The Productivity Project summary

So, what’s the first step to being more productive?

Well, before you do anything, you need to find your purpose and motivation. They’ll help you create the right routines that keep you on pace toward your goals. If you try to skip this step, there’s a good chance you’ll establish bad habits and poor routines that will work against you in the long run.

See if this sounds familiar: you wake up with a crystal-clear plan of what you want to get done during the day, only to have your plan fall to pieces by the time you check your first email.

Thankfully, there’s the Rule of 3, which can help you make more attainable goals.

According to a 2014 survey conducted by Salary.com, 31 percent of respondents spent at least an hour a day procrastinating and 26 percent spent two hours or more.

So why is procrastination so hard to overcome? Part of the problem is the specific attributes of some tasks that make them so unappealing.

For most people, working more equals getting more done. But things are never that simple, especially when you consider that our energy reserves are not unlimited.

So, to make the most of your time, you need to take control of your schedule such that you are using your energy and attention as best you can.

Writing out a list is a deceptively simple act. It doesn’t take much to jot down a few items on a piece of paper, but it can make a big difference to our overburdened brain.

You’ve probably experienced the feeling of not bothering to write a shopping list and then drawing a blank once you're surrounded by all the options at the supermarket. Our brain simply isn’t made for storing information in this fashion, so sometimes you need to help it out by freeing up space.