How to Think More Productively: A Cheat Sheet

Unproductive: ‘How long will this take?’ Productive: ‘How much time am I willing to give this?’

Credit: Luis Alvarez/Getty Images

When people learn that I’m a time management and productivity coach, they often grill me about the most effective tricks and tools. “What’s the best system? What apps or planner should I use? Got any hacks I can try?”

They’re asking the wrong questions.

Don’t get me wrong — systems like Bullet Journaling and Getting Things Done are excellent. But if you’re struggling to be productive, overhauling your process won’t help you much. To really achieve sustainable productivity, you must first learn to manage your thoughts.

Emails like this — from Evernote last November — perpetuate our false belief that a better system will solve our productivity problems. Evernote is great (I use it), but so is a pen and paper, a Google Doc, or any other system.

When we talk about productivity in my workshops and coaching sessions, I often hear people say, “I work so hard and I’m so stressed. I just don’t know how I’ll possibly get everything done.” If you’re feeling the same way (and many of us are), it means you’re focused on the wrong thing. Productivity isn’t about working “hard” or about crossing tasks off your list. Productivity is about creating results.