The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

by Chris Bailey

A fresh, personal, and entertaining exploration of a topic that concerns all of how to be more productive at work and in every facet of our lives.
 
Chris Bailey turned down lucrative job offers to pursue a lifelong dream--to spend a year performing a deep dive experiment into the pursuit of productivity, a subject he had been enamored with since he was a teenager. After obtaining his business degree, he created a blog to chronicle a year-long series of productivity experiments he conducted on himself, where he also continued his research and interviews with some of the world's foremost experts, from Charles Duhigg to David Allen. Among the experiments that he Bailey went several weeks with getting by on little to no sleep; he cut out caffeine and sugar; he lived in total isolation for 10 days; he used his smartphone for just an hour a day for three months; he gained ten pounds of muscle mass; he stretched his work week to 90 hours; a late riser, he got up a 5:30 every morning for three months--all the while monitoring the impact of his experiments on the quality and quantity of his work. 
 
The Productivity Project --and the lessons Chris learned--are the result of that year-long journey. Among the counterintuitive insights Chris Bailey will teach  
·         slowing down to work more deliberately;
·         shrinking or eliminating the unimportant; 
·         the rule of three; 
·         striving for imperfection; 
·         scheduling  less  time for important tasks; 
·         the 20 second rule to distract yourself from the inevitable distractions; 
·         and the concept of  productive  procrastination.
In an eye-opening and thoroughly engaging read, Bailey offers a treasure trove of insights and over 25 best practices that will help you accomplish more.

Genres: Productivity, Self Help, Nonfiction, Personal Development, Business, Psychology, Audiobook

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 5, 2016

About the author

Chris Bailey is a productivity expert, and the international bestselling author of The Productivity Project, which has been published in eleven languages. His much-anticipated second book, Hyperfocus: How to Be More Productive in a World of Distraction, comes out in September. Chris writes about productivity at Alifeofproductivity.com, and speaks to organizations around the globe on how they can become more productive, without hating the process.

Reviews

[Amir Tesla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book envelopes many great ideas that have proven to make you more productive and are results of one year engagement with numerous experiments from the author. If you value efficiency, meaning, control, discipline, growth, freedom, learning, and knowledge, this is the book for you.

What's so cool and inspiring about this book is that Chriss Bailey the author takes a year off to try and test a wide spectrum of ideas and observe how they affect his productivity and that's actually what makes this book valuable: battle-tested ideas. So let's get to some of the greatest insights:

1. The foundation
Chris Argues that his most treasured lesson he learned is before all answering the question: why do you want to become more productive.

It's pretty difficult to become more productive day in and day out when you don't care about what you want to accomplish on a deeper level

The best way to measure your productivity is to ask yourself at the end of the day: Did I get done what I intended to do?

The rule of 3: This is what I personally have been doing for the past 10 months and it's amazing. Simply before heading to sleep, write down your most important 3 tasks you want to tackle the day after. Thinking about when, where and how you're going to accomplish each item drastically improves the chances of you getting them done.

Biological Prime Time: This is one to most incredible insights of the book. Prepare a sheet containing a box containing your daily waking hours of a week. You're supposed to check your energy level for every hour during this week to finally calculate you biological prime time. In these moments you have the most mental energy to perform you most important and high return tasks. During this week you must cut out Caffeine, alcohol, sugar and fall asleep and wake up naturally.
It may sound unsexy but it definitely worth the effort.

2. Wasting Time
These are the triggers of procrastination embedded within the tasks we find aversive:
Boring
Frustrating
Difficult
Unstructured or ambiguous
Lacking in personal meaning
Lacking in intrinsic rewards (not engaging or fun)
In case of facing objectives with one or more of these attributes, you must flip each element to make the task as attractive as watching a whole season of game of thrones :D
For instance, if you have to work on a boring paper, take it to a coffee shop and do it there. If it's frustrating, work on it for limited chunks of time (say chunks of 30 minutes). If it's difficult, research for best steps to cake and seek advice for clarity.

Battling Procrastination
Procrastination List: Another wonderful idea in the book is the preparing a list of things you must do (organizing your hard drive etc.) and put them in a procrastination list and tackle them when you want to simply rest your mind or procrastinate.

List the cost: Make a list of what happens if you keep putting off the task. It will serve as push motivation.

Just get started: Getting started is the worst part. Set a timer for 20 minutes and just go for doing the task for that amount of time and you'll be awed when you observe how easy it is for you to continue.

