8 Ideas on Productivity That Changed My Life

Breaking down the adage of working "smarter", not harder.

👋 Friends,

I decided to take time off this week—away from New York, tech, and events, and now I’m in Greece, island hopping while sweltering in the heat and gulping down olive oil.

NYC is spectacular during the summer though, so if you’re fortunate enough to be in the city, I’d recommend renting a Citi Bike, catching an outdoor movie screening at one of the parks, or having a picnic by the water. Make it the best summer of your life.

A few things in the coming months I’m particularly excited about:

• I’m hosting a free virtual event called “How to Build Your Personal Brand From Scratch” on July 12 for those of you looking to build a larger digital presence.

• I’m also hosting the ultimate entrepreneurship + founder event with my friend Ankur, called The OOO Summit, which is the first time we’ve combined our networks + resources together to help connect, educate, and inspire folks to build something,

• We’re also flying ONE lucky person in! We’ll be selecting one person to paying for your flights, hotels, and giving you a VIP ticket to attend our event. Apply here.

I hope you have a wonderful start to the summer.

In the earlier days of my career, I was obsessed with the idea of improving productivity.

I’d read Tim Ferriss’ “4-Hour Work Week” and was consumed by the idea of saving time through mental models, shortcuts, and novel ways of doing ordinary things.

It was ironic because, during that period, I had plenty of free time. Almost too much.

It wasn’t until 5-6 years into my career that time seemed like a more finite resource. There was a clear moment, when I was like, “Oh crap” — I don’t think I have enough time to do everything I want to do (e.g. crush it at my 9-5, start a business on the side, build an audience online, go to the gym, play sports, hang out with friends, etc.) without sacrificing significantly amounts of sleep.

While I’m no expert on productivity, I’ve learned a few things along the way that have helped me achieve a disproportionate amount of output as an entrepreneur, writer, and investor—while being happy and fulfilled, staying fit, and maintaining healthy relationships with myself, my friends, and my loved ones (my biggest flex of all).

Here are the 8 ideas on productivity I’ve learned that have changed the game for me (and might for you):

Work expands or contracts to fill the time allotted for completion.

When I was just starting out in my career, I would brute force difficult tasks.

I’d block off entire half-days at a time and dedicate them to solving hard problems.

I believed that more time = more results.

Rookie mistake. With this approach, I realized that I’d just end up dragging my feet and doing things without a sense of urgency, and recognized that the same task could be accomplished in just a few hours of deep, focused work (with breaks in-between).

I then learned Parkinson’s Law: Work will expand or contract to fit the time available for completion.

Moral of the story: be rigorous in time-boxing your work and understand that more time isn’t always beneficial.

Work like a lion—not like a cow.

Picture this:

• You spend the first 8 hours of your day doing typical office work—making slides, responding to emails, and writing docs.

• But you do it while listening to podcasts, messaging your friends, and watching videos.

• After your work day is over, you watch Netflix and post on Instagram while responding to work messages on auto-pilot.

This is the modern-day knowledge worker’s worst nightmare.

You’re not focused enough during the workday to produce high-quality work, and you’re not relaxed enough in your off-time to fully recharge.

You’re never fully working or resting. Instead, you’re dividing your attention and priorities across multiple things, never allowing you to engage in deep, creative work.—the type of work humans are most suited for.

Avoid this at all costs!

Work in short, laser-focused sprints without distractions—and when you rest, completely remove yourself from the work environment to allow yourself to be at peace.

Work like a lion - sprint to hunt, then completely rest, before sprinting again. Not like a cow, slowly grazing grass for weeks at a time.

80% of your impact will come from 20% of your work.

When I was working in corporate at Facebook and Google, I realized that to do my job well, there were three key people who I needed to maintain strong relationships with. As long as they were happy, I would be fine. So I focused 80% of my time on building trust with them.

The same logic applies to my events business today. <20% of my customers drive >80% of my revenue. I make sure to devote the majority of my resources to them.

On the flip side, I also have projects and clients that demand a disproportionate of time relative to their impact on my business. I delegate or eliminate these projects. These will crush your soul.

Find the 20% of your work that generates 80% of your impact and spend your most valuable resources on that work.

The hedonic treadmill for high-performers.

The paradox of productivity for high performers is that great work is rewarded with more work.

It’s an endless loop. Do well, and you will get more accountability and responsibility—which inevitably results in more work.

