[[Slow Productivity]] # Principle 1: Do fewer things ## Limit Missions - Missions are overarching professional pursuits - Crucially, these are not the same as projects - According to Newport, having 2 or 3 are compatible with slow productivity - For him, at one point, his missions were writing (when got his first book deal) and academic research. When he became an assistant professor, he had to add a third mission for servicing the other parts of being a professor (student supervision, lectures, etc) - A question I have: I have a mix of professional missions and personal missions. Newport only talks about limiting professional missions without mention of anything that is not work-related. Is it okay to have a few of each? - What are my missions? - Personal: Grow in my Sikhi, be healthy, take care of my family - Professional: Build my client case load, Grow the YouTube channel ## Containing the small - It is worth investing time and effort into containing the small admin tasks you have to do since they often creep up and distract you from the real work - Strategy 1: Put tasks on autopilot - Have specific times, days, and locations each week for doing certain tasks - Create rituals - You get to a point where you just do the task every week, even if it is not super urgent. You don’t have to think about it anymore, it just gets done - Tasks I’d like to create an autopilot ritual for: - YNAB (x3: GJ, Personal, Family) - Email processing - Community engagement - Weekly review - Daily shutdown/morning prep - Random small tasks that add up during the week # Principle 2: Work at a natural pace ## Take longer > The pseudo-productivity mindset is uncomfortable with spreading out work on an important project, as time not spent hammering on your most important goals seems like time wasted. - Get comfortable with taking your time, important work and projects might take years, and that is OK ## Make a five year plan - It doesn't have to be exactly five years, but having a plan at a large time horizon likes this puts things into perspective - I should make a plan around graduating MFT school, my Indeed job, YouTube, etc - Having these "north stars" can really help guide your smaller plans - Having a solid five-year can also help you with developing smaller monthly or daily plans ## Embrace seasonality - Having dedicated months to slow down and have less intensive work can be incredibly helpful - Take it a step further, take two full months off every year? - My initial reaction was to have July and August as my slow months - It's easier to quiet quit for a couple of months than it is all year round, plan your projects around your slow months - Work in Cycles, not Sprints - 6 to 8 week periods of focused work, followed by a 2 week cool down to reflect and plan the next cycle - Take an afternoon off once a month - Instead of only looking forward to your slow months every year, schedule one afternoon every month when you go to the movies or do something fun during normal work hours - It helps reset your mind