Ever had the looming feeling that you should be more productive?

Sucks, doesn’t it.

We’ve become obsessed with optimizing every minute of our day and it’s starting to take a toll.

But it doesn’t have to.

Here are 6 tips to stay sane on your quest to getting more done.

👇
We’ve all been there.

The idea floating around in your head that there’s something unfinished.

A loose end that needs tying.

A more efficient way to spend your time.

Never able to settle down & enjoy the day.

Welcome to the anxious world of the Productivity Junkie.
It actually makes sense if you think about it.

After all, it feels good to be productive.

Knowing that you’re on top of things.

That you’ve exercised discipline and come out the better for it.

Boy that’s quite high…

Until it’s not.
Somewhere along the road, we started to think of time as something to conquer rather than enjoy.

TIME MANAGEMENT.

If I can just get to inbox zero…
If I can just make it through my to-do list…

Then!

Oh, then I’ll be happy.
But here’s the problem…

That time never actually comes, does it?

It’s a red herring, a fools errand.

The more we achieve and the more successful we become…

The more projects will fill our plate.

It’s the Catch 22 of high achievers.

We will never be finished.
So how can we reconcile these two outcomes?

How can we strive to achieve our goals…

WITHOUT giving ourselves anxiety attacks on a daily basis?

Well, according to Oliver Burkeman, achieving great things doesn’t have to come at the cost of our happiness.
In his book “Time Management for Mortals” Burkeman shows us how to tame our inner Productivity Junkie.

Here are the 6 tips we’ll cover

1. Embrace Procrastination
2. Pay Yourself First
3. Limit WIPs
4. Intentionally Lazy
5. Hobby ≠ Side Hustle
6. Cosmic Insignificance Therapy
//Embrace Procrastination//

First, we need to get more comfortable with procrastination.

Rather than run from it, accept it.

It’s a natural human tendency.

We’ve got to stop beating ourselves up maximizing every minute of our day.

It’s okay to not be fully optimized!
//Pay Yourself First//

There will never be ENOUGH time.

So, we need to carve out more of it for the things that are important to us.

When planning your day, pay yourself first.

Schedule the things that are important to you, and let everything else fill in the cracks.
//Limit Works In Progress//

For high achievers, it can be tempting to start a bunch of projects at once.

We get excited about something and we go.

But we’re creating hundreds of open loops.

All “unfinished.”

All a source of more anxiety.

Keep open loops to a minimum.
//Intentional Laziness//

We junkies tend to even fill free time with “productive acts”.

But where did we get this idea that free time needs to be “spent well?”

It’s free, enjoy it.

Tip: actively schedule Lazy Time blocks into your calendar. Do nothing, enjoy it.
//Hobby ≠ Side Hustle//

At some point, we replaced one with the other.

But they’re not the same.

A hobby is done for the joy of it, nothing else.

So no, you don’t have to turn your obsession with model planes into an Etsy store.

No matter how loud Gary V screams it.
//Cosmic Insignificance Therapy//

We tend to think we’re the center of the universe.

Turns out, we’re not.

Coming to terms with our utter insignificance can actually be quite liberating.

At the end of the day, nobody really cares how you spend your time.

Relax, enjoy.
In short, if you’re a Productivity Junkie, here’s your playbook:

1. Be okay with loose ends.
2. Schedule things that are important to you first.
3. Limit to 1 or 2 projects at a time.
4. Practice being lazy.
5. Stop it with the side hustles.
6. Remember nobody cares.
Working alone is hard.

For tweets on productivity & achievement frameworks for freelancers, indiehackers, and soloprenuers, follow me: @shane___martin
If you learned anything interesting from this thread, a retweet would be greatly appreciated!

Linked it up below👇

Thanks for reading

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More from @Shane___Martin

Jan 29
Want to achieve more?

Here’s a trick.

Stop focusing so much on your goals.

Do this instead 👇
It’s fun to talk about goals.

We like to dream big and think about what life will be like when we achieve a significant change.

(Guilty of this myself)

But too much focus on our goals can actually do more harm than good.
Here’s the thing.

Goals are all about what we *might* achieve *some day*.

And as much as we like to believe that we’ll get to the finish line…

Every day we don’t, the more likely we are to lose faith…

To give up.

So what do we do?

Enter systems.
Read 19 tweets
Jan 22
Stop trying to manage your time.

Start multiplying it.

Here are 5 ways to manufacture more time so you can get more of the right things done.

Thread 👇
I have spent a good chunk of my life trying to get more done.

I’ve tested many productivity systems…

And implemented a slew of different tactics and strategies.

But no matter how efficient I got, the fact remained…
There’s only so much one can get done in a 24 hr period.

For those of us with big goals & bigger plans, time is a top tier resource.

But even the most efficient among us is going to hit a ceiling.

So what do we do? How can we create more time?
Read 20 tweets
Jan 19
If your path to success is paved with excitement — be careful.

The truth is, success should be kinda boring.

If you want to achieve big things, press pause on your grand ambitions and build this foundation first.

Thread 👇
Any of this sound familiar?

I’ll be successful when:

I learn that new skill
I land that huge investment
I have that game changing idea

While exciting and fun to brag about on Twitter, these are not the most likely paths to success.
In fact, it’s the contrary that seems to be true.

In his book “The Compound Effect,” Hardey gives it to us plainly:

“…your only path to success is through a continuum of mundane, unsexy, unexciting…daily disciplines compounded over time.”
Read 14 tweets
Jan 7
Most New Year's Resolutions will be abandoned by January 19.

We're 7 days in.

If you want to become a new person in 2022, you need to build an actionable roadmap for change.

Here's how:

Thread 👇
Jan 19th.

It's known as "Quitter's Day."

According to a recent study by Strava of 800 million activities, it's the day you're most likely to give up on your resolutions.

But the problem isn't the resolution itself, it's how you treat it.
In Part 1 we broke down the why & how of an Annual Review process.

(If you missed it, check it out below.)

In Part 2, we're turning our focus to the future.

The clock is ticking, if we really want change in 2022, let's make it happen.
Read 26 tweets
Jan 6
It’s okay to glitch out.

Catch yourself complaining? Glitch
Mindlessly scrolling the feed? Glitch
Lose your cool in a meeting? Glitch

It happens to everyone.

What matters is what we do next.

👇
In mindfulness there’s a concept called Begin Again.

If you’re meditating and catch yourself lost in thought, the worst thing you can do it criticize yourself.

Why?

That’s just MORE thought. You’re going deeper.

Instead, just start over. Simple.
Ultimately, you know what you’re supposed to be doing.

When you catch yourself doing otherwise, just notice it and then get back on track.

No judgement necessary.
Read 4 tweets
Dec 30, 2021
New Year's resolutions are a cop-out.

If you’re serious about getting what you want, do this instead.

The definitive Annual Review template: 28 questions to make your 2022 better than your 2021.

Thread 👇
If you became a better version of yourself every single year, where would you be right now?

What would you have?
How would you feel?
What types of things would you do?

How would your position in life be different?
Unfortunately, we're not iPhones. There's no option to update our software while we sleep.

But we can update. Or, upgrade, rather.

And there is no single activity better suited to do that than the Annual Review.

Yet, somehow 99% of people will not make the time to do it.
Read 19 tweets

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