Obsessed about productivity, part one: the Basic Package

Quite a few people have recently asked me about my email checking habits, or have been surprised about my observation that not drinking coffee could make you less tired and more alert. That's all good, but mostly I've realized that I'm obsessed about this stuff. So I'm going to be a little more structured in my writing about it, starting with this post.
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There are a few "levels" of productivity obsession that you can get to, but you have to be comfortable with each level before proceeding to the next one. So here are a few things which I consider "level one" productivity obsessiveness, let's call it the "Basic Package". This is not GTD or anything like that, and for a lot of people, this is more than enough to maintain a sane life and stay above the water level of life in general.

Check email twice a day

I've talked about this before in a previous post, and it's quite simple: don't spend your day checking email. Email is a wonderful, often necessary tool to stay in touch with people you work with, your loved ones and other friends, but if you let it take over your life, you won't ever get anything done. No work gets ever done via email. Actual work gets done by writing code, preparing briefing documents, analyzing data, digging ditches, preparing building sites and so on.

Stay on top of things

Quite simple to say but hard to do: know what's coming at you and never let inbound stuff pile up. This may sound obvious, and at the same time somewhat counter to the email advice above, but it's quite important that you clean your email inbox, open your mail, listen to those voicemails and just know what's being thrown at you. This does not mean you should act on everything right away, but rather just make sure there are no time bombs waiting to blow up in your face. My usual schedule is to empty my email inbox at least once a day, listen to voicemails as soon as I see them, and open my mail as soon as I get home from work.

Figure out your priorities

It's very easy to get sucked into just doing "stuff." That's not productivity, that's busy work. You need to be proactive about what matters to you, and stick to those priorities. And it really helps to be explicit about those priorities, at least to yourself. You can keep it in your head, or write it on a list, or just scribble on random post-its and stick it, doesn't matter, but you really need to have that conversation with yourself.

Block time for things you want to do

Now that you've stopped wasting time on email all day, and know what you want to do, it's time to actually do it! Ask any productivity guru, and the one thing they will all agree on is that the mind is not designed to multi-task. If you have the habit of checking email while you're calling the airline to change that ticket and trying to finish that presentation for that important meeting this afternoon, stop. Block off time for the stuff you want to do, and you know what? It will actually get done.

Take time off

Finally, just like you need to rest between gym exercises, you need to rest your body and soul between work. Plan your time so that you get time to hang out with friends, spend time with your spouse and kids, and just plain be yourself without the constant nagging feeling that you're not doing something you should be doing. My rule here is simple: I don't work on weekends (unless there's a real, real, real emergency; which almost never happens by the way) - make your own rule and stick to it. You'll have more energy when you actually get back to work, and you'll enjoy life more :)

That's the Basic Package. No complicated systems to master, just simple rules that will make you feel more in control of your life - and hopefully just a little more obsessed about productivity.

- Gummi