Productivity Hacks, Simplified

Of the ZOMG DA BEST EVAH Variety

In case it wasn’t obvious, the subtitle is slightly hyperbolic. But only slightly.

I’m in the process of purging my feeds, primarily here on Medium and over there on LinkedIn, from the non-stop productivity and/or hack related post and their posters. I’ve grown weary of the narrative that your productivity can be ‘hacked’ to be unbelievably good when it is in fact so often the case that it is quite the opposite.

You can do small tweaks to get some great results, no doubt. But the fact that those posts exist (and exist, and exist, and exist, and exist, and exist—you get the idea) show that many people are broken well beyond what a new hack or microblogged tip can remedy. The continued supply showcases the deep-seated demand.

Those “16 Hacks to a More Productive You” didn’t work last week, but maybetry these 12 (recycled ones) on for size, they’re guaranteed to double your output. Spare me.

Nonetheless, I wanted to share my wealth of wisdom and expertise on the subject matter. Cause, why not? Here are my top productivity hacks:

1. Stop writing your dumbass productivity hack posts. Photographers don’t take pictures of their cameras. They take pictures with their cameras. They point it out to the world and capture something. Start pointing outward instead of inward.
2. Stop reading their dumbass productivity hack posts. Once more, while a photographer may find some inspiration by viewing the work habits, gear, and approach of another professional they admire, it doesn’t matter a bit if they don’t get out in the field and start working that shutter. More simply, productivity is about being productive, not reading about it.
3. Get offline altogether. Turn the phone off. Use your Do Not Disturb mode. Heck, turn your computer’s wifi off for a bit. And then get busy. Do something. Produce something. Be it garbage or gold, make something that didn’t exist 10 minutes ago.
4. Just do it. Nike has the right of it. Words are wind. Ideals and inspirations are only intended to be sparks to an actual fire. If you always require some online personality’s whip at your back to get things done then you’ll likely not get very far. Find some inner motivation if you can, create it if you can’t. Regardless: be an adult, roll up your sleeves, put your head down, and do the work.

A mix of tongue in cheek and caustic reaction, you may notice, but relevant and actually helpful all the same.

Please, get busy making something of value. It’s one of the primary ways to be human and charitable. It—not reading, posting, retweeting, and generally talking about it—is how we all move forward together to better societal outcomes.

Do the work, create the value.

Originally published on Medium.

About the author

I very much like to write. From code to music to articles, I seem to have a lot to jot down. When I’m not busy enjoying my family or working at my baller job, I try to get ideas on paper and then on screen. I always appreciate anyone who has taken the time to read anything I put out there. Even more so when we can interact over it via comments or social sharing. Subscribe, recommend, share, and comment.

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