3. The end of time management
Time continues to tick at the same rate, but your energy and attention fluctuate on daily basis. In the knowledge economy, that's what makes or brakes how productive you are and more importantly, it's something you can control.

A great insight of this book is authors experiment of a month working 90 hours each week and a month working for only 20 hours weekly. In the end, he found that his productivity was just trivially higher in his 90 hours work week while sacrificing far more time which led him to conclude that longer working hours means having less time to refocus and recharge, which leads to more stress and lower energy followed by lower productivity.

Limit how much time you spend on an important task. This artificial deadline lets you invest more energy and attention into the task, hence, getting more than in less fraction of the time.
-
If you schedule your weekends in advance, you will be provided with shots of dopamine throughout the week :D

Maintenance Day: Another powerful idea. Set a day of your weeks as a maintenance day. Throughout the week collect all your low-return maintenance tasks (like washing clothes, shopping etc.) and take care of them in that day. This would save you lots of time.
Generally, multitasking severely lowers your productivity. However, when dealing with maintenance tasks, multitask as much as you can :D

4. The Zen of Productivity
Do not cram in as many tasks as there are in your days since they create a mental logjam and your productivity significantly plummets.

Creating more attentional space around your highest-return activities will help you come up with better ideas. The reason we tend to come up with a lot more great ideas in the shower compared to when we’re on a smartphone is simple: when we’re taking a shower, we create enough attentional space for our mind to wander and for new ideas and thoughts to bubble up to the surface. Simplifying your life of low-return tasks has a similar effect. Doing so not only allows you to dedicate more time and attention to your highest-return tasks; it also helps you generate more great ideas for them.

Shrinking the Unimportant: "Parkinson's law" states that your work expands to fit the amount of time you have available for it.

Simply limit the time you allot to dealing with the unimportant tasks or they will take as long as you provide them to finish.

The 90% Rule: When you look at a new opportunity, rank it on a scale of 1-100 on how valuable or meaningful you think it is. If it isn't a 90 or above, don't do it.

5. Emptying your brain
Externalize whatever occupies your mind (your appointments, your worries, your upcoming tasks etc.) by writing them on a piece of paper and prevent them from sucking up your mental energy.

There are further chapters on effects of meditation, exercise, sleeping, eating habits etc that if I wanted to extract the essence of their relevance this would be it: The more energy and attention you cultivate, the more you get done if far lesser time.

To hone your focus your attention author suggests meditation and practicing mindfulness (which is now backed by countless brain studies). Having healthy eating habits, sleeping enough, keeping your mind free all contribute to having more attention and energy which are the pillars of productivity.

The final word
Being productive like many other amazing character traits is a combination of good habits. If you want to build a new habit, start very small. In my own case, numerous times have I tried to stick to daily 15 minutes meditations and I failed after a couple of weeks until I decided to meditate for one minute a day and increase it another minute weekly till it reaches 15 mins. I was amazed by how I craved to increase the duration with each day passed by.

All in all, this book provides a decent set of tested habits that incorporating them to your life make you a more productive person in the end. I admire the author for his courage to embark on such a challenging journey and providing us with his experience. I enjoyed the book and definitely recommend it to all those lovely productivity buffs.

[Victoria · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have never found an author's personality more revolting than Bailey's. Sure, he has a few good tips here and there, but it didn't make up for the fact that he started writing this book his first year out of college, never having had a full-time, permanent, big-boy job. He's just some rich white asshole who had enough money to tour Europe and take a year off from working to do nothing but write a book and some blog posts. Of course he's productive, it's easy to be productive when nothing bad ever happens to you and you have time to take a week off to meditate all day! He's delusional about how office life actually works- or life at all, really.

Ick. I feel disgusted knowing I gave money to this creep (indirectly). I need to go shower.

[Katie Bruell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to re-read this every 6 months until it's burned in my brain. So much good advice. It really got me thinking about a lot of different aspects of my work and life. It's so much more than just making better use of your time.

[Apoorva · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re someone who’s looking for ways to be productive, then ‘The Productivity Project’ is for you. This book is a summary of the author’s research and experiments on productivity over the course of a year or the compilation of techniques to boost productivity that actually worked. The chapters were short and the author also provided a takeaway and an estimated time in front of each chapter which seems fitting to the project! While explaining his techniques, the author also cited various interesting researches to show why these techniques are effective.

