Advice on Productivity

Insights on what's worked for me as I've recovered from burnout

location Raleigh,  NC,  US
  • Grounding Rituals: e.g. a shower every day. If I start my day and don’t have a shower, feels off.
  • Energy Management: Similar to Alexis, just enjoying your own space and things. Have more Givers than Takers.
  • Spoon Management: don’t use up all your spoons in a day, (look up spoon theory)
  • Prioritize Sleep: I have an Oura ring that helps me identify things that work or not
  • Planning Transitions: “how can I plan this transition to help get me into the task/thing”. e.g. for my contract work, I’m doing 30-min to 2-hrs of “my stuff” and that can be writing, development, etc.
  • Chaotic Discipline: “I’m in this energy mode right now, need to make use of it…even if I don’t have it planned” or rather
  • Get out of the office. “Body doubling” but like at a café or bar. Have a drink, write/read/manual stuff. Social & environmental style body doubling.
  • Bundling Actions: e.g. we have a Chinese take away restaurant that’s next to a small bar. We go have a drink, read, and order dinner, then go home.
  • Time Chunking: have two week sprints of focus, or different "focus weeks"
  • Gamification: taking things like Dungeons and Dragons dice (or just a regular square die), and using that to help you decide what you're going to focus on during a timed session. See how much you can get done in that time (needs a pre-prepared list that matches the die number range you have)