The Productivity Trap
Actually working inefficiently > spending that time trying to optimise for marginal gains. Start working and iteratively experiment upwards. I used to be terrible for spending most of my time doing the latter.
How to be Productive?
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Just Start: Don’t paralyse yourself by trying to globally optimise everything. Just start. You’re better off doing something sub-optimally then staying at the beginning (which is technically optimal lol).
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Experiment Ruthlessly, Endlessly: Everyone works differently. This also ties into learning. Experiment with every potential variable. Track the results.
- Try more/less hours of sleep.
- Try caffeine / no breakfast / breakfast.
- Try different notetaking methods. Try handwritten or digital.
- Try learning by building. Try learning by watching lectures only. Try not watching lectures at all.
- I found I learn best with good sleep, trying to teaching others and spaced repetition, but you could be different. Never stop experimenting with new methods as well!
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Take Care of Yourself: Drink lots of water. Exercise.
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Snowball your efforts: Work on something really hard for a long period of time. Do it for long enough, and the effects will make you immeasurably better. Ties into Compound Effect.