Posts about Productivity (RSS, JSON)

2PM — Connor Oliver still uses an old Macintosh Classic II:

This Mac has no form of notification system built in, it never begs for your attention and its applications never try to distract you from what you are doing, begging you to look at them instead. If I get distracted while using this Mac the fault lies squarely on me, not the computer and not the programs running on it.

I had an old MacBook that I used only for writing after replacing it with a newer machine for my daily work. The battery was dead, so I had to sit down near a power outlet when I wanted to use it. I hadn’t set up emails on this machine or installed any instant messaging applications, no code editors, and I didn’t transfer my audio files into iTunes. The only application I installed was iA Writer and some command-line tools so I could convert my writing from Markdown into other formats. The only thing I could do was to write and focus on words.

It was the most distraction-free computer I used in the past 20 years. I wish I had kept it.

(via Daring Fireball)

2PM — Alan Jacobs on note taking and reviewing:

No, the tools don’t really matter to me, and I have learned not to fuss about them. What’s essential is scheduling time — I set aside an hour each Monday morning and a whole morning on or near the first of every month — to go over all of those notes and do a kind of self-assessment. I sit down with my notebook and my computer and ask: Where am I in my current projects? What did I accomplish last week? What do I need to think about further? Is there any research or reading I need to be doing? What should be my priorities this week (or this month)? That kind of thing.

I could have the best note-taking system in the world and I’d still be lost if I didn’t have regular periods for review and reflection.

I prefer simple advice such as this, actually actionable advice, to any of the hustle porn you find on LinkedIn these days.