You don’t feel like you’re slogging through the book. Plus, there were several challenges that are simple and not intimidating, scattered throughout the book that’ll help you be more productive in the long run. The project is more about digging deeper in your mind and learning about yourself and your motivations. But as they say that things are bound to go wrong, the author also faced challenges during the experiments. But he managed to overcome them and learned to not be hard on himself when things didn’t go as planned. Here are some important highlights-

Productivity in brief:

🔹Productivity has nothing to do with how much you do and everything to do with how much you accomplish

🔹The best way to measure productivity is to ask yourself a simple question at the end of every day: Did I get done what I intended to? When you accomplish what you intend to and you’re realistic and deliberate about the productivity goals you set, you’re productive

🔹A small number of tasks lead to the majority of what you accomplish therefore productivity isn’t about doing more things, it’s about doing the right things

🔹The dread of doing a task uses up more time and energy than doing the task itself

🔹Time is no longer the money, productivity is money

🔹It’s pretty much impossible to act deliberately 100% of the time. This is what makes productivity more of an art than science

🔹Busyness is no different than laziness when it doesn’t lead you to accomplish anything

🔹When you spend too much time on your tasks, it’s not a sign that you have too much to do; rather, it’s a sign that you’re not spending your energy and attention wisely

🔹Small incremental changes and habits might not the significant by themselves but they add up in the long term to produce big results

🔹Energy is the fuel you burn throughout the day in order to be productive, that’s why eating healthy food is important

🔹The amount of willpower you have is steadily depleted as you expend it over the day

🔹It doesn’t matter what time you wake up, it’s what you do after you wake up and whether you got enough sleep in the first place

Ways to be more productive:

🔹Find a deep, meaningful reason for being productive that’ll sustain your motivation in the long run after the initial excitement wears off

🔹At the start of each day and week, pick 3 tasks and put all your focus in accomplishing them

🔹Identify your Biological Prime Time- the time of the day when you have the most energy, and therefore the greatest potential to be productive

🔹Work on the most meaningful and important tasks during BPT, when you have the most energy- not when you have the most time

🔹Morning is the best time to do creative work as the brain’s prefrontal cortex, responsible for creative thinking, is most active immediately after you wake up

🔹Embrace procrastination but find ways to reduce it

🔹The tasks that will make you the most productive are also the most aversive, so learn to fight the urge to put them off

🔹If you start identifying with your future self without seeing it as a stranger, you’ll be less likely to put things off for your future self to deal with

🔹Disconnect from the internet while working on demanding and unappealing tasks

🔹Consider the internet as a nicety, not a necessity

🔹Managing your time should take a backseat to how you manage your energy and attention

🔹Set deadlines, create urgency and shrink how long you’ll work on a task

🔹Optimal hours to work every week are roughly 35-40 hours, after which your productivity begins to plummet

🔹Gather all your maintenance tasks (those that support your personal life and work but provide you abysmal value) together and tackle them all at once

🔹Reward yourself after you accomplish something

🔹Learn to say no to the tasks that don’t add any value to your life

🔹Work on your tasks slowly with more awareness and mindfulness instead of faster and harder

🔹Delegate and outsource the low-impact tasks in your work and home life

🔹Externalize your tasks and write them down to free up mental space and get organized which will reduce stress and help you focus

🔹Do a weekly review of your tasks and accomplishments

🔹Let your mind wander without distraction as it’s beneficial for brainstorming, problem-solving and becoming more creative

🔹‘Sleep on a problem’- studying before bed will help you perform better on the tests the next day

🔹Keep your distractions more than 20 seconds away from you for eg. Keep your phone in another room while you work

🔹Work on a single task to develop your ‘attention muscle’ as multitasking overloads your brain and your productivity suffers

🔹Try ‘Pomodoro Technique’- Work on only one task for 25 minutes and take a 5-minute break

🔹Practice mindfulness and meditation

🔹Two rules to eat well- Eat more unprocessed food and stop eating after you’re full

🔹Drink fewer alcoholic and sugary drinks, drink more water and drink caffeine only when you need the energy boost, not habitually. Have better caffeine drinks i.e green tea or matcha

🔹Drink water first thing in the morning as it fires up your metabolism making it 24% faster

🔹Start exercising as it provides you energy and ability to focus in return for your time

🔹There’s no perfect wake-up time, you need to figure out the best wake-up time for you

🔹The happy you are, the more productive you’ll be, so be kind to yourself and don’t beat yourself up

Ways to be productive in the long term:

🔹Take breaks more often

🔹Recall 3 things you’re grateful for every day or journal about a positive experience you had at the end of each day

🔹Create sub goals, spend time on planning your project, create a to-do list to make the work structured and engaging

🔹Ask yourself for advice when you run into a difficult situation

🔹Be someone with a growth mindset i.e someone who believes that through hard work and persistence, you can accomplish anything

🔹Create a list of your accomplishments

🔹Look at pictures of cute baby animals! (Studies show that it can boost cognitive and motor performance. And, it’s fun!)