Most people believe that they’ll be happier and more fulfilled by doing less work—this couldn’t be less true. I’ve talked to dozens of people who have retired early, sold their companies at a young age, and have nothing to do. Most of them are miserable and bored.

Don’t optimize to do less work. Optimize to do more things that you love and enjoy.

Activity is not achievement.

The biggest mistake you can make is to be extremely ambitious without a clear definition of success.

Examples:

• “Networking” without clear objectives

• Doing “busy” work (e.g. scheduling pointless meetings, writing emails without intention, etc.) because it feels good

• The pursuit of material wealth without a specific, quantifiable goal

Blind ambition is desire without direction, clarity, and preparation. Avoid it at all costs.

The best way to solve a problem is to not actively try and solve it.

I started my career a decade ago working at an advertising agency.

Some of the most important people there were the ideas people. These were the creative directors and strategic planners responsible for coming up with thoughtful and inspiring ideas for brands.

These ideas could include TV ads, slogans, and brand positioning strategies.

One thing I noticed: When the “ideas people” were stuck on a problem that required a creative solution, they would immediately go do something else.

They’d leave their office desk and go meaner. Or grab a paddle and play a few games of table tennis. Or even go to a nearby art gallery to look at pieces.

Then they’d come back with a batch of fresh, new ideas.

Creative ideas come to you when you least expect them, and rarely do they come to you in plain, two-dimensional environments (e.g. the office).

Buy back your time.

Time becomes exponentially more valuable as you get older.

Earlier in my career, I was open to doing anything and everything. I was full of raw energy and was keen on putting in 60+ hours a week consistently to get ahead.

Now, I’m more spoiled. I prefer to only do things that I enjoy or things that I believe are the best use of my time. Luckily for me, we live in a world where it’s incredibly easy to outsource, automate, and delegate things.

There are countless resources and tools out there that you can use to buy back your time at affordable rates. Offshore talent. AI software. Even offshore talent paired with AI software.

Find (and pay for) the people and tech that can help you get your most valuable resource back—time.

Btw, this book is a game changer.

Plug your time sinks.

Finally, beware of the obvious time sinks that effortlessly drain all your time away.

Partying. Binge-watching TV. Heavy drinking. Excessive gaming. Scrolling TikTok.

I’m not sure I could’ve quit my 9-5 and gone on the path to entrepreneurship if I didn’t cut the binge drinking, quit the weekly partying, and disabling my TV streaming subscriptions.

It’s terrifying how much of your life these activities can consume.

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📌 Andrew’s Bookmarks

Fascinating internet things I’ve come across…

• Naming a company — 7 rules on how to name a company by Brett Adcock.

• One Page Love — A curated collection of 350 event websites for inspiration and references. Each review includes a full screenshot of the website design along with noteworthy features. An absolute gem.

• So you want to start a side hustle? Do these 4 things first – A quick-start guide to side hustles, by Justin Welsh. Justin’s a “solopreneur” who makes $5M+ a year running a one-person internet business.

💃 Community Perks

• 🏨 Traveling for work? If you’re looking for a hotel with cozy rooms and social co-working areas, check out citizenM. I exclusively stay with them. They’ve even been kind enough to offer this community a discount. Reply here.

• 🚴 Discounted Equinox membership in NYC. Equinox is my second home - I couldn’t live without it. Reply here for a free trial and a discounted membership.

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• What other perks should I include? Let me know.

🖼️ Behind the Scenes

I attended a small party that my friend Ankur hosted with Nuseir (Nas Daily) this weekend.

It was one of the best social events I’ve been to. The energy in the room was magnificent and the people were interested, open-minded, and friendly.

Three reasons why this party was great:

• The guests were incredibly accomplished but humble.. They had a mutual understanding that everyone in the room was awesome and they needed to leave their ego at the door.

• The venue was intimate and suitable for the size of the group.

• People were encouraged to say hello to a stranger and introduce themselves to someone new.

You’d be surprised with how rare these are. Most people don’t know how to throw a good party!

Next time you want to throw a successful party, follow these steps:

1. Invite awesome and humble people

2. Find a suitable venue for the group

3. Give them a reason to be there (and share the context!)

4. Incorporate tactics to help facilitate new introductions

5. Connect everyone after the event

Summer is the time to bring people together.

Btw, Ankur and I are hosting a bunch of events in August. Stay tuned for updates!