Thread by @rjnestor

We take #productivity too personally.

When we don't finish what we planned for a day, we think it's our lack of discipline.

When we leave a project hanging for weeks, it's a failure of willpower.

But productivity reflects process, not character. And THAT'S an easier fix!

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Even if we accept that, we often expect to build perfect productivity processes immediately.

And when we DON'T—when our new system doesn't solve all our problems from day one—we feel like we've failed again.

But you can't build version 5.0 before the alpha, beta, and 1.0!

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You craft a productivity system the way a sculptor chisels marble.

- You rough in the general shape you need
- You lop off that which doesn't serve your vision
- You hone and fine tune that which DOES

You'll have alpha & beta systems before you get to 1.0—& that's okay!

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For me, @RoamResearch is the marble and my Daily Cycle "front end" and GTD "back end" are what I have crafted.

I "roughed in" my productivity system from April to June 2020.

From then until May 2021, I created and lopped off MANY well-intentioned ideas that didn't work.

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By June 2021, I had my stable v 1.0 and it's been smooth iteration—and exponentially improved productivity—since then.

14 months.

I was somewhat productive along the way, mind you, but there were points of friction everywhere.

Which brings me to my main point... 👇

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When you have an unproductive day and you start to chalk it up to personal failure...

Don't.

"But R.J., I've tried every system. And they SHOULD have worked. It's something wrong with ME."

No. You're fine.

There's just friction between the system and the way you work.

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That friction leads to Productivity Paralysis—Writer's Block but for everyone!

You could have friction in your day-to-day—lots of projects but you can't get moving on any of them.

You could have friction in your big picture—getting lots done but with no direction in mind.

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What causes day-to-day points of friction?

- Unclear tasks
- Tasks that are really multiple tasks
- Work that requires specific context or supporting materials—and you don't have them handy
- You skipped a prerequisite task
- Ongoing tasks that should be recurring tasks

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What causes big-picture points of friction?

- Unclear priorities
- Projects that don't align with priorities
- And both of THOSE 👆 often arise when you're so overwhelmed with work that you don't have time to think about your big-picture priorities at all

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So. What do you need to do?

- Stop taking productivity personally. Everyone has to adapt systems to the way they work.
- Rough in the components of a productivity system that suits you.
- Identify and eliminate points of friction.

That's doable. It just takes time.

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I couldn't have solved it for myself without the help & tools provided by @dvargas92495, @rroudt, @tracyplaces, @RobertHaisfield, @LaptopLifeLisa, @cortexfutura—

And of course @Conaw & @gtdguy, and many more!

And I want to pass that help along to as many people as I can!

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Check out my free resources like my YouTube channel (youtube.com/c/rjnestorcoach) and The Roaman Way (courses.rjnestor.com/p/the-roaman-w…).

The Roaman Way is an introductory @RoamResearch course. I'm expanding it on October 8!

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If building a productivity system in @RoamResearch excites you, register for my live cohort course AP Productivity: rjn.st/ap-productivit… (Early Bird 15% off until Fri, Oct 8 @ 12 noon EDT!)

Or check out Powerful Task Management in Roam Research: rjn.st/powerful-task-…

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If you like the sound of my AP Productivity cohort course but you're not sure you can commit to the time or the investment, watch this testimonial video from Cohort One:



I helped them (and we helped each other!), and I want to help you, too!

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