Productivity
Rookies think it’s because they didn’t work hard enough, but in reality it’s because they didn’t plan hard enough.
Aaron Mahnke • Frictionless Freelancing
Let go of the thing that you’re trying to be (the noun), and focus on the actual work you need to be doing (the verb). Doing the verb will take you someplace further and far more interesting.
Austin Kleon • Keep Going: a book by Austin Kleon

“What I need, what I am trying to build, is — I coin this phrase by analogy to a memory palace — an attention cottage . ... When I sit down in a chair with a book in my lap, a notebook at my side, and no screens within reach or sight, I am dwelling in my attention cottage.
The great artists and thinkers cultivate a systolic/diastolic rhythm, tension... See more
Alan Jacobs • 1, #86 - How to survive in a world of distraction
I could spend my entire life checking off items on my to-do list, and in the end, it would make very little difference. I didn’t want my epitaph to read, “She got a lot of stuff done.” Instead, I had to figure out how I, and I alone, could make a difference—and this was as true for my homelife as it was for my professional one.
Tiffany Dufu
“The phone gives us a lot but it takes away three key elements of discovery: loneliness, uncertainty, and boredom. Those have always been where creative ideas come from.” —Lynda Barry
Austin Kleon • Keep Going: a book by Austin Kleon
Also, don’t fall into the trap of productivity porn—chasing productivity for its own sake isn’t helpful. Many people spend too much time thinking about how to perfectly optimize their system, and not nearly enough asking if they’re working on the right problems.
blog.samaltman.com • Productivity
I also spent time aligning labels, icons, and buttons, both vertically and horizontally in the sidebar and tabs. It was definitely a challenge given the amount of UI elements we have on this tiny surface. This part of the redesign isn’t something you’ll immediately see but rather something that you’ll feel after a few minutes of using the app.
Karri Saarinen • How we redesigned the Linear UI (part Ⅱ) - Linear Blog
“A lot of writing consists of waiting around for the aquarium to settle so you can see the fish. Walking around muttering seems to hasten the process. Taking public transportation nowhere helps. Looking out the bus window lets the back of your mind move forward. Don’t listen to anything but natural sound. Don’t look at anything you have to turn on.... See more