How I went from a hot mess to an organized professional I used to scoff at goals, resolutions, and aspirations. Life, it seemed, was too full of random chaos. It’s what happens while you’re making other plans, right? There were big things in my childhood that were out of my control. My dad left. My…
Category: productivity
Sometimes a great Notion
Do you Notion? I had been hearing a lot about this new notes/ productivity tool, but I resisted trying it for a long time. I’ve been using Evernote for over a decade to take notes, and I have a task manager that I like (TickTick, though I have also used Todoist for years). Why would…
Doing the things I don’t want to do
DO NOT WANT This week, I’m starting a series of user interviews at work, in an effort to develop personas for users of the content we produce. It’s all part of my role as a senior content strategist at a software company, and it is something I have been working toward for a year. I…
What’s in a January?
One month into 2023, and what have I done? Have I forgotten my resolutions and abandoned my optimistic goals? Have I made a great start to the next twelve months, or have I stayed stuck in my familiar rut? The truth is, I didn’t start the year with any grand plans for the next twelve…
Quiet Quitting since 1990
Every time someone starts talking about “quiet quitting,” I internally snicker. Like, have we just now noticed that most people show up for work and don’t actually do much? Is this a new trend? A Gen Z phenomenon? Uh, no. Look, I am arguably very productive at work. I’m a good employee—the one you can…
Taking a personal retreat day
The past few Decembers, I have gone through a process designed by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits called “Sacred Bow.” This is a month-long process of reviewing the past year, reflecting on learnings, and deciding what intentions to bring into the new year. This reflective process has been incredibly useful for helping me get focused…
Do productivity apps make you more productive?
We all want to Get Things Done (TM), but do we have the right tools? I am one of those people who easily falls down a rabbit hole of new apps when trying to bolster my ineffectual productivity system. And I’ve done it again. Last night, after a couple of months of firmly re-committing to…
I am not Martha Stewart (and that’s OK)
I had a bit of an a-ha moment out for a walk the other day. I was thinking about how I have a sort of mild obsession with productivity systems, as well as a nagging sense of productivity guilt that has plagued me since childhood. What exactly am I not getting done, I wondered, that…
Can you be a productive creative?
I have a complicated relationship with “productivity.” I learned as a kid that I am not very good at productivity in the traditional sense. I struggled to keep up with homework. I procrastinated and ignored household chores. Even as a surly teen, I thought there must be something wrong with me. I tried to implement…
Write it down: How I am building a second brain
I’ve been reading Tiago Forte’s Building a Second Brain and I’ve realized that this has been one of my primary projects for years now. Whether it’s a new productivity tool, a summary of a conference presentation, or a system for effective meeting notes, my second brain has been under construction for at least a couple…
Plumb Wonderful 