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?
|
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!
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...
Tomorrow it’s Labor Day in the United States, a federal holiday. It’s the unofficial end of summer. School holidays are over and people are getting back to work. Even if you don’t live in the States, statistically speaking you probably live in the northern hemisphere. A new season is starting. A season of more work and less play. That makes this a good time to refresh some work skills. Why? Let me illustrate with one of my favorite activities: skydiving. Skydiving is an expensive sport that...
You might not want to hear this. I debated whether to tell you. But I’ve never shied away from saying it like it is. Perhaps that’s because I’m Dutch—we’re famous for being direct. Or perhaps it’s that I secretly enjoying needling people a little. Either way, I’m going to tell you. Recently, I sent out a little survey, asking people what they struggle with the most. Here’s one guy’s answer: I am so busy that whatever I do, I am still unable to do the minimum. This makes me so overwhelmed. So...