What is your least popular but deeply held opinion on personal productivity?

One of the recent trends in twitter conversations that i am impressed about is that influencers on the platform starting meaningful threads and the followers sharing their perspectives and experiences.

One such thread that i was fascinated about was the one started by Andrew Chen, a16z partner. Andrew asked a question on twitter: 
What is your least popular but deeply held opinion on personal productivity?

I found this thread relevant and hence sharing some of the responses to this thread that i found useful.

Should i be organized all the time ?
- Being super organized is a bad thing. Means there's no room for serendipity, deep thought, can make you overly passive on other peoples' use of your time, as opposed to being focused on outbound. (Sorry to all my super Type A friends) (Andrew Chen)


Procrastinate or not ?
- The ideas on which I make my most money were the result of procrastinating and being interrupted. (James Bach)


Should i manage energy or time ?
- The secret to productivity is managing energy not time. You can get more done in less time using the mental equivalent of high-intensity interval training: alternating between eustress sprints (hyperfocus, high arousal) and recovery (inward focus, low arousal) to prevent burnout. (Dr. Cameron Sepah)- gave me the idea: "print out your calendar every week, highlight everything that gives you energy in green and everything that takes away energy in red. trim the red" can be tough, but leads massive improvement in productivity & general happiness (Jordan Gonen)

How should i speak in meetings ?
- In meetings: I try to hold off on saying something as long as possible. Speaking up only when something *needs* to be said increases productive communication by 10x.
By speaking *every time* I have a thought, I reduce my impact when I finally have something important to say. (Ben Erez)


Pen/Paper or Digital To do list ?
- TODO list apps never work better as much as a pen and a paper (doesn't matter how bad the handwriting is 😆) (Sethu Venai)- 1. Intensity over volume.
2. Journal as you work. Feels like extra work, but 10x your mindfulness.
3. No notifications. Everything on your own time.
4. One thing that matters > Ten things that just feel urgent (Coach Tony)

Information nutritionist- i like this term:
- Everyone should hire an information nutritionist. We spend more than 30% of our lives browsing the Internet now and a lot of it is consuming junk info. (Cameron Sadler)


Never defer call from family:
- If an immediate family member or a loved one calls
- No matter how important the task you are accomplishing is on your list (presentation, board meeting, pitch on stage) step out, pick up the phone, or respond back. Make sure to let them know you are there for them. (Montasir Adams)


Exercise helps you clear your mind like no other tonic does:
- Taking time off to work out. Whenever I’m stuck on a problem or project and I have no time to go to the gym, I can just feel my efficiency slipping through my fingers. (Paige Sandhu)


Credits:
mentioned in parenthesis against each point

#productivity #twitter #ideas