All in all, it’s an absolute must-read book if you want to accomplish more. In the author’s words, this book will provide valuable insights in exchange for your precious time, so I highly recommend it!

Read On Blog!

[K.J. Charles]

There is a certain irony here that the author recommends cutting meetings down to the minimum necessary length and ruthlessly eliminating stuff you don't need to do, and yet this book could have been an article. There are a couple of useful takeaways, for sure, but it comes from a place of massive privilege (he's obviously had to be reminded that some people have children or other caring responsibilities, and that not everyone is in a position to announce "I will only check my email three times a week") and limited ideas about what work is, which makes it rather less useful for a general reader than it could be.

I don't know if this guy invented the phrase 'work smarter not harder' but if he didn't he owes royalties to whoever did, because he hammers it home like Odysseus putting a stake through the cyclops' eye.

[Gautam Soman · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's sad that Goodreads doesn't allow for half-star ratings, and it's ironic that a book about productivity should turn out to be a colossal waste of our time. The author claims to have spent one YEAR trying out and refining the productivity tips and techniques, but I am sorry to report that he shouldn't have bothered.
The few worthwhile pointers the book contains are either covered in other books in much better detail (Getting Things Done by David Allen, for example) or are really common sense (meditate, don't procrastinate, etc.)
Some of the ideas are downright detrimental. To discuss a few...
The author suggests to turn off the phone during sleeping hours. Really? What if our parents need to call us? Or a friend needs urgent help in the middle of the night?
The author recommends 'forcing' ourselves to check email just thrice a day. Really? If email is so bothersome, you should actually reconsider whether to work in a place that uses email.
The author suggests declining any meetings that go beyond our 'predefined weekly meeting quota' (say, 4 hours). Seriously? Try telling your boss that you can't attend a meeting, or try telling a client that you won't participate in an escalation discussion because "it's beyond my weekly meeting quota".

There's no denying the point that emails, smartphones, meetings can be distracting and a time-hog, but if a 'productivity technique' relies upon just ignoring them or shutting them off, it needs to be scrutinized closely.
I could go on, but here's just one more: The author suggests having an assistant, someone who can be paid $15-30 per hour -- or even more, if h/she is good enough. Dude, that turns out to be about two thousand rupees per hour!

And there are contradictions galore… At the beginning, the author suggests allocating less time for important tasks (yeah, you read it right), so that we would 'focus more on them'. But what about the associated stress? And what about "single tasking for extended duration' that you preach later on? And what to do with the spare time 'saved' by not working on the tasks that matter?

Usually, I don't post negative reviews. But it is books like this that taint the productivity genre as a whole.

[Isaac Jourden · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just returned my first ever Audible audiobook: The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey.

It's pretty much a handful of basic tips everyone knows (stop watching so much TV, stop using the internet so much) and fluff.

If you want the equivalent of this book, just google "best ways to be productive" and read for 20 minutes. The claim is that he spent a year "researching productivity full time." What he really did was decide not to get a job, read articles online about being productive, and blog about it.

Good books on productivity exist. This isn't one of them. It's a surface level retread of what's already out there, with no depth. Instead of diving deeper or moving on, Chris repeats himself ad-nauseum, often saying the exact same idea, the same way, with no variation or added detail four or five times on the same page. For a book on productivity, the space in this book isn't very well used.

If you want to be more productive, skip this book and look for a two page synopsis of it instead. You'll get the same results.

[Kris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some useful ideas, buried in a lot of redundancy.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read productivity books like other people read the Bible. You've heard it all before. You believe most of it is true. You need constant reminders of why it's true and why it's worth knowing.

Chris Bailey's book is no different. He pulls together some great information about productivity based on his year-long project, much of which, are things I have read before (Getting Things Done) and many things I have suspected to be true (multi-tasking is bad and meditation is good).

