How to be productive?

The first post of this business focused newsletter will be touching on productivity. This is a pet topic of mine as an entrepreneur about getting more things done. These daily productivity improvements should give you more leverage to work through your work weeks and achieve more milestones.

Focus what to work on

One of the worst things that can happen is choosing the wrong project, company, career path, or relationships, leading to wasted years.

Use the 80-20 rule: Allocate 80% of your time to planning and deep thinking about what to work on and how to do it, and 20% of the remaining time to executing it.

Project what the world will need and position yourself to deliver accordingly. This requires having the right skills, resources, and network.

Many successful entrepreneurs fail upwards. When their main project (A) does not pan out, they gracefully transition into alternative options (B and C) as safety nets.

Learn to identify and take asymmetrical bets. You can’t really predict whether you will be right or wrong initially, but when you lose, you lose small, and when you win, you win big.

Managing Relationships

Surround yourself with informed individuals, who can guide and support you. It is also important to walk away from energy draining relationships, be it clients, business partners, colleagues, managers, friends or family.

At work, some may not have the privilege of choosing who you work with, so learn to compartmentalize emotions and relationships when necessary and continue to remain professional.

Learn to say No more and set expectations well, having the hard talk at the onset might lead to better outcomes.

Also learn to pay it forward as much as you can and strengthen your network.

Coffee & Tea

Caffeine and theanine are among the few legal drugs we can consume as performance enhancers.

Use it strategically to stretch your hours. A strong Starbucks Grande brewed coffee will power you through for 1-2 hours of focused work.

Changing work environment at times like going to the coffeeshop can help revitalise your senses and make you feel fresh again.

Melatonin Pills

I use melatonin pills if I struggle to sleep when it is already late, if I have an early morning, or if I need to adjust my sleep habits. Popping a pill can speed up recovery time by hours the next day.

Air Fryer & Combination Oven

The air fryer is a quick and healthy way to cook meals straight from the freezer. Add a protein (steak) and a vegetable (asparagus), and you have a decent meal in 15 minutes. It helps minimize any cleaning up after cooking as well.

Also, the combination oven is a fool proof way to heat up meals quickly without over cooking and drying out the meal.

Robot Vacuum

The new generation models of robot vacuum are really good. They can handle both dry & wet cleaning, self washing and emptying of the tanks. Run it when you are outside the house, or in quiet mode when you are sleeping with your bedroom door closed, of course.

Use large language models (LLMs) for work

Be really familiar with using LLMs like DeepSeek, ChatGPT or Claude, whether you are a software developer or in a non-technical role. Learn to prompt effectively to get the information you need.

However, be mindful that LLMs have their limitations. They may not be useful for certain cross-domain work or for generating information and code from newly released sources. You need to be aware of these limitations and make overrides as necessary.

Simplify your software stack

Reduce the number of software services you use. Platforms like Google Workspace and Telegram can handle multiple functions and work processes, so try to maintain simple, streamlined workflows.

Use Telegram effectively for chats, note-taking, and making lists.

Telegram is probably the best chat and productivity app. Create named chat groups wisely. You can create TODO lists in them, share information, upload files to share with friends and family within the chat groups.

Plan for the next day while sleeping

Lucid thinking can help clear your thoughts and revise what happened during the day. Try thinking about your day’s problems just before you sleep and after you wake up. It can help troubleshoot problems by letting your mind wander.

Listen to your energy levels and work accordingly

You don’t want to accumulate energy debt by sprinting too hard and then having to over-rest afterward. Rest when you need to, and sprint doubly hard when you feel good.

Go on exercises and walks

Long walks are one of the best things we can do to reduce stress levels. Wander mindlessly and let your thoughts flow. Additionally, having a kettlebell at home works well, as it provides substantial weight-lifting motions with just a simple item.

Have a good diet

The gist is to eat lesser than required and lesser than what you feel like. Try to have your last meal of the day before 7pm and avoid watching food videos at night. Try to meal prep more to plan what you will eat in advance. Get comfortable with intermittent fasting.

Batch your work and how you reply messages

Context switching is costly. You need to reload the last saved check point of the work flow each time you switch a task. Batch similar tasks to help maintain focus and efficiency. This applies to replying messages and emails as well.

Prioritise your mornings

Your mornings are the most precious. Do your most important work in the morning when you are most alert and less distracted. Schedule your less important meetings for later in the day.

Minimise non essential calls and meetings

Scheduled calls are always energy draining. Instead of having a call, just email. Instead of an email just text. I really appreciate concise WhatsApp and Telegram messages for asynchronous communication.

Use the silence unknown caller mode if you are using on the iPhone. Also activate the voice message mode on iPhone, to allow incoming callers to leave a voice message and have the message transcribed into text for you to read.

Calls and face to face meetings are essential if you are communicating sensitive, potentially negative messages which you don’t really want to leave a written record of, or if you are trying to rekindle or build new relationships.

Some events and introductory calls are a waste of time, serving merely CRM data collection points for the other party. Learn to filter out less important calls, or arrange them in a more aligned way without blocking out your time.

Have a conducive workspace

Set up a warm, quiet, and isolated workspace for yourself. Use headphones to ensure that you can work for long blocks of time without interruptions. You don’t need too many screens, often one focused screen works better.

Have mindful consumption of TV & media

TV, YouTube, and Netflix can often be significant time sinks, especially when the content creators are incentivized to put out content to maximise your watch time. For sure, there will be useful information content, but always be weary of what you watch.

Still, avoid over optimization

Don’t over-optimize productivity for its own sake. Be natural, enjoy the process, and find a balance. Sometimes, when you don’t feel productive, it is okay to just let it slip and not do anything.

Good luck! I hope you succeed in making a positive impact on yourself and the community.