Uptime

The central problem of productivity is that it’s more fun to read about being productive than to actually be productive. Thus there’s all sorts of books written that more or less tell you the same things. So naturally when a coworker kindly recommended and bought a copy¹ of a new productivity book Uptime for the team I dug in!

As expected Uptime does not unlock any new ground in productivity advice; however it is better written than most and if you’re only going to read one productivity book it might as well be this one. Key insights: protect your time, work from a list (and close open loops), align work with your energy cycles.

I have not fully internalized that I’d be better off implementing the existing strategies than reading another book in a quest to find a slightly better approach. But I am hopeful. In particular the advice to align work with my energy cycles seems to be the lowest-hanging fruit. The bane of my existence is a day shot through with meetings where just as I am dropping into a flow state it’s suddenly time to head somewhere else.

I’ll leave you with my favorite clip of Brennan Lee Mulligan which accurately sums up my general approach to things (though I have switched roles to a place with substantially fewer fires so maybe I will build that fireproof building after all).