I am fortunate enough to work for myself, so I can readily apply many of the tips and hacks in this book. If you work in an office environment with a boss-man (or boss-lady) you may have a tough time convincing them of the positive benefits of a mid-afternoon power nap.

Here are a few things I took away from this book:

• Productivity isn't about doing more things, it's about doing the right things.
• We all have BPT or Biological Prime Times. I am intrigued by his idea of cutting back on caffeine and alcohol and subjectively measuring your energy throughout the day to arrive at your true BPT.
• Protecting, nurturing and being mindful of your time, attention and energy is the key to increased productivity
• The Rule of 3 - Asking yourself "when the day is over, what 3 things do I want to have accomplished?" I think this is one of the key takeaways for me. I've altered my daily routine to include writing down my "3 things."

Overall, I enjoyed the content of the book. I listened to this on Audible and found Chris's delivery to be warm and funny (albeit a tad high on the "golly-gee-whiz" spectrum). I would definitely recommend this book to productivity wonks (like me) and freelancers/consultants who can derive the most direct applicability and value.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, insightful, and honest, Bailey tries out all the methods for increasing productivity and reports back on what works so that we don't have to go through the trial and error process. He breaks things down in manageable chunks for activities to try, and even gently compromises with readers who are resistant to some of the activities (aka me). Most commendably, he puts value to mindfulness and encourages us to reflect and think about the deeper reasons behind wanting to be productive beyond romanticized notions.

[Olha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Найкрутіша книга з продуктивності, з тих, що я читала. А читала я їх багатенько, бо тема мені цікава :)
Вона класна дієвими, конкретними порадами і техніками. Автор на собі перепробував все, що описано в книзі і найголовніше - він написав тільки про дієві методи.
Згадує інші джерела, тобто, якщо вам буде замало - можна зануритись далі в конкретні книги. Але мені здається, що тут є абсолютно все, щоб просто купити одну книгу і почати змінювати своє життя.

[Alireza Rostami · Rating 2 out of 5]

شما هم می تونید مثل کریس بیلی عزیز ، یک سال پس از فارغ التحصیلی از دانشگاه بدون اینکه هیچ حرفه ای داشته باشید یا بیزینسی رو حتی شروع کرده باشید ، کتابی راجب موفقیت و بهره وری بنویسید . همین قدر احمقانه . همین قدر ساده
هرچند که ، باز این کتاب به نسبت بقیه کتاب هایی که در همین موضوع و با همین محتوا نوشته شدند ، بسیار قابل تحمل تر بود

[Maria · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't get past his writing and style. I prefer GTD as a productivity book.

[Dr. Tobias Christian Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

How should you position yourself in a project? You can either be a monk or a broker - or in other words said: you should find your balance between work hard, play hard. The book has great parts and is well-written.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you prefer your information about productivity to come from anecdotes rather than scientific evidence, this book is for you. The young author (a recent college grad without a job, a family or a mortgage) spent a year "acting out" the conclusions of many productivity researchers. He worked hard to be productive, and wrote about it as he went. This is a classic example of "blog turned book." The book jacket reads, "Chirs Bailey...wrote over 216,000 words on the subject of productivity on his blog." I found the book to be loosely written, and the chapters to be overly chatty. He worked hard to summarize each chapter with estimated reading times, a takeaway, and application activities. His productivity needs are tremendously different than mine, and I found that I was already familiar with almost all the research he references.
My best take away: I decided to create a "maintenance" or "preparation day" during my week, clustering errands, meal prep, and "business" related tasks.

[Nick Bachusky · Rating 5 out of 5]

such a great book with many takeaways, should be required reading in high school!

[فداء عويسات · Rating 4 out of 5]

كريس قرر أن يخصص سنة من حياته ليدرس فيها الإنتاجية، حيث سيقوم بعمل مقابلات ، قراءة ودراسة كل ما يتعلق بالموضوع سواء كتب او اوراق بحثية واخيرا تجربة كل ما يمكن أن يزيد من إنتاجيته والكتابه عنه.

الجميل في الموضوع، ان موضوع الإنتاجية هو شغفه، وقرر أن يترك فرصتين عمل يمكن ان نقول انهما مضمونتين ليسير في طريق غير واضح المعالم.

توقعت أن يكون الكتاب عبارة عن وصف كامل لتجربته، لكنه على العكس مليء بخلاصة التجربة والكثير من الخطوات العملية التي يمكن تطبيقها!

