David Allen wrote the book Getting Things Done. The Art of Stress-Free Productivity in 2001 and it quickly became the handbook of personal productivity best practices par excellence. The book begins with a very promising paragraph: IT’S POSSIBLE FOR a person to have an overwhelming number of things to do…

There is a traditional dichotomy that divides people into two groups, thinkers and doers. Thinkers are strategically and creatively minded, always open to new ideas to change or improve the way things are done. They like to invent and experiment, and are good at starting projects. …

Cutting back on your sleep time because you have to work is, generally speaking, a bad idea. Sometimes it may seem necessary because someone has set an arbitrary deadline for a certain project and you have to spend a few days working 14 hours to make it on time. And…

We all have tasks in our Next Actions list that we are reluctant to do and tend to procrastinate or leave for another day. The reasons behind this unwillingness to do things are varied. They are usually complex, boring, stressful or simply unpleasant tasks, such as calling that person we…

A common question people have when they hear about the GTD methodology and start to consider it as a possible option to organize themselves better and work more effectively, is “how much time will I need?” How long does it take to learn GTD and properly integrate the method into…

Opportunity cost is a concept used in economics to identify the cost of not doing something. It’s the value of the alternative action lost in making a decision, and is usually a monetary value. In the financial field, it is used to evaluate investments when there are several possible alternatives…

As I said in the article Principles of Personal Productivity, one of the most important things to understand in order to maintain good standards of personal productivity is motivation. People are motivated by both external and internal reasons, and understanding the motivators that drive your behavior is key to achieving…

If you are a reader of this blog, you may be looking to organize yourself better so you can be more productive, or you are simply looking to expand your knowledge and skills to better manage your life. It’s also possible that there are some elements in your life that…

If you are constantly fighting to stay awake and alert at work or you dread going to the office the moment you open your eyes in the morning, then you may be experiencing burnout. …