Improving workflow and productivity without burning out
A short primer to achieving mental clarity
TLDR: You need more clarity of mind.
Introduction
Over the last few months, I've intensely looked into optimizing my workflow and increasing my productivity. I have looked at as many techniques as I can, one thing they all seem to have in common is that they all want to clarify your thoughts.
There are a whole lot of factors which can stress you out, but what I'd like to get into is overthinking. When we're not thinking about 10 different ways to solve the current issue we're experiencing, we're thinking of other things we should actually be doing at that exact moment; or about some doom in the future, or perhaps a doom in the past that we should have avoided but didn't. All these can be somewhat confusing and overwhelming, and would probably lead to doing the best thing you can think of doing at that moment ... nothing. Ha! And guess the result of doing nothing? exactly, it's a negative loop.
The interesting stuff
In the next few sections, I'll introduce techniques you can incorporate into your existing workflow. I'll write a short overview, and then provide references that go deeper into each.
1 - Write those thoughts down
Or in other words ... journal. You will not believe how much difference it makes to take all these thoughts from your head and dump them into some external space.
Journaling sounds a little bit too formal, but labels do not matter here. Any time I get a persistent thought nowadays I just open Obsidian and dump it there, 90% of the time I won't get back to it, but sometimes it's probably something useful. Writing helps bring some clarity and organisation to how you think, and writing stuff down in an easily accessible medium relieves stress in that you can come back to these thoughts at any time.
For this part, I use Obsidian's daily notes, most of the time it's just semi-useless random thoughts, still, each Friday I go through all the journals I made for the week, just in case I have something that requires more thought.
1.1 - Write more than just thoughts down
Even more important is writing down things that are not random. Notes on topics you're learning, notes on projects you're working on, notes on books you're reading, etc. Just take notes, don't try to hold something in your brain with hopes of remembering it in the future, build a second brain where you store every important tidbit for future reference.
Some links:
Zettelkasten - https://mattgiaro.com/zettelkasten-obsidian-notion/
For my part, I heavily use Zettelkasten with some elements of PARA (I always work on more than one project). Zettelkasten promotes the idea of atomic notes that link back to each other. This way you can build an encyclopedia for yourself.
2 - Collect all the stuff you should be doing
If I ask you "What are you going to do next?" - how precise would your answer be?
This next section is based heavily on David Allen's Getting Things Done.
The first step is to collect all the tasks you should be doing into one container, I personally use TickTick for this, the second step is to break these tasks down into next actions.
Let's go through this with an example.
One "stuff" I need to do is Implement Web Push on a project I'm working on. Is that my next action? nope, I need to break it down. I have little understanding of web push so my next action would be to research the topic. Is Research web push my next action? Well, nope, still ambiguous. My next action would be to search "web push" on Google, I think that's precise enough. will it take more than 2 minutes? I don't think it will so I'll search for it now. I just did a quick Google search and one of the results is this article on web push protocol - Reading it though will take more than 2 minutes, so I'll defer it because I can't delegate the task of reading it to someone else.
This seemingly simple task of breaking tasks down like this has a huge impact in bringing clarity and reducing stress. First of all, you always know exactly what to do whenever you decide to do anything, secondary you have this next action saved anywhere so you're not thinking about it at all, whenever you decide to work you can just pull out your to-do list and get on it. This clarity I find, reduces procrastination and has actually made my job more fun and less overwhelming.
Along with collecting everything you also need to organise them into lists, sorted by priorities and organised by contexts (in what context would you have to perform this action - e.g At work, at home, with friends, etc)
To pick what to work on you'll have to consider your energy level, current location, and task priority. The book goes into detail about these things.
Some links
Getting Things Done - https://amzn.to/43QucSi
Getting things done - An in-depth article - https://todoist.com/productivity-methods/getting-things-done
3 - Make a conscious effort to pick what to work on
At the start of the day, depending on how you expect your day to go, make a conscious effort to pick exactly what you'll work on next from your list, what to work on after that, and after that. Whenever you get distracted you'll refocus with "I should be working on this". Knowing what exactly to work on acts as an anchor against distraction.
4 - Manage your time
I've discovered that allocating blocks of time with Pomodoro is very effective. My brain has a way of flipping into serious mode whenever I start the timer.
Another important part of this is understanding deep work. Deep work is getting into a deeply focused mental state where you can push yourself to the limit of your abilities, working on meaningful things. The amount of energy and willpower you can muster on any day is limited, it is important to understand the depth and difficulty of the tasks you're working on and when you're working on it.
The way I do this is I group my tasks based on the importance of the project and its difficulty. The significant ones are worked on earlier in the day, with 45 minutes Pomodoros and 5 minutes breaks.
Also, you want to reduce the number of things you're working on at a time - ideally to one for maximum focus.
People who multitask all the time end up losing the ability to filter irrelevancy.
Some links:
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World - https://amzn.to/3ORVrYd
Deep work - book on a page - https://youtu.be/aI8RsmWv9Do (A really good summary of the book)
5 - Practice mindfulness and meditate
Mindfulness is a technique for bringing attention back to the present moment. Like I said at the start, we're always worrying about something that happened in the past or something that'll happen in the future. Mindfulness teaches us to ground ourselves in the present. It is a seemingly simple technique that involves focusing on your breath, evaluating any interfering thoughts without judgement, and then returning to the breath.
It is very effective in helping you build deeper connections with yourself, and your thoughts. It helps you become aware of distractions; maintain focus and concentration; and relieve stress and anxiety.
Some links
- Medito - A free app for guided meditation - https://meditofoundation.org/medito-app
6 - Reorganise your space
Reorganise your space to optimise for what you do on a day-to-day basis. Things that are not important to your work should not be near you, and things that are should be close and neatly organised.
Keep items closer to where they're used, and remove items from where they're not used.
A cluttered desk is a cluttered mind
or something like that.
How you organise your space has an effect on your habit, what you do on a day-to-day basis, and how stressed you are.
7 - Beware of overstimulation
Late addition
We're currently flooded in every direction with Supernormal stimuli. It has become very easy to lose yourself in all the stimulation - particularly social media. There is a lot of technical neuroscience here, I'll let the expert explain.
Some link:
- Controlling your dopamine for motivation, focus, and satisfaction - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmOF0crdyRU
Conclusion
While this is not an exhaustive list, I believe it is a good place to start.
Some other important things you can/ should try:
Work in a group or with friends
Exercise regularly
Ensure you get enough sleep - 6 - 8 hrs every day.
I initially lost half of the original draft of this article and had to rewrite it (with half the motivation). The ending part is not as pretty as the original but it conveys the same message.