Welcome to the 30-day Productivity Challenge. Over the next 30 days, we will walk through various productivity practices, exploring new concepts and taking actions to put them into practice. This challenge is designed to help you become more productive by the end of the journey.

You may feel skeptical about the expected result because you have read and learned a lot about productivity from various sources. However, please keep an open mind for now. Just because you have a hammer in hand doesn't make you a carpenter. New skills can only be learned by practicing. This is a journey of discovery. Let's try and find out.

We will undertake 10 small projects, each of which will take around three days to complete. You are expected to dedicate at least 1 hour of attention to each project every day. Even if you are already familiar with some of the material, please do not skip the reading, as there may be new information for you. Please also confirm completion of each project by sending an email at the end of each step.

Let's start with some self-reflection. Review your calendar, to-do list, note-taking tools, and email-handling process for one hour today. Write down your findings and then send an email in your usual format with the subject "30 Day Productivity Challenge - [Your Name] - Kick Start" and share your thoughts by answering the following questions:​

• Why are you here? 
• How do you manage your calendar, and to-do list, take notes, and process emails?
• Do you have any challenges in your productivity? 
• What are the areas that you'd like to improve? 
• Have you ever tried to improve productivity? If so, what are they? Are they successful or not? 

Note that You can control your pace of study here and can start the next lesson immediately after you complete the self-reflection. 

Next Topic: Goal Setting

When it comes to productivity, it can be defined as the outcome divided by the time spent (productivity = outcome / time). So, before we delve into time management, we need to make sure that the outcome matches our expectations. The results of our efforts depend on various factors beyond our control, such as our abilities, opportunities, and the external environment. Our focus should be on doing the right things, whether it's solving a problem or achieving results within a given time frame. Ultimately, everything we do should align with our long-term goals.

We will take time to set clear and meaningful lifetime goals. These goals have to be significant, so they are worth using our life time to pursue. On the other hand, the goal has to match our capability. We must know what we are good at and what is needed before picking the mission. After clarifying our lifetime goals, we will give most of our time to the most tasks helping us achieve those goals. Why would we spend time on routine job or irrelevant tasks?  Let’s dive into some exercises:

Day 1: List everything you'd like to do, your strength, and the person you want to be. Connect them if they have a causation relationship. 

Day 2: Select from the list the top 3 and check what you become as a person with these tasks completed. 

Day 3: Writes an email on how it does. You may write anything in your mind or answer one or all of these questions: 

• Why did you choose the tasks of your final choice? 
• Have you been working on those tasks consistently in the past? 
• What challenges prevent you from working on the most important things if not? 
• What would you do to make the change? 

Looking forward to hearing from you. 

​Next topic: Make Time Your Friend

Similar to making a new friend, we will take the time to understand time and learn how to get along. Over the next three days, we will read and go through a series of actions to train our minds to deeply understand time and cultivate  beneficial friendships.

Looking at the essence of productivity again (productivity = outcome/time), we need to minimize time after confirming the expected results. Many call this time management, which is to control time spending and avoid time waste.

Day 1: Read about Time (30min) 
Time and money are essentially spiritual. It is tied up to people and our emotions. It can be long or short, fast or slow, productive or useless... It all depends on how we tame it and make it work for us. Let's dive in.
​
Our time is limited. We have to have the right mindset of time before managing it. First, (1) time is limited. It's a simple fact our life is short and precious. We want to make the most of it. Second, (2) time is a gift. We can take our time and choose to do things important to us. Third, (3) we must be mindful of time to protect this valuable asset, use it wisely, respect others' time, and not waste time. 

We have to choose what to do and not do. Setting our personal goals to direct our energy to the right place is essential. If we choose not to do it ourselves, we can (4) let it go or delegate the task. The important is to set boundaries with others to keep the quality of work and stay on the right path. If we decide to take action, we can (5) create a to-do list, organize or group tasks for batch processing, and use methods such as the Eisenhower Decision Matrix (6) to prioritize. We also need to (7) make these decisions promptly. Otherwise, we will also waste time making choices.​

We need to be mindful of how to use our time. It would be best to find the right time to perform a task. The 5-minute rule tells us it is more efficient to (8) complete a job right away when we can get it done in 5 minutes. Otherwise, we would (9) block time to start work with no procrastination and (10) plan a daily routine to work at the most efficient moment. We need to (11) avoid multitasking and stay focused on one task at a time. Based on Parkinson's Law-work expands to fill the time given to complete it-we can (12) set a time limit for each assignment to avoid procrastination and ensure efficient execution. ​​​

We discussed 12 time management tips. Can you recall all of them? Refresh your memory and try to repeat them.​

​Day 2: Practice Time Management Meditation (30min) 
Try to set aside 5 minutes 4 times to review what we have discussed. Then take a 1-minute medication to think about 12 productivity tips. Ask yourself, does it make sense? How can I make use of it? ​Check our time management meditation as follows: 

Day 3: Practice 1~2 tips in the day (30min) ​
​Practice some of the tips discussed earlier today. Then, use the 30min the end of the day to write down your thoughts or answer one or all of the following questions:

• ​
• What is the most helpful time management tip? 
• What is the information that you don't think works for you? 
• Which tips did you try? How was it? 

