Trying Out a New Productivity System

What I tried to do and failed

For the past 2 months, I have been trying to execute the productivity system that I designed over the summer. This system was aimed at helping me manage all the different areas of focus: academics (studying, homework, etc.), career (coding projects, learning new skills, reading, etc.), gym, and any other thing that came up.

Spaced repetition for studying

In this system, I built a Notion table that enabled me to use the principles of spaced repetition to study all the topics from my classes so I have more time left, overall, to focus on my coding projects and other areas I want to focus on. This table actually works pretty well and I’m proud of myself for building it. However, the problem was that I rarely stuck to it during the first midterm.

Time Blocking

The technique I used to organize my tasks was time-blocking which I’ve learned from Cal Newport. I set an ambitious (and probably naive when looking back) goal to wake up at 4 AM every day. I was able to stick by it for the first few weeks but not much later than that. I don’t have a habit of clubbing or late-night activities and have a pretty decent sleep schedule but to get good sleep and wake up at 4 AM, I would need to go to sleep by 8-9 pm which is very hard and inconvenient to do.

I had scheduled my spaced repetition block between 4:30 AM and 7:00 when I had to drive to university. It worked well for the first few weeks but after that when I started waking up at 6 - 6:30 AM, that block had already passed. And since I had already scheduled other blocks for other tasks during the day, I didn’t do any spaced repetition for that day. And this was the case for most, if not all, days of the midterm.

Another problem with timeblocking is that it’s hard to estimate how much time a task will take. If a task takes more than allotted, my option is to cut it off unfinished (and have to come back to it some day later with lost context and momentum) or use time from the next time block in which case you have the same problem for the following task.

All in all, I think time blocking isn’t the best solution for me at the moment.

What I’m trying now

Now, I’m trying to focus on a task-based system, instead of a time-based system. Meaning, I set a to-do list for the day. This is everything I want to do in that day and it can be from different areas of focus. Usually, I try to have one main area of focus for a given day, but not necessarily. Then, when I do them and how long I take to do them is irrelevent. I do them as soon as I can and I take as long as it takes for me to do them. Of course, I will try to be as efficient as I can without compromising on quality.

This system requires good prioritization skills because things might take longer than expected and you might have to postpone some tasks. But, in this system, a spaced repetition study for a day will never go un-studied because it will be high-priority and whether it has to be done in early morning or late at night, it will be done.

Essentially, the tool I have used for planning has changed from Cron (calendar) to Todoist (To do list app).

This system has another benefit which is I don’t have a hard sleep or wake-up time. I have to wake up in time to get to classes but I usually never get up that late, even without any alarms. This makes me get better sleep and I’ve found that, at least for me, better sleep is the best catalyzer for my productivity.

Another benefit of this system is that I can do some tasks as procrastination for other tasks. If I have to fix a quick bug in my app and also submit a Discrete Math assignment, I will fix the quick bug first to get me in the mood for “working” and then it’s easier to do the Discrete Math because I’ve built momentum. With the previous system, you had to do the task at its specific time or you wouldn’t have done it that day.

Looking back, it seems a bit obvious, but we’re here to iterate and improve and nobody’s perfect.