June 19. 4 days since writing the last post. Its only been a few days since starting übermarketer and already I am worried that this blog is losing momentum. People say that writing is a creative art, but in reality writing is primarily about discipline. A good author has already written the story in this mind and the words will come naturally, without effort, if the author can only find the time and focus to put the prose to paper.

Discipline = productivity. I spent most the day in corporate fire-fighting mode, attending to various issues and urgencies brought to my desk by other managers, while generally managing to avoid the work I really wanted to get done. Everyone experiences days like these, and I suspect that some people even spend most of their working lives in a continual state of reactiveness. What else would explain the proliferation of blogs dedicated to personal productivity?

What I have been reading:

The Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity. A serendipitous find from the blog of Marc Andreessen. I did not seek out tips on productivity, but this post somehow found its way to my attention. Its always interesting to hear how other organize their lives. I particularly enjoyed Structured Procrastination, as explained by Stanford professor John Perry: “The list of tasks one has in mind will be ordered by importance. Tasks that seem most urgent and important are on top. But there are also worthwhile tasks to perform lower down on the list. Doing these tasks becomes a way of not doing the things higher up on the list. With this sort of appropriate task structure, the procrastinator becomes a useful citizen. Indeed, the procrastinator can even acquire, as I have, a reputation for getting a lot done.” Strategic Incompetence also caught my attention: “The best way to to make sure that you are never asked to do something again is to royally screw it up the first time you are asked to do it. Or, better yet, just say you know you will royally screw it up — maintain a strong voice and a clear gaze, and you’ll probably get off the hook. Of course, this assumes that there are other things that are more important at which you are competent.”

Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 @ 12:27 pm what i am reading
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