Productivity Pr0n

Merlin Mann has my number. He knows that for me, productivity Pr0n is my procrastination.  I love the irony in that, but really I should just try to get some things done, instead of oogling the latest desktop tweaks on lifehacker.

R.I.P., Productivity Pr0n

Friends, I’m done with “productivity” as a personal fetish or hobby. There are countless sites that are all too happy to vend stroke material for your joyless addiction to puns about procrastination and systems for generating more taxonomically satisfying meta-work. But, presently, you won’t find so much of that here.

Except inasmuch as it can help move aside barriers to finishing the projects that you claim matter to you, “productivity” is often a sprawling ghetto of well-marketed nonsense for people who really just need a ritalin and a hug. So, for myself, random tips and lists that aren’t anchored to solving a real-world problem for a smart but flawed adult with a mind are dead to me. Pour a forty on ‘em.

From now on, I’m going to talk about how people make stuff. Books, art, code, buildings, ballets, companies, furniture, whimsical hats, songs, or what have you. But understand: this isn’t just for fancy people and fine arts majors.

Catching Up

To say my posts have been sporadic would be kind. Non-existent would be a more appropriate characterization. So my plan as I get ready to transition into sabbatical starting in May is to post more frequently. Since I've recently implemented David Allen's Getting Things Done, one of the ways I will achieve this is to start knocking off my posts in draft. That means some of them may refer to rather dated news articles. I will try and note when they happened, but I will always make sure I connect their relevance to my research in some way.

So here is to more writing and blogging in 2007.