How to Figure Out Your Personal Productivity System
As I share more about planning and productivity for creatives, I am frequently asked the same question: How do you know what works for you?
The answer is: I don't! I am constantly figuring that out. I only feel comfortable talking about productivity, and occasionally offering advice, because I've spent the past decade trying to figure out what works for me. Ultimately, what works for me is always changing. But rather than just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks and feeling even more confused, I've set up experiments for myself so that I am always in a cycle of trying something, reviewing, and implementing changes. Creatives benefit from not starting from scratch: when we can emulate an existing process and change/adapt it, we can save the more important creative brain power for our creative work.
Our lives are rarely the same for long periods of time. Things are always in flux. I sometimes dream about having a stretch of time where every day's schedule is exactly the same, because I do well with structure and routine, but that's just not the case and never will be! So while I am not exactly the most flexible person, I am adaptable and try to structure my life accordingly.
In a recent email from James Clear, author of Atomic Habits (a great, no-nonsense book about habit-building), Clear cites author Marshall Goldsmith:
“What got you here won’t get you there.”
Clear goes on to say:
“Doing the same thing over and over again, even if it worked for a long time, will eventually lead to a plateau. If nothing changes, nothing is going to change.”
Having a process that never changes is a common myth about productivity and can be a pitfall for those who don't have a process to begin with. So I'm here to tell you that processes are ever-changing elements of our lives. Thinking of it this way removes any guilt that arises when we get that gut feeling that something just isn't working anymore, or never worked to begin with. Have you ever tried a productivity tool that everyone loves, but you just didn’t understand the hype? That’s because it didn’t work for you, and that is 100% OK! Experimentation will help you discover, and constantly improve, your process.
So, let's start with the basics: what is a process?
For the purposes of this article, we'll define a process as a system that helps you do something. That's pretty much it. Within a process, you have your work style, which refers to how you actually do things when you work. I know it seems pedantic to differentiate between these, but they are different and you'll benefit from distinguishing between the two even if that's just in your head. The process is high level structure, and the work style is the actual pen-to-paper (figurative) activity.
So when I refer to my processes, I'm referring to both of those elements. I am constantly refining both aspects, because I can’t do one without the other. My process helps me wrangle ideas, plans, and tasks, whereas my work style helps me execute those things.
When you know your process, you can easily answer:
What do I want/need to do?
When do I need to do it?
How will I do it (or how do I want to do it)?
How can I do it as efficiently as possible?
How will I know that it's done?
How will I know what to do next?
Note how these can refer to anything, not just work or creativity. When you make good processes for yourself, it has a ripple effect into the other aspects of your life.
You can use those questions as a starting point. Are you able to answer these questions without thinking too hard about them?
If not, it's time to build you a better system.
How to Experiment
Here’s a process that you may not want to change much: this adapted version of the “scientific method.” It comes down to: what do you want to test? How will you test it? How will you study/observe the takeaways? Let’s go through this step-by-step. I recommend taking out a notebook and working through this activity with me.
Start with the problem.
A “problem” is anything preventing us from achieving what we want, whether that’s peace of mind, a health work-life balance, creative fulfillment, stability, a better relationship, etc. Whenever I get that feeling of, “I would do anything for a fresh start!” I start with a problem audit to address whatever is causing me unrest or anxiety. Not all problems are equal, but they all add up to affect our moods and behaviors over time.
In your notebook, write down every “problem” that you can think of. Just let these come to you and don't self-edit. The more honest we are with ourselves, the better systems we can make that actually work. A good system works BEST when our lives are hard, because we should always be building around our actual, real lives and not a hypothetical one we aspire for.
Once you have your list of problems, identify one that is in your control to change or address. We’ll focus on that one for now, with the hopes that you can use this experimental process to address other issues in your life.
To help illustrate the following points, I’m going to use an example that may be relatable to some of my fellow creators. Let’s say you have fallen out of love with your NaNoWriMo book idea and want to give up, but you’ve given up every year before and wanted this year to be different. You feel guilty and far away from your goals/dreams, and don’t know how to get out of the rut. This is the perfect kind of problem that can be helped with a process.
Identify points of friction.
This is a key step: it’s not enough to just identify a problem, it’s drilling down to figure out what makes it a problem. This is what a point of friction is (some people call it a “pain point.”) What is causing you an extra step to get started, make progress on, or complete your directive?
Using our sample problem about NaNoWriMo, let’s break down the problem into smaller pieces:
You don’t feel like you have enough time to write, or that you’re using your time inefficiently
You get distracted a lot
You’ve reached a difficult chapter and don’t know how to move the story further
You’re using a complicated writing tool that a friend recommended to you, but find yourself spending more time learning the tool instead of writing
From this list, we can identify a few points of friction:
Lack of time
Distraction
The wrong tool
Come up with at least one way to address this problem.
Now the fun part comes in, because we can do something about these points of friction. I’ve found that without breaking down the problem to this step, it’s really hard to think of actionable ways to address it. Using your list of friction, come up with at least one way you can address it.
Already, there are some things we can try.
Lack of time: Try tracking your time to find times to write that make sense with your current schedule.
Distraction: Try time-blocking to fully focus on your creative time. Use a website/app blocker for short periods of time to reduce distraction. Clean your desk/work area to encourage focus.
