PyBites: Productivity Mondays - Tips from Adam Grant

We are longtime fans of the Tim Ferriss' show. I was listening to Adam Grant — The Man Who Does Everything again and there were some awesome nuggets about productivity, motivation and mindset in there:

1. Seek criticism

   Adam began his career as a professor and he was very nervous. But then he began to improve tremendously seeking ruthless feedback. No cheerleaders, seek honest criticism: how to love criticism.

   Learn about your blank spots. Yes it can be uncomfortable, but as we always say, that's where growth is!

2. Attention management

   Sometimes I get obsessed about doing task X at hour Y using Parkinson's law to speed things up. Some tasks are hard to measure though and when you're in flow you should just go.

   Bookmarked: Productivity Isn’t About Time Management. It’s About Attention Management and Paul Graham's Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule - Paul Graham. Do one thing at a time and batch process the non-deep work stuff.

3. How to choose projects

   Tim was saying to chose projects that if you fail you still win = acquisition of new skills or rapid development of existing skills + developing long term relationships.

   Further reading: Scott Adam's career advice. A great book on the topic: So Good They Can't Ignore You.

4. Goals

   Productivity is a means to an end:

   When you feel like you’re not productive, it’s not necessarily because you’re lazy or because you have bad habits, it’s because you’re not working on the right projects and you haven’t found the ones that are intrinsically motivating and meaningful to you.” — Adam Grant

   A great example is email. We always say: "don't do email in the morning", however Adam uses answering email to gain writing momentum.

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How will you use productivity as your tool this week?

Stay safe (and at home!)

-- Bob

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