Category: “Personal Productivity”

Daniel Pink ensures in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us that the traditional motivation based on rewards and punishments is practically useless in the age of knowledge workers. Money may work at first, but once the needs you think are important are already met, it is not a source of motivation anymore. From there, the one that works is the intrinsic motivation that exists within the individual.

Some time ago I heard a very interesting podcast in which Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, was interviewed by David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, in an attempt to delve deeper into the intersection between the management of habits and personal productivity.

The first time I wrote a blog post I was not pretty sure how to reach potential readers. I remember I posted a couple of tweets about it, hoping someone would notice. With the second post, I thought that posting it on Facebook would also help. As I was writing more articles, I added references in LinkedIn, Google Plus, StumbleUpon, Reddit and Tumblr. Then I thought that if the article had a picture, it also could be posted on Pinterest. Also, since I write all my articles in English and Spanish, and my audience is divided between Europe and America, it made sense to use different schedules so most people would notice.

For some time I am using the Pomodoro Technique for executing a good part of my tasks. I do not use it for everything, only for activities that require more than 30 minutes and a certain level of concentration, such as programming, designing and writing articles (this is just a personal choice, since it is where I find it more valuable). Its greater benefit is that you can stay focused on what you are doing, by eliminating all kinds of interruptions.

A few months ago, I wrote about the benefits of having a side or personal project, outside the context of your usual work. Although the advantages are quite obvious, it is true that it is difficult to find enough motivation (since there is always enough time) to start and finish a project that is going to take time away from other things.