Five ways to instantly improve blah blah your productivity blah

Productivity. I don’t even like the word, if I’m honest. And yet I find myself helplessly clicking on pretty much any link that promises to list five new ways to improve it. And the more of these articles I read, the more miserable I become because this business of productivity is not a cheerful one. Not only do the authors not seem to be terribly happy about their awesome productivity rates, but you begin to suspect that all they are actually producing is articles on improving productivity. “I wake up, check emails, meditate, write a Five Minute Journal, schedule my To Dos, run seven miles to clear my head and “prime” the day, then I hit my desk and write three articles on productivity before breakfast (granola and local honey).” All of which just puts me in mind of the least productive image imaginable:

I have, nonetheless, become obsessed with productivity methods. (I think I’m supposed to call them “hacks” but I can’t, sorry.) As a professional writer there’s pretty much nothing better that procrastinating over pieces on how to avoid procrastination. Luckily, people have written whole books on the subject and it’s possible to spend weeks reading them rather than…