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Low-fi productivity

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It’s been a minute! Glad to be in your inbox again. I’ve been traveling the last few weeks and, in the spirit of following my own advice, needed to Sustain myself 🙂

With rules for work like Do great work and Not too much, you may think I have a robust organization system that keeps me pointed in that direction.

I’m here to say I have far from that system. And that’s ok since it works for me.

I am the type of person who has 75 tabs open at one time. I have countless unread notifications. And I have tried many productivity systems that fizzle out quickly.

I’m what some might like to call overwhelming (hello, Type A friends). It’s organized chaos, but the system – or lack thereof – works for me.

Staying afloat in the corporate world does, however, require some system for survival.

Over the years I’ve tried many popular strategies to keep myself on track. Here are a few:

• The Pomodoro Method - 25-min bursts of work followed by a 5-min rest. All tracked by a kitchy tomato timer.
• A robust morning journal system with a full list of what I needed to get done that day.
• The no system, system. Just a to-do list bouncing around in my head.
• A complex weekly system built into Notion. I even set up a dedicated third monitor for this command center to my life.

For one reason or another, none of these systems were ideal. Too complex. Not complex enough. Too rigid. Not rigid enough. Too digital.

This brings me to my most successful and longest-running system.

A blank notebook 📒

Yes, a simple blank notebook. With cool pens and real paper you can touch and flip through. That’s it.

I’ve been using this system since late last year and it has worked well.

How this “productivity” system works

Brainstorm what I wanted to track

First, I brainstormed all the items I wanted space for in my weekly overview. This allowed me to customize exactly what I needed. I then took these pieces and made it into a weekly template I could re-create every week.

Put pen to paper weekly

I sketch out the template each Sunday night for the week ahead. Each week has two pages.

• The left page is the macro stuff – Includes my goals for the quarter, goals for the week, the thing I want to learn that week, wins for the week, and things to get done list (plus, things to put on hold for next week).
• The right page is the micro stuff – A snapshot of each day. First the three priorities for my work day. I then have a line for life things that day (i.e. appointments), body (i.e. exercise), and SOLO (i.e. School of Logging Off – this work!)
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Writing this has helped keep the macro goals and priorities top of mind each week. I also have a compass to guide me on the most important things each day.
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Daily updates

Since my workweek can change from day to day I fill in the three work priorities each afternoon or evening for the next day.

Be gentle with yourself

I try to get to everything. But it’s imperfect. Just as we are as humans and that’s ok. This is meant to be a guide not a torture chamber for guilt when I don’t get through the day’s list.

This is my system. A system that works best for you will likely look different.

The opportunity is to simplify and customize what works best for you. I’d suggest something that helps you follow this 3x3 Rule of Work. Stay connected to the three macro goals and priorities you have and design your day around three to-do list items that support those broader goals.

You’ll be well on your way if you create a system that helps you do this.
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✌️ Log off more,
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Grant Gurewitz Full-time corporate type and School of Logging Off Founder

Good vibes only ✌️

Working hard or hardly working? Doesn't matter. Step into nature for a brief moment of awe to escape the crazy at work 😵‍💫