Share your best and worst productivity methods along with your personal experiences. Maybe it will help others in this community choose the right method for themselves based on our collective experiences.
I’ll start by sharing the best and worst productivity methods I’ve tried, along with my personal thoughts:
Worst — Getting Things Done (GTD)
There’s no doubt that GTD is one of the most popular productivity methods out there. Many of you might even consider it the best. However, my experience with it was far from positive. In my case, I found that this method pushed me to work non-stop, completely ignoring the importance of health and well-being. Personally, I believe it fuels a toxic productivity mindset that emphasizes doing more, without considering the quality of life. It pains me to remember how, in the past, GTD led me to experience severe mental health issues, including burnout, stress, and constant overwhelm. On top of that, I often felt like a failure whenever I couldn’t complete everything on my to-do list by the end of the day.
Best — Humane Productivity Framework
I came across this method earlier this month, but I can confidently say it’s the best one I’ve ever encountered. What sets this framework apart is its core philosophy, which focuses on managing energy and attention, rather than just time. The creator argues that while time is constant, our energy and focus fluctuate—and that’s what we should be managing. Since adopting this framework, I’ve noticed a significant improvement in my productivity. More importantly, I no longer deal with the stress, burnout, or constant feelings of failure that plagued me with other methods. It’s been a game-changer for me. Also, it never pushed me beyond my limits like other methods due to its mindful and unique approach, which helped me stay focused and only do those things that are actually important.
I’m really looking forward to hearing about your best and worst productivity methods. I hope to learn something new from your personal experiences, as someone who’s also on the journey of self-improvement!
EXTRA: I will add the link to the article here for easy access, just in case anyone else is interested in checking out Humane Productivity Framework.
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I’d not heard of OST, so just read an article summary and realized I’d discovered I needed a “distractor” to get school work done when I was about 10 years old. I had no idea it was understood since the 50’s at least.
Wow.
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Podcasts and audiobooks need to be paired with headphones. Speakers on full volume just won’t cut it for me
I… don’t have ADHD (relatively confident) but I’ve used both of your hacks before and they’ve measurably helped me.
The templating thing slung me over its shoulder and carried me through battlefields. Procrastinate 'til the last hour? Assignment must be in LaTeX? Don’t worry, everything is already formatted, just add the double-dollar-signs and equate!
Bored? Need to get this article done but it’ll be even more boring? Watch random dubbed animations or something while hitting the keys – low-pressure colors and music cushions the harder-thinking part. Somehow the perceived expenditure of I Need To Focus mutes itself!
(Footgun if the side-video is too interesting.)
WOW! How have you discovered these hacks?
Worst: Using ChatGPT (In French: “chat j’ai pété”) for anything important. I spend more time checking its output and stomping on its hallucinations than it would have taken me to just write things on my own.
Best: Learning to say “no” when people ask you to do things you don’t have time to do.
I was thinking about using ChatGPT for productivity purposes, but you’ve saved me. Thank you very much.
It has some applications, but far, far, far, far fewer than its advocates hype.
Best: “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth half-assing.” I was raised in an environment where an imperfect job resulted in negative consequences, while an unperformed job often went unnoticed, so I developed a very ‘all-or-nothing’ productivity mindset. Learning that it’s okay to just do a bit, or do it imperfectly, increased my productivity considerably.
Worst: “Scheduling.” I spend all my time obsessively checking the time and stressing myself out. ADHD stuff, maybe.
Half assing is a thing I really need to get better at doing. Crippling myself with need for perfection is so bad!
Doing the worst version of something really helped me do anything at all.
For GTD to work correctly, you need to put breaks, fun, and downtime into your trusted system and on your calendar, or you need to treat it like intermittent fasting and only apply it during certain hours (while still capturing 24/7).
You gave me a different perspective to see this. I’ll be honest with you. I’ll stick to the Humane Productivity Framework, but I’m interested to know more about your approach with GTD because it seems different. Can you elaborate and share your way of using GTD?
Your description of Humane sounds a lot like how I do GTD. You mentioned attention and energy. To me, these are covered by context and capacity in GTD. The context of available attention often factors into what I chose to do next. The energy I currently have affects the capacity I currently have to do a task.
I think GTD is pretty adaptable, but I think the main important part is capturing tasks and automatically/habitually surfacing them at the right time, so you can keep your mind clear for whatever is important to you to spend your time on.
I make sure to put dates with my wife on my calendar, and I have not only reflection, but also breaks and goofing off / hobbies as takes on my trusted system. I have a main system for my life, but I also have one with only stuff for work. I only look at the one for work when I’m on the clock. I do have an inbox for thoughts for my whole life, and a separate one for work, but I always have them on me (I use apps on my phone, but I’ve used notecards before).
I’m not the creator of the Humane Productivity Framework. I wanted to clarify this because it made me feel that I stole credit and admiration from someone else for their hard work and creativity. I’m not a creative person. GTD might be adaptable to everyone’s needs, but I’m a very stupid person, and it is hard for me to make things adapt to my needs. That’s why I prefer ready-to-use solutions. After trying tons of systems, I’m confident enough to say Humane is what I always needed. Currently I don’t have plans to switch to any other system, but let’s see what the future holds. Also, thank you very much for sharing your adopted version of GTD and how you are making it work for you.
I’ve not heard of the Humane Productivity Franework. Thank you for sharing, I’ll have to look into it!
You’re welcome. I’m very confident this productivity system will help you have a productive life while preventing problems like stress, overwhelm, depression, burnout, etc. Share your experience with me once you try it.
The best one I’ve found (though I’ll check out HPF, thanks!) is Bullet Journal. Not any of the fancy add-ons, just the original, Carrol-method rapid logging. The idea of migration, mindfully and manually taking all undone tasks and deciding if they really need done or can be discarded, is one of the best features, and one that’s so often missing from digital tools.
I also appreciate that it’s more-or-less time-agnostic, and that note-taking is just as much a part of rapid logging as tasks organization is. The only frill I use is the Final Version Perfect system of priority discovery, which seamlessly fits into the basic bujo methodology.
Follow your heart anyone?
I’m just posting in representation of the many lurkers that have never remotedly considered a “productivity method”.
Turn off screens. It’s amazing what the will do to stave off boredom.
