A Complete Productivity Resource Library — How to Increase Your Effectiveness
Some small ideas and quick tips can go a long way to creating big changes to your efficiency, it doesn’t take long — honest.
For most of us, we spend the majority of our waking lives working, why not invest in understanding that process and optimising it for being more effective. Some call this being ‘carefully lazy’.
It’s a modern trend, the idea of ‘hustle’. One side of this idea stands, you should work hard for the outcome you want. However, working hard isn’t always the answer, though. To get cliche; ‘work smarter, not harder’.
This is my complete guide to learning about the process of working and how to work better.
There are so many resources to get productivity ideas from, ones that don’t take ages to read/watch/listen.
Video Resources
Ali Abdaal on YouTube
- Ali is one of the best resources for productivity, study and working ideas on YouTube and on Skillshare. He is the guy that got me into all of this. If you’re a student or young professional, here is the place to start.
Thomas Frank on YouTube
- Thomas is a writer and content creator talking about productivity, studying and creating effective habits
Muchelle B on YouTube
- Muchelle is amazing at helping with planning, organising and being productive. Walking you through effective processes to be productive and enhance creativity.
Skillshare
I know you’re fed up of hearing all the ads, but SkillShare is class, I have worked my way through so many classes. It allows speeding up of playback, audio only playback and skipping through classes to the bits that are valuable to you.
I recommend these classes:
- Everyday Minimalism: Find Calm and Creativity in Living Simply — Erin Boyle
This is how to reduce stress induced by your environment, working with less and being intentional with your posessions. It’s great stuff, very short and sweet.
- How to Study for Exams — Ali Abdaal
I’ve just finished my four years at University, I implemented this class into my learning and revision technique and it improved my grades by 13%. I genuinely live by this stuff when it comes to academia and learning. Do it, use the Skillshare free-trail and it will change how you learn.
- Productivity Masterclass — Thomas Frank
This is all about building a system. Using the apps that suit you best, organising to-do lists, calendars and managing files as well as so much more. This is a dive into the practicalities of being productive, as well as creating a digital environment that helps, not hiders.
- Personal Productivity: Five Exercises to Make Your Big Goal a Reality — Kate Arends
- Productivity: How to Achieve Goals with a Positive Mindset — Rose Sprinkle
Consider using this link to sign up — it’s an affiliate link and helps me out.
Audio Resources
There is a whole tonne of audio out there for this. Podcasts is an obvious place to look. Here are the ones I like:
- The Ground Up Show — Matt D’Avella
Matt D’Avella, a very famous YouTuber and Filmaker talks with other creators, authors or people who are just great at what they do and dives into the process of how they do what they do.
- Cortex — Relay FM
Start here, Cortex is brilliant, very easy to get into. It’s by two creatives who make their living on the internet, it goes in great detail about how they structure their day, their processes, useful apps and more.
- Not Overthinking — Ali and Taimur Abdaal
This is my all time favourite show, these two brothers discuss all sorts of topics, with amazing connection between them. One for people who love to overthink things.
I also listen to most SkillShare classes in Audio form, lock your phone and get on with your day whilst listening. It’s probably the most information rich way to gain knowledge on this, also allows you to listen on your commute, or whilst doing the washing up.
Audible
Audiobooks are an amazing resource too, you can take any of the books recommended here or elsewhere and find them in audioform. Where you can repurpose wasted time from your life, you can make your commute productive.
I listened to ‘Getting Things Done — The Art of Stress-Free Productivity’ on Audible, it’s a fairly long book that I probably wouldn’t have read, but was able to listen to.
You can sign up here.
Books on Productivity
Alongside the books I mentioned earlier, there are a few that are well recommended. Talking about making money in the modern world, productivity, putting yourself out-there etc.
- The Four Hour Work Week — Tim Ferris
- Show Your Work — Austin Kleon
- Anything You Want — Derek Sivers
- Getting Things Done — David Allen
If you do fancy picking up one of these, consider using the affiliate links in this post.
Summaries of Books
Blinkist is also an amazing resource. They create really informative, short summaries of popular books. It’s such a life-hack when looking at reading books in less time. All the important ideas, without the waffle.
I hope this helps, let me know if I have missed anything out.
