The complete productivity guide
This guide brings together all the site's content, organized into a few big chapters.
You can read it from start to finish, or use it as a reference to jump to a specific topic.
The goal is simple: help you use your time, energy, and attention better, without mental overload or an endless race for efficiency.
Productivity foundations
This chapter sets the baseline. It helps you understand that productivity is not about doing more and more, but about doing better, on purpose.
- Productivity foundations
- Why productivity matters
- The progress paradox and productivity
- Happy are the lazy
- In praise of enough
- The productivity equation
- Always have fun: enjoying your work
Work organization
Organizing your work means deciding what to say yes to, what to say no to, and in what order to do things.
This chapter helps you structure your weeks, your days, and your priorities.
- Work organization
- The compass system
- The rocks story: identify what matters
- How to prioritize tasks
- The power of saying no at work
- Back to the future: say no
- Timeboxing: protect your time
- The dark cloud: write everything down
- Abusing the to-do list
- The maybe list
- The boomerang effect: passive tasks
- The two-minute rule
- Delegate, delegate, delegate
- Zebra schedule (or not)
- Biological rhythm: morning or night
- Wait a minute
- Productivity playbook
- Fighting procrastination
- Bonus: remote work best practices
Focus and concentration
Once your work is organized, you still need to be able to focus.
This chapter covers distractions, attention, and flow.
- Focus and concentration
- Carlson's law
- Remove notifications
- Resisting temptations
- Create your focus bubble
- Asynchronous communication
- Instant messaging: friend or foe
- Flow state and the stretch zone
- The power of breaks
- Handling 300 emails a day
- Email basics
- Inbox zero
Work faster
This chapter is about execution speed, without sacrificing quality or energy.
- Work faster
- Sharpen your axe
- Setting the right conditions
- Computer over smartphone
- Sleep better, work better
- Decision fatigue
- Automating repetitive tasks
- Text expanders: save time
- Keyboard and mouse shortcuts
- Find your files fast
- Explicit communication
- The two-pizza rule for meetings
- Memory palace and the major system
- The 80/20 rule and the barbell strategy
- 25 small habits that save time
How to use this guide
You can follow the chapters in order to build a complete system, or jump around depending on what you need right now.
Each page is designed to stand on its own, while still fitting into a coherent whole.