Best article on productivity I’ve read in awhile

Yesterday, I mentioned how I cut my to-do list down to a third of what it was in an effort to improve my productivity while reducing undue stress.

Well today, I woke up to one of the best articles on productivity I’ve read in a long time titled, “How to be the most productive person in your office — and still get home by 5:30 p.m.” Quite the mouthfull.

What struck me right away was that its number one rule claimed “To-do lists are evil. Schedule everything.” While I probably won’t be fully ditching the concept of a to-do list, I loved the tips and advice that Georgetown professor Cal Newport gave in the article written by Eric Baker.

The main gist of the article is summed up under the items below:

• To-do lists are evil. Schedule everything.
• Assume you’re going home at 5:30, then plan your day backwards.
• Make a plan for the entire week.
• Do very few things, but be awesome at them.
• Do less shallow work — focus on the deep stuff.

The last two were what resonated the most with me as I reprioritize once again. Doing very few things will be a challenge since I often pride myself in being a sort of jane-of-all-trades that can move from geek-speak to writing to photography, programming, art, and other fields. But oftentimes, I feel I’m spreading myself too thin by doing this. So I will continue weeding out my freelancing and professional garden to make sure I’m keeping to my own standards of what level I’d like to be operating on professionally.

As for the last item on doing less “shallow work”, unfortunately it seems that’s where the paycheck for most of us freelance travel writers come from. The listicles, the round-ups, the fluffy travel service pieces. I will continue trying to focus on the deep stuff and seeking out ways of telling those deeper untold stories.

I implore you to go read the entire article. Well worth your time.