I am not a “productivity guru”. I am still exploring the psychology, theories and processes around productivity. Productivity — according to me — is how efficiently and effectively I am able to manage my time and complete my tasks.

I first started looking into this subject during its boom in 2020. I noticed a sudden jump in the number of productivity applications, blogs, YouTube channels and books since this time and it is still a very popular topic. After going through a lot of productivity materials online, joining various forums, attending numerous webinars, and reading countless books, I can now say that I finally understand the main gist of it.

I love trying out new and latest products in the market. So when I got exposed to this topic, I jumped in excitement onto every tool out there. I signed up for their beta or trial versions and migrated all of my content onto each of them, changing the platform every few days. Eventually, I realised that I was wasting a lot of my time and energy on just setting up tools and migrating my data to the next fancy product out there. Well, isn’t this quite the opposite of being productive? I finally came across a book — Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte. Here, I realised that one shouldn’t focus on the tools but instead focus on the system.

There is no ‘one system fits all’ in this world. While some people enjoy writing down all of their day’s tasks, prioritising them, and then ticking them off once done (GTD method), others might prefer just writing down the three most important tasks for the day and ticking (Bento method). While some prefer responding to emails first thing in the morning, I reserve my afternoons and late nights for it.

I believe how one’s productivity system is built depends on these factors:

Routine

The routine of a company's CEO will differ from that of a software developer in the same company. The routine of a single person living in a rented apartment will be different from that of a married person with kids living in a similar accommodation. Professional and family conditions greatly affect one’s routine. While someone might have the time and liberty to set their productivity system, in someone else’s case, life itself might set it for them.

Motivation

One might enjoy hitting their most challenging task first thing in the morning followed by the easier tasks (‘Eat the frog’ method), while others might prefer gradually building their confidence throughout the day by finishing off the simpler tasks first (‘Easy wins’ method). It boils down to how you can motivate yourself throughout the day to achieve your goals.

Priorities

What are your priorities? Is it spending as much time with family as possible? Becoming the boss of your company as soon as ‘yesterday’? Partying every night with friends? Selling out more tickets to your concert than Taylor Swift? Or finally, finishing writing that book you have been promising everyone you know and maybe even grabbing a Pulitzer?

Technology

iOS vs Android — the never-ending war. I personally am not a fanboy of either but I do use an iPhone, Apple Watch Ultra and a MacBook M2 Pro. My work laptop is an old refurbished Dell laptop running Windows. When it comes to my personal productivity, my inclination has been more towards products compatible with Apple platforms. That doesn’t mean that other tools out there that do not have Apple compatibility are not powerful enough. In the past I have tried using purely web-based and cross-platform (compatible to run on almost all platforms — including Linux) applications but somehow always ended up coming back to the ones I use today. I will cover more of the apps I use in my future posts.

Budget

You could be someone who can afford a calendar management application costing $300 per year to keep track of your schedule or someone who is happy with the free version of a to-do list application even if it doesn’t tick all the boxes. One thing I have noticed is that privacy, quality, reliability, and support always come at a price, which I believe should be.

Focus on building your productivity system rather than searching for the coolest app out there.

Your routine, motivation, personal and professional priorities, technology preferences, and budget will guide you towards adopting a cool mix of productivity methods suitable for your needs.