الكتاب افادني جدا..

يمكن قراءة بعض المقالات من خلال موقعه..
http://alifeofproductivity.com

[Chris Farrugia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book yet it is a series of productivity "experiments" as he calls them and without any hypothesis other than, "this may make me more productive." Drink only water. Groundbreaking. Watch 70 hours of TED talks in a week. Brilliant. I hope my sarcasm didn't fall on deaf ears.

The biggest issue with this book is that it is written by a kid. He doesn't have a job--in fact, he mentions right in the beginning of the book that he was offered a couple of jobs and turned them down in order to do these absurd experiments. He clearly does not understand the life of someone with kids, someone with a job in an office or for lack of a better word--an adult. He is a millennial that feels like a creative guy. The part that boggles my mind the most is how anybody gave this more than 1 star.

[Jordan Shirkman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like almost all productivity books (why do I keep reading them?) it’s a mixed bag of helpful (turn doing your taxes into a fun process), unhelpful (overemphasis on Buddhist practices), and completely absurd tips (stop drinking coffee for pleasure).

Some things I especially liked: making a maintenance task list of recurring low-brain power tasks, asking “Did I get done what I intended?” each day, and trying to do a task in half the time you estimate it may take to motivate yourself to work more quickly.

About 100 pages too long, and nothing revolutionary, but some good insights (people like video games because there are rewards and achievements along the way, so break your work down in a similar way) and encouragements (start small as you make changes and set yourself up well to make them).

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the good side, it is a fairly comprehensive review of many aspects of living 'productive' life - sleep, clean eating, exercises, mindfulness, offloading stuff from your head, etc. If I was looking for a one book to recommend that covers most of the important subjects, I may pick it. Not saying, it's the best for this purpose, but it will do the trick.

On the bad side... I'm tired of books targeting neophytes. Yes, I understand that there are substantially more people, who are just starting to change their lives to the better (after all population increase pretty much guarantees that), but I don't want to hear yet again about not watching TV for 3 hours every day (or dropping daily Starbucks coffee habit to save money, for that matter) - because, believe it or not, but there are quite a few of us, who already passed that stage and looking for solutions to a bit more challenging problems.
When I picked up this book I was looking for more Gretchen-Rubin or AJ-Jacobs style of writing, where you actually document your experiments as they go and describe in details your personal successes and failures. This book talks a lot about experiments conducted, but rarely goes into the details and frankly many times I somewhat doubted that those experiments actually happened or, at least, that they were long enough and thorough enough to derive any conclusions. This is more of the feeling, rather than factually-supported suspicion, but nevertheless...

So, draw your own conclusions. The book has a lot of good advice, but it also sounds like a step in the marketing strategy, promoting author's business. I don't mind aggressive marketing in this area, the way Tim Ferris does that, but somehow I ended up trusting Tim Ferris substantially more than Chris Bailey.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a really hard book to review because I didn't really care for it, but I don't necessarily think it's a bad book. I've read several reviews that talk about how there really was no new information in this book, but, to be fair, I don't really think that was the author's purpose. The premise of his project was that he would try out a lot of the productivity tips and tricks already out there to determine which are the most effective. And overall I think he accomplished this. While I didn't really gain anything new out of reading this book, it did cause me to do a little self-evaluation and that is always a benefit.

My issue with the book is primarily with Chris Bailey's writing style. His idea of being funny and my idea of being funny are very different and this made the book a little cringe-inducing for me. I also found that this was not a book that I could have sat down and read for long periods of time. A chapter a day was pushing it and they are not long chapters. Overall, I would say that if you are just starting out in the world of productivity, organization and time management then this might be a good place to begin...just don't let all the dad jokes turn you off the genre.

[Regina Pfohl · Rating 3 out of 5]

All very informative and many good tips and many stats, if you're into those as well. The author does lose some credibility when going through his "typical" day which is perfectly planned and productive and does not involve one other person besides himself. So, yeah, probably not the read for a busy mom juggling career, household, kids, husband, meetings, and the forever-arising pop-up crisis. I'm still waiting for the treatise on how to be productive when your life is one unexpected demand after the other.

[Books on Stereo · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest, I do not see the need in reading self-help books. Most of the knowledge is, to me, at least, common sense. Content-wise - I would give this book 1/5 stars. In terms of enjoyment, I would give it 3.5/5 stars. If you need help with becoming more productive (and you refuse to use common sense), I think this might be the book for you.

[lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a useful book. chris did know what he was yapping on about, i probably did take a couple things away from it but kinda gave up at the end. lots of life changing potential, really not bothered though.

[Ahmed Al-Harban · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it, but it could be with less number of pages!

Thank you Chris, nice book and good experience :)

[George · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely nothing here. A blog would have been more than enough. So repetitive, it bores you to death.

[Oleksandr Golovatyi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Лучшие цитаты:

"потеря одного часа сна ведет к потере двух часов продуктивной работы" (!!!)

"важное: если вы не умеете управлять всеми тремя компонентами — временем, вниманием и энергией, то практически невозможно работать осознанно и целеустремленно на протяжении всего дня."

Тренируй скорочтение. (промо)

"не все задачи равно­ценны; одно и то же время, затрачиваемое на выполнение задач разных типов, ведет к совершенно разным результатам."

"Наш мозг и правда приспособлен мыслить группами по три."

"Проведенное недавно в США исследование маркетинговой компании IDC показало, что 80% людей в возрасте от 18 до 44 лет проверяют свои смартфоны в течение первых 15 минут после пробуждения."

"Сегодня, время уже не деньги. Продуктивность — вот настоящие деньги."

"Управление временем становится актуальным только после того, как возникает ясность с количеством энергии и внимания, которым вы будете располагать в течение дня, и с тем, чего вы хотите достичь."

"Управляя количеством времени, которое уходит на ту или иную задачу, вы одновременно регулируете количество энергии и внимания, которые будут в нее инвестированы"

"занятость не эквивалентна продуктивности, если в результате сделано мало."

"Но исследования показывают, что после 35 или 40 часов работы продуктивность начинает резко падать."

"Многие люди по своей натуре перфекционисты (и я в их числе). Мы продолжаем работать даже после того, как пройдена точка, за которой все уже и так «достаточно хорошо». За этой точкой отдача от инвестиций дополнительного времени быстро падает."

"лимбическая система оказывает настолько мощное сопротивление нашим попыткам сосредоточиться на наиболее сложных перспективных задачах, что вспомогательные и технические задачи с низкой отдачей начинают восприниматься чуть ли не как удовольствие, на которое легко подсесть. С упоением занимаясь ими, мы испытываем иллюзию продуктивности."

"слово «нет» — мощный инструмент продуктивности."

"Вопрос, который я время от времени задаю себе, звучит так: сколько я готов заплатить, чтобы купить один час своей жизни?"

"запись своих задач на внешнем носителе — действенный способ освободить ментальное пространство и повысить организованность."

"«Голова предназначена не для хранения, а для генерирования идей». (слова Дэвида Аллена)"

"сортировка электронной почты по папкам не стоит затрачиваемого времени и внимания. Просто ищите нужные сообщения через функцию поиска."

"существуют семь областей, в которые мы ежедневно инвестируем время, внимание и энергию: Интеллект. Тело. Эмоции. Карьера. Финансы. Отношения. Развлечения."

"По мнению неврологов, наше внимание включает три компонента: 1) Центральный исполнительный компонент: это ваш мыслящий и планирующий мозг, который находится в префронтальной коре. В процессе написания книги, в частности, в разделе о прокрастинации, я сделал все возможное, чтобы активизировать эту часть вашего мозга. Поэтому в данном разделе мы будем говорить в основном о двух других компонентах. 2) Концентрация: сужение фокуса внимания, чтобы сконцентрироваться на текущей задаче и работать более продуктивно. 3) Осознанность: способность осознавать все происходящее как внутри вас, так и во внешней среде. Это помогает работать более осознанно и целенаправленно."

"средний работник интеллектуального труда 50 раз в день проверяет электронную почту и 77 раз в день пользуется сервисами мгновенных сообщений."

"«Правила 20 секунд». Специалисты в области позитивной психологии (такие как автор бестселлеров Шон Эйкор) утверждают, что создание барьеров, на преодоление которых уходит более 20 секунд, достаточно, чтобы поставить отвлечения под контроль."

"С биохимической точки зрения упражнения позволяют мозгу бороться со стрессом продуктивным и контролируемым образом. Но физические упражнения не только помогают снять стресс — они дают массу дополнительных преимуществ, которые позволяют стать более продуктивным. Они увеличивают приток крови к мозгу, что повышает интеллектуальную производительность и креативность, помогают бороться с привычной усталостью, а не только со стрессом, и повышают концентрацию."