The wrong tool: Try using an easy tool you’ve already used. You can spend time learning a new tool when you’re not already in the midst of a big creative endeavor. Use what works for you, even if it’s simple. (Simple is better for writing anyway!)
Try one new thing for a short amount of time.
From your list of action items, choose ONE thing to try. Habits are better made a little bit at a time, because it’s easy to feel motivated, do a bunch of things at once, and then lose motivation and never do those things again. Habit-building is not a race.
A colleague recently told me that, when we change our wakeup schedule, the most we can reasonably change it long-term is by 10 minutes at a time. It’s very hard to sustain a major schedule change, like waking up at 6:30 instead of 8. Instead, try waking up at 7:50 for a week; then 7:40 the next week; and so on, until you eventually wake up at 6:30 a.m. every day.
Commit to trying one proposed action for a duration of time. I like trying things in weekly increments; usually I know after two full weeks if a new process change will work for me or not. Depending on your change, you may need more time than this. Start with two weeks, but adjust as needed!
For our example, switching writing tools is an easy thing to try. Let’s say we go back to using Google Docs for two weeks to determine if a more familiar tool does the trick!
Review and reflect.
This is arguably the most important part of this experiment, because if we don’t take time to review and reflect on the results, we don’t know if they worked or not. It’s important to remember that learning what doesn’t work is just as valuable as learning what does. Knowing what doesn’t work for YOU helps you eventually identify those pitfalls sooner. You may try an experiment again in the future, because nothing is ever 100% off the table, but for now, in this stage in your life, it’s not helping you and you don’t need to use it. Time to move on!
Be honest in your review and reflection. If you tried something and liked 90% of it, but not the other 10%, document why that is. (It’s good practice to write these things out so that you have a personal archive you can reference.)
Our example: So we used Google Docs for two weeks, and initially, it helped until we plateaued. Having fewer features seems to reduce some distraction, but we still go on Twitter too much when we could be writing. It would be a good next step to try one of the ideas we had to reduce distraction, so for the next two weeks, we’re going to use a website blocker during writing time. After that, we’ll review and reflect again.
See how this starts to become a process? During this stage, I always have a takeaway that jumpstarts my next experiment. Over time, I hone in on what is working, including the tools that work best for me; the habits I need to address to feel more focused and productive, etc. I think of this as “rapid experimentation”; I don’t spend HOURS coming up with a new system from scratch without experimenting. I build it piece-by-piece over time, and it gets better and more adaptable because of it.
Personal Case Study
To give you one more example, I thought it would be helpful to actually outline a personal experiment I am in the midst of trying for myself.
Problem
Feeling unfinished at the end of the day. I just want to end the work day feeling like I’ve wrapped up loose ends, so that I can rest and do other hobbies in the evenings without thinking about work.
Points of friction
Having to update more than one planner.
Rushed morning routine.
Rushed evening routine when Andrew gets home from work; he gets home when I’m still working, and my focus goes out the window.
Lots of “small tasks” that haven’t been important so they keep getting pushed off, but they are adding up and weighing on me.
What would help?
Better time management. Can try time-tracking again. In the past, time-tracking felt tedious, so I can try a different tool this time.
More reasonable daily to-do lists (return to my “what would give me peace of mind?” question).
Journaling to clear my head.
Delegating some of the small tasks.
Do I have any personal metrics I can consult?
This is a step you can add once you’ve experimented for a while. I like to quickly glance through my systems to see if I have an easily identifiable number that I can use as a goal to change. Numbers are easy goals, because they can change and you can witness the change.
My metric for this experiment were the unfinished projects on Asana and Notion that had past due dates. If I could get caught up on my backlog, I know that would alleviate some of my evening ruminating and I can better focus on what’s coming.
Experiment:
Because I do “rapid experimentation,” I’ve learned how to try more than one thing at a time. I still keep these to a minimum, however, and I try to pair habit changes that are related.
Track my time with Toggl to see what's going on every day.
(Those are the two I tried at the same time.)
A sample WorkCycles spreadsheet. This is a version of the Pomodoro (time-blocking) method that works well for me.
I staggered the rest of my action items, some of which included:
Morning planning every day with physical planner so I can plan more thoughtfully.
Less social media time — use Forest to block apps.
Do emails at the end of the day instead of at the start of the day.
Wake up a little bit earlier (15 minutes).
Takeaways
When I reflected on these changes, I learned the following about myself and my process that I have now implemented:
The Toggl app works better for me than the Toggl browser extension (less friction).
Time-tracking has been great for holding me accountable, but I don’t need to track every second of every day.
Time blocking is too rigid for every day use but helpful for busy days with many different tasks.
The Pomodoro/time-blocking system works great for me early in the week, especially on Mondays and Tuesdays.
I prefer using my streamlined WorkCycles template in Notion instead of the spreadsheet version. One less tool to use.
The days when I have meetings seem to make me feel the most “unfinished.” Don’t plan on doing other creative stuff after work on those days, and just focus on day job.
I love the flexibility of my digital planner and prefer that for planning. I like using my analog planner at the end of the day to document what I did.
I feel most focused in the morning, before noon. Do the tasks that require focus at this time, and leave the “easy”/quick to-dos for later in the day.
This experiment doesn’t magically make my life perfect, BUT I now know a lot about my work style and process that will help me through the next few months, which I know will be especially busy. I am glad I can rely on my systems, because that’s the whole point of making them! Spending the time to learn this about ourselves is invaluable.