Productivity Tools To Give You Superpowers | #06

Productivity Tools To Give You Superpowers

No. 06 — read time 5 minutes

Welcome to The Soloist, a weekly newsletter where I share timeless ideas and insights about life, business, and art.

Today, we’re going to talk about tools to help you get things done without losing your mind.

You know, "productivity".

I almost didn’t write this because I think the whole genre around productivity can be a bit bogus.

If you spend a good amount of time online, you might recognize this meme.

Today, I’m going to walk through a much more sane approach to getting things done, feeling accomplished, and making progress every day.

No automations. Nothing technical.

By figuring out a system that works for you, you’ll make real, tangible progress on your goals day in and day out boosting your self-esteem.

And self-esteem is nothing more than the reputation you have with yourself.

i.e. doing what you promised yourself you would do.

The problem with most guides is that they’re either overly generic or not backed up by scientific research.

Real productivity looks like consistent daily action

There will be zero gimmicks in this issue. Only real, evidence based, tools to hack your brain into getting sh*t done.

Here’s why I only rely on evidence based tools and approaches:

Proven effective in rigorous testing

Consider the complexity of human behavior

Adaptable and flexible

Transparent and open to scrutiny

You’re going to love incorporating these into your routine.

Let’s dive in:

Tool 1: Centered App

​Centered App is quickly becoming one of my favorite tools for getting things done.

Centered main screen

The app takes several productivity mental models and combines them with a slick interface to get you into flow.

Specifically, the mental models you should know about are Deep Work, Parkinson’s Law, Pomodoro Technique, and Social Accountability. Mental models Centered built right into the product.

There are four methods to get into Deep Work. One of them is the "Rhythmic Approach", or chunking work down into smaller bites. Similar to the Pomodoro Technique.

The Pomodoro Technique, developed by German-Italian programmer Francesco Cirillo, is the idea of breaking down work time into small, manageable chunks.

Cirillo recommends 25-5, or 25 minutes of work with 5 minutes of rest.

The reason this works is due to Parkinson's Law. Work expands to fill the time allotted.

By timeboxing work you create a forcing function to get things done before the timer runs out.

So is it just a timer and task manager?

Sorta. Not really.

The app has two features which make it distinct from other task managers.

Coaches

Social accountability

You can choose different "rooms" to pop into for work. Each room has a coach. When you're ready to get started, the music for the room turns on and a coach guides you into flow.

My favorite room is Indistractable with Nir Eyal

If you find yourself opening up distracting websites the coach asks you if the site is helping you stay on track. A gentle reminder to get back in focus.

While you're working there are people from all over the world in the same room as you also working.

Why does an "accountability partner" work? The American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) did a study on accountability and found that your odds of completing a goal if you commit to someone increased by 65%.

We feel more responsible and less likely to procrastinate when there's the social promise to someone else, even if that person is a stranger. There's even a whole Reddit community to find accountability partners.

Give Centered a try and see if it improves your focus and productivity.

Cost: $6.67/mo (annual plan)

Tool 2: Journaling

In studies done at Stanford on the power of journaling on mental health and productivity, the results were clear. The group that took time to jot down their goals, reflect on their day, and think through their values ended up performing better than the group that didn't.

There's two ways you can get started with journaling to make it less daunting.

First: The 5-Minute Journal

If you're looking for something structured with prompts to fill out, this is a great start.

My wife bought it for me two years ago and the effect it has is real.

Daily gratitude practice alone is backed up by science and is shown to be powerful in rewiring our brains to be less stressed and more mindful.

Second: The Bullet Journal​

The Bullet Journal was developed by Ryder Carroll, a designer in New York City. But the strategy to use for productivity actually comes from YouTuber Matt Ragland:

​

Matt's productivity approach to the Bullet Journal is broken into 5 pillars:

Action

Time

Ideas

Tools

Mindset

The idea is the pillars act as a feedback loop. You get through the loop and it increases your motivation and confidence. The more cycles the more more motivation.

Cost: $28 (or get a basic notebook)

Tool 3: Commit App

Jerry Seinfeld once told a young comedian that the way to get better was to write better jokes. And the way to write better jokes was to write every day.

Seinfeld explained that he would use a giant wall calendar and with a red sharpie mark each day he completed his task of writing down jokes.

After a few weeks you'll see the chain of red X's and not want to break the chain. Your only job is to not break the chain.

While you can go out to your local office supply store and pick up a large wall calendar, it might be easier to download an app.

Enter Commit.

It's easy to get set up and the aesthetic visuals of the green squares is a nice analog to Jerry's red X's.

Cost: Free

Tool 4: Airplane Mode

I’m not joking.

We check our phones on average over 58x per day for a total of 3 hours and 15 minutes.

I don’t care how much you need your phone for work, you don’t need it for 3 hours.

When its time for deep work, I’ve found that even Do Not Disturb might not be enough. Calls and texts still get through somehow.

Instead, put your phone in Airplane Mode.

Now it's time to put it all together.

Pull out a journal. Work through the 5 pillars. Put the phone on Airplane mode. Whip up Centered and get working on your goals. Once your done tick it off on Commit app.

Do this every day and over time you'll marvel at how consistent you've become.

P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. If you save a lot of bookmarks on Twitter (like me), try dewey. —
   the easiest way to organize Twitter bookmarks (I'm one of the makers).

2. If you're looking for coaching on audience growth book a slot here.

3. I’m putting together a course on how to network online to grow faster. If you’re interested sign up here.

This week’s newsletter is brought to you by Beehiiv.

Beehiiv is the only email service provider with a built-in referral program. Explode the growth of your newsletter by using the most powerful persuasion tool out there, word of mouth.

Start growing your newsletter faster here.

If you enjoyed today's newsletter, consider sharing it with friends and family. If they don’t hate you, they might thank you.

If this email was forwarded to you, consider subscribing to receive them in future.