spending money is solving all their problems. If that’s too much, I understand.

From that podcast I’ve gotten the recommendation of Getting Things Done, which is about the trappings of organising your tasks in your head (especially relevant for people with ADHD, I think) and Triggers, which is about how the environment makes certain tasks easier or harder. Both are good, but both are business books.

https://anti-planner.com/shop/the-anti-planner-how-to-get-sht-done-when-you-dont-feel-like-it/

It’s meant to be used like a field guide while you’re in the shit. It’s broken down by section (overwhelmed, unmotivated, etc) and you flip to that section and it helps you break it down further to get going.