# Analogue Productivity  ## Metadata - Author: [[Curtis McHale]] - Full Title: Analogue Productivity - Category: #books ## Highlights - One issue with inbox zero is that for most people it subtly says that you must respond to everything that comes in with equal weight. That was never the intent, but it has become the practice. ([Location 99](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07BZZD9WK&location=99)) - If you keep pushing a task forward and not doing it what you’re telling me is that you don’t want to do it. You just want to think of yourself as someone that would do the task. ([Location 254](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07BZZD9WK&location=254)) - My rule is that if I move a task three times I must cut it or do it in the next week. If I can’t get it done in the next week, then it goes off to me next 12 week planning cycle or gets dropped. ([Location 261](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07BZZD9WK&location=261)) - You need to enforce a limit on how many times you can touch a task before you force yourself to realize you don’t care about it and you need to make a hard decision about it’s importance in your work. ([Location 265](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07BZZD9WK&location=265)) - “What is the ONE thing that I can do today that will make the rest of my work easy or irrelevant?”. Asking yourself this single question should yield only one answer which fits with your single top item. ([Location 292](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07BZZD9WK&location=292)) - “Given the resources I have and the time I have, what projects can I get done that will make the rest of my business easier or irrelevant.” ([Location 310](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07BZZD9WK&location=310)) - Any good productivity system is wasted if you’re not willing to plan each quarter for its maximum effectiveness. Forget the work you’ve done previously, what is the most important thing now. Be willing to cast off prior work and focus on that most important thing. ([Location 329](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07BZZD9WK&location=329)) - Whatever system you use, you must make sure that it can capture all the bits you need captured or you won't trust the system and you'll stop using it. ([Location 345](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07BZZD9WK&location=345)) - 1. Do a brain dump of the most important projects you can be working on. 2. Write down all the tasks that need to get done to launch those projects. 3. If you really have many projects, cut it down to two. One to focus on, and one to work on when you’re either tired of the first, or waiting on something for the first project to get completed. ([Location 347](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07BZZD9WK&location=347)) - You’re almost always better off using what you have and continuing to work around the few small issues that you have. ([Location 432](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07BZZD9WK&location=432)) - As Shawn states, using an analogue tool means that you have to decide your priorities the night before, but you should have been doing that anyway. Being able to open up your task manager and see a wealth of tasks staring at you, many of them having ‘overdue’ notices sitting beside them, is a sure fire way to procrastinate on what you should be doing. It may start with one task that you didn’t get to, but it quickly becomes 20 tasks and the weight of all those commitments you’re not fulfilling is like wearing an anchor while trying to swim. ([Location 522](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07BZZD9WK&location=522)) - Just like any productivity system, there is a lot of Bullet Journal porn out there. ([Location 545](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07BZZD9WK&location=545)) - Remember a key concept in your system should be solving a problem. Don’t start using a flower just because it’s pretty. If the pretty gets you to do something more, then fine, but keep it simple. ([Location 615](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07BZZD9WK&location=615))