Essay: 3 Productivity Hacks For Lazy Overachievers (like me)

Today it took me nearly an hour to get out of bed. Outside was cold, unpleasant, my bed was warm, writing this article was not appealing (apologies). This isn’t going to be a David Goggins rant about doing more, whipping yourself early in the morning, or doing push-ups instead of sleeping. This advice is just something key that I have learned in my quest to be more productive by doing less:

The real secret to being productive is doing the right thing, not everything.

1. The first productivity hack is asking calibrated questions.

“Measure twice and cut once”

• Proverb

Ask yourself these questions:

If I had to do my entire week’s work in two hours. What would I do? (identify most important mission)

If I could only accomplish one thing today to make me feel satisfied, what would it be? (the most critical activity of that mission) 

How could this most essential task be easy? (what is the most straightforward method, this is one I have been asking about basically every task I’m doing. I’m prone to t…