The Culture Of Doing: What You Should Be Getting Out Of Productivity Apps
Any article that bemoans context switching gets a thumbs-up from me. The point here is that you have too many apps, and they're not going to be productive for you. Also you check your phone way more times than you think you do, and that's ripping away your ability to focus. Related: I intend to learn more about a term I heard recently, "single focus"; if you've got any articles about that, do share.
Why we’re betting against real-time team messaging
I think Todoist just re-built email? But by way of a common inbox, maybe. There are some really cool ideas in here and I may have to join Twist to kick the tires. And the design decision to leave out the online status indicator is my favorite (and according to Medium, that's everyone's favorite). Thanks to Kyle G. for sharing this – ironically – over Slack.
If you’re reading this, you probably don’t do hard work
Dayyyuuum. Ouch. But OK, you're right. This is a typical Jason Fried post (which would normally mean I would be a little annoyed by it) but it caught me at the right moment and I like it. Go ahead, read it and feel a little ashamed. It's good for you.
Stop Overthinking Small Decisions
"Make a call and move on." That's a very freeing statement. I should probably re-read this article weekly to remind myself that it's better to try something, test/evaluate, and then try again quickly than burning hours trying to line up the dominos just so. This article also introduced me to the term "bikeshedding" which I'm going to try to work into every meeting I have from now on. What decisions are you overthinking?
This article is what the title suggests. I'd say that I don't do a great job with the "sleep hygiene" part. And as much as I'd like to be part of the 5% of people (X-Men, basically) that are able to function on very few hours of sleep, I'm not one of them. I don't require much sleep, but I tend to function best on at least 5-6 hours. 8 or more makes me feel like a zombie. My wife gets pretty annoyed when I get up early on Saturdays because I'm bored of sleeping; she's in the 8+ demo.
Great Leaders Say “I Don’t Know”
I'm a terrible delegator (if that's a word). This is a short article that I have read often, reminding me to acknowledge my limits and not try to have answers to everything (at work and at home).
Being Busy Doesn’t Mean You’re Successful
I appreciate titles that aren't clickbait. This title is a nice little wisdom snippet, but the whole article is worth reading (especially if you're a solo operation or in charge of stuff at work). I enjoy Chris's writing style and have started reading his blog regularly, so this won't be the last link you see from this source.
This Is Why Your To-Do List Is Going Nowhere
It's not the app's fault, it's your fault #encouragement.
This article isn't actually about choosing the best app for your todo list. The author gives a few important tips about how to reevaluate your todos and make sure that you're maintaining a list of tasks that you can actually accomplish. He's got an interesting workflow that he uses in Trello too that might be worth trying.
33 lessons from the trenches of building a million dollar company
I really enjoy Josh Pigford's writing. JD Graffam, the owner of Simple Focus (where I work) actually bought an app from a company Josh used to work for, and I help run it now. This post was helpful to me and should be just as enjoyable for you if you've got an entrepreneurial spirit.
How To Find Your Most Productive Hours
I'm most productive in the early morning hours, and you probably know if you tend to work better in the AM or PM. But this dives a little deeper into focus, energy, and motivation as the key metrics to be concerned with when you're trying to find your most productive times. Personally, I've been using Todoist to get really helpful at-a-glance metrics for my productivity and average tasks completed. If you want to chat about Todoist, hit me up. That app is amazing.