On this week’s Nested Folders podcast episode, Rose and I talked about when not to be productive. In thinking about this even more, there’s a second quote from the Merlin Mann interview with David Allen that I really like, which is to have a great list of things to have in order to procrastinate with. That is, stuff you can do to “safely” avoid doing other things.
This is where some of my favourite lists come in. I thought I’d share them here, along with how I use them:
- Books to Read: I always include the reason why this is on my list (where I saw it, or who recommended it), and why I thought it would be a good go-to. This keeps better context about why it's on my list, and who to thank/blame later.
- Curiosities: Articles of interest, YouTube videos, or other bits of media that I think would be of interest or good to learn from in a time-killing kind of situation.
- Ping: A group of recurring actions to remind me to reach out to people I don't interact with regularly to keep our connections going. Catching up with friends is a great way to be unproductive.
