I have recently came across this beautiful infographics from +Anna Vital
I have been a productivity fun for ages but my approach evolved through time and it's time to make some kind of summary here.
When I look at elements in this great mindmap, I recognize almost all of them. Most of them I have tried and many of them I use. But now I look differently at such things than 10 years ago. Those days it was just a bundle of handful hints that I read from time to time and they didn't mean much to me. Just like all those fancy "good practices" that everybody knows and very few does. It was a time when I was hungry for fast solution - easy 10 points that would change my life. And they didn't of course. Because important changes require time. They require patience and perseverance and it's less and less common nowadays.
It took me almost a year to recognize how can I manage my anxiety doing workouts (runnings) with all those nuances that can be helpful to do it effectively. And believe me I am a smart guy, so the stupidity was not the reason of a timeframe.
I spent almost a year to REALLY experience what it means to focus on important things and suppressing urgent. What isn't done in most organizations although they all declare it. Because it is not easy to tell your customer with courage in heart "We will not do it under that conditions, in that timeframe".
I took me couple of months to start making conscious decisions about healthy food, understand and feel consequences.
I took me at least ten tries before I gave up being in touch with the news.
I took me TEN year before I really understood and experienced that lack of sleep is disastrous and in contradiction to productivity at all.
And so on and so on. All that stuff because knowledge not practiced is just a noise.
After those ten years I realised that the most important thing is to slow down and give yourself time. Important changes require time and you cannot do them in fast track mode. Many books and trainers promise us fast results but remember it is just marketing.
I remember that 10 years ago I loved such lists like the one above, because as a tech guy I liked to have short lists with most important information. So then I read them but nothing lasted in my head.
They are great as a reminder if you practice all this staff, but not much helpful to really use it as a daily routine when you start. Then you need at least a book on each subject or better go to training, and after that time practice it for months. Then you will succeed.
There is one thing when you have a deep understanding of a rule after long time of practicing: you don't need that rule at all, then you have it built in and you strictly know when to apply it and when to broke it. But it comes with time. No shortcuts.
Last thing is obsession with productivity but we have to remember that productivity is in opposite to creativity (http://lifehacker.com/5918138/is-productivity-killing-your-creativity). As a knowledge worker you cannot be 100% productive otherwise you just become a reflectionless robot.