"Создайте вечерний ритуал. Я рекомендую выбирать абсолютно конкретное время для отхода ко сну и заранее определить, когда вы будете начинать ритуал завершения дня постепенным замедлением."

"чем больше «синего света» вы видите перед сном, тем хуже качество вашего сна. "

"рекомендую вечерний ритуал отключения всех электронных гаджетов за два-три часа до сна"

"Употребляйте кофеин не позднее, чем за 8–14 часов до сна."

"всегда есть возможности для роста, а ваш интеллект и способности не являются фиксированной величиной. Это отличный способ бросить вызов самому себе и стать более продуктивным."

"Будущее принадлежит людям, которые сочетают в себе все три компонента продуктивности и работают более осознанно, чем все остальные."

[Lalit · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise summary of existing productivity techniques explained in an engaging manner. The author’s main thesis is that managing your energy and attention is more important that managing your time in the present day knowledge economy, and it is important to work deliberately.

The book is structured in a top down manner starting from clarifying the big picture (such as why you want to be productive - what will you do with the extra time?) all the way down to the nitty gritty. It also helps that the author has tried all the techniques first hand and can therefore make you aware of possible issues when trying to implement the suggestions from the book.

My main takeaways from the book are:
(1) it is important to work in a deliberate manner, taking sufficient breaks.
(2) creating a scannable list of hot spots pertaining to the important parts of your life (such as health, work, relationships etc.) to review each week.
(3) hiring a virtual assistant to delegate less important tasks (when I make enough 💰 🤷‍♂️)

Overall, it is an excellent book that I look forward to re-reading in the future. Highly recommend it.

[Bruce Harpham · Rating 5 out of 5]

The productivity and time management genre has long been one of the most popular fields in business books. Bailey’s contribution is notable for his strong research, experimental approach and helpful exercises. In this review, I will discuss various aspects of the book that I found helpful and interesting.

The Three Productivity Factors: Time, Attention and Energy

In the modern knowledge economy, there are three key personal factors that drive productivity. Bailey explains that time, attention and energy are key input factors to manage. At first glance, some people describe productivity as simply another label for time management. This book shows that time management per se matters yet it is not the most important factor. Self-management makes a huge impact to our attention and energy. The productive value of an hour varies considerably based on your current state.

Let’s illustrate that with an example based on sleep habits. When I manage to only get 5-6 hours of sleep, I find that life is much more difficult to manage. A type of mental fog filled with above average amounts of negative emotions cloud my whole day. In contrast, I find that I am in a better mood and better able to sustain productive activity based on a full night’s sleep.

Bailey’s Experimental Approach

I first came across Chris Bailey’s outstanding blog – A Life of Productivity – a few months ago and I was immediately impressed. Bailey’s commitment to long form writing, analysis and experimenting with different approaches attracted my attention. His willingness to track results, numbers and share his findings reminds me of Tim Ferriss’s earlier work on productivity. The world needs more experimentation and validation for productivity ideas, so I hope Bailey continues his work.

In some ways, the most valuable insight from the book is to apply an experimental perspective on your daily work. Throughout the book, Bailey provides a number of productivity challenges to the reader. There’s nothing new to exercises or workbook elements to a business book. Bailey’s innovation is to provide a rating (e.g. the fun rating for this challenge: 8/10) and estimated time for completion. Whether you adopt his specific experiments, I think there is great value in adopting an experimental approach to your work. You can use proven habits and routines 80% of the time and tinker with new methods the remaining 20% of the time.

[Nesa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lately, I've been feeling sick and tired of school-related stuff I normally enjoy doing, which has resulted in a lot of procrastination, weariness, and less time to do other things I love, such as reading, drawing, spending time with my family and friends, and binge-watching Gravity Falls.

This has been going on for over 2 months and I haven't done anything to get out of this rut, hoping it might sort itself out somehow, but so far this strategy —or rather this lack of a clear strategy— hasn't been effective, so I've decided to actually try out this productivity stuff to see if it works.

The productivy project was the first productivity book I read, and back when I was reading it I was determined to try out Bailey's advice to see for myself if it was actually useful. Now, almost 3 years have passed since I finished this book and, if I'm being honest, I haven't applied most of the advice it offers.

So starting from August, I'll check out my notes and I'll put into practice what I've learned from the productivy books I've read so far. Hopefully, these productivity gurus are onto something.

If anything, at least I'll be able to say I tried.