One of the advantages of being self-employed is the freedom to choose courses for professional development freely. So I decided to join “Pillars of Productivity” last year and started 2024 taking some time going through the course.
What’s Pillars of Productivity?
It’s an online course by Tiago Forte’s team. I read “Building a Second Brain” last year (well, I checked and actually it was in 2022, so much for that) with the good intention of being a super productive and well-organised consultant. There’s also an online course for that, but that one is out of my price range. As I didn’t manage to put much into practice just from reading the book, an Forte Labs online course much more in my price range felt appealing. Pillars of Productivity (POP) talks through the key aspects (all of them are an app in Forte’s world) of a productivity system:
- Calendar
- Task manager
- Read-later app
- Notes app
- Weekly reviews that bring them all together
How did I like it?
It was fine. Fairly short videos, actionable exercises. No revolutionary new content (but then I have read a good chunk of things produced by the productivity industrial complex).
It’s pretty expensive for what it is (I bought it as a special launch deal), but then I know that I am really bad at making time for free resources, so paying money creates some accountability for myself and I actually DO things. So while I didn’t learn anything new, I made time to explore some apps and reflect on my own systems.
My productivity
I personally use my calendar as an outsourced to-do list with a few things in a task manager, but most things in my calendar as that seems to work best for me. I’m really bad at notes, note taking and having anything structured there, so exploring that in a better way is the big task for 2024.
Interestingly, the best way to make me more productive seems to have been the decision to not work full time. Making sure I have time for my exercise classes, house work, manicure appointments etc without feeling pressure to work long hours is what makes me productive in the hours I work. Doesn’t mean there aren’t things I’d like to improve though. So keep your eye out on more reflections here as I keep exploring more courses, books and other interesting things!
Patricia Herterich 