Hi, I’m Peter from Amsterdam. I’ll help you get organized and be more productive. Every Sunday, I send a productivity-themed newsletter to 10,000 people. Join us!
Are you making this classic mistake?
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What’s the difference between an amateur and a professional? An amateur messes around. He doesn’t take things seriously. He doesn’t have an objective in mind. He’s just playing. That’s fine when we’re building a model railroad or learning to bake our own bread or playing tennis with friends. The stakes are low. Who cares if the end result sucks? But your personal productivity is too important to take this approach. We’re talking about your career, here. We’re talking about your life! Don’t approach your life like an amateur. Be a professional. The professional clarifies her goals. She breaks them down into bite-sized steps. She makes a plan. In other words, the professional has a strategy. When she has to choose, she asks: which option best serves my strategy? Then she executes on that. If you don’t have a plan, you’re letting others dictate the game. That’s fine when you’re playing tennis with your friends, but it’s not fine when we’re talking about the only life you’ll ever have. |
Peter Akkies
Hi, I’m Peter from Amsterdam. I’ll help you get organized and be more productive. Every Sunday, I send a productivity-themed newsletter to 10,000 people. Join us!
Ever since I was 17, I’ve traveled to and lived in many different countries. Seeing places and meeting different people inspires me and gives me better ideas, so I‘m planning to travel often for the rest of my life. But traveling does affect my productivity and my work. It’s just harder to get stuff done on the go. You don’t have your comfortable home workspace. The wifi might be bad. Your routines are all out of whack. So what can you do to stay productive while traveling? Here are some...
You know that feeling when you’re expecting guests? You tidy up, but you don’t go overboard. You make sure there’s no underwear on the coffee table, but you don’t alphabetize your spice rack. That’s exactly how I want you to think about productivity. After years of teaching people how to get more of the right stuff done, I’ve noticed something interesting: There’s a sweet spot between chaos and over-organization. I call it your “minimum viable organization”. Some structure is good. Having a...
The other day, I was chatting with a client. She’s extremely busy, with many responsibilities at work and at home. She values her time very highly. Because she has so much going on, it’s tricky for her to find time to focus on her most important projects. She said: “I’d love to have regular blocks of focused work on my calendar.” “And then, from my master task list, I want to drag tasks into those focus blocks.” Her first question: what’s the right tool for this? I immediately thought of...