Again, feel free to move on to the next steps as soon as you finish all the steps. You can also master a new ability to take time to digest the content. Try the discussed tips:​

• Pay attention to how to spend time.
• Decide what to do and not do.
• Make a plan to get things done efficiently.

Let me know if this can help you stay productive. ​

Next Topic: Manage Your Calendar

Now, time is standing by our side. Let's make it serve our purposes. We will now need another friend-our calendar. We can use the calendar to avoid interruptions, remind essential appointments or reviews, and schedule time to complete our long-term plans. Let's dive in. ​

Day 1: Block for Personal Ritual (30min) ​
​The top priority of setting up cleaner is to block time for our private time. We can focus on our Most Imporant Task (MITs) during this time. You may try all of the following steps:

• ​Start the week on Sunday. Save 30min before sleep for daily planning. During this time, we review the next day's plan. On Sunday, we prepare for the upcoming week. 
• Block time for the daily ritual by blocking times for private times like breakfast (30min), lunch (1hr), dinner (1hr), exercise time (1hr), email processing (2x30min), and most importantly, a quiet study time (2x2hrs) when you can work on special projects. 
• Create an annual plan by blocking days or events in the year, which includes holidays, family holidays, doctor visits, and vacation time. All of these blocks protect our personal and family priorities. 
• You probably realize how much time has been blocked before we give our time to others. The practice is taking control of our time and first prioritizing the most critical life events. Hey, you have your own time to enjoy your days. You can find the details instructions as follows.

Day 2: Organize Your Current Calendar (30min) 
After Day 1, our daily ritual is secured. Now, you may wonder, "is it really practical?" If you have to work as I do, you know that we must accommodate our project meetings and team communications. On Day 2, we will merge our personal time with our public schedule and adjust. The steps are as follows: 

• Consolidate all meetings into one calendar. Because there is only one you, you only need one shared calendar to plan your time.
• Check all your meeting lengths to save time. If you can finish a meeting in 30 minutes, don't book it for 1 hour. 
• Block the travel time if you have to walk to different meeting rooms. 
• If you are hosting a meeting, ensure all the invitees are necessary to contribute to the call, add the meeting agenda, and add 30min after the call to create meeting minutes. 
• If you are an attendee, decline meetings if you can read the meeting minutes, listen to the recording to catch up, or delegate to others. If your calendar offers multi-calendar support, group meetings into multiple calendar layers so you can review them and plan your attendance accordingly. Note that only those meetings that you are committed to attending will stay in your primary calendar layer. 
• Turn on reminders for important meetings. ONLY important ones. If there are too many reminders, that means no reminder at all. 
• Schedule recurring meetings, including 1on1 meetings to maintain relationships and regular meetings at work (mostly project/team meetings). 
• Book a meeting for your current projects. Now, block 30 minutes two days later and every other two days to review our training progress and reply to emails to update your progress. 
• ​Adjust your ritual meetings by moving them around. Remember, don't delete them unless you have a good reason. 
  
• Leave open time for flexibility. 

Day 3: Experience a Day Following the Guidance of your Calendar (30min) 
After Day 2, your calendar should be well structured to protect your time, at least in the coming weeks. If there is anything think comes out later, simply adjust it as we did on Day 2. 

Take a day to follow the calendar to follow your rituals, attend meetings and take breaks. Some changes you will notice 

• You will check your calendar the night before to plan for the next day
• You will review the calendar more frequently during the day to guide your work. 
• You will have study time to stay focused. 
• You will feel controlling the pace during the day. 

After the day, let me know your thoughts by answering one of the multiple questions as follows:

• How much time do you block during your working hours? 
• How often do you set the planning time, and how long? Why? 
• Is there anything that doesn't work for you? ​

Feel free to send your feedback and questions.. 

​Next Step: Plan with Prioritization

In the next three days, we will discuss prioritization.

First, let me tell you a story I read years ago. There was a corporate executive who was very busy at work. Whenever people ask her to arrange any extra appointment, she declines it because she is too busy to accommodate. However, one day, the water pipe in her house was broken. She then has to spend 7 hours finding a plumber and fixing the issue. She made a 7-hour extra time on her schedule!  The story tells an interesting truth about time management: It's never about time. It's about priority.

We often say we are busy simply because we don't think the new ask has higher priority. When someone tell you they are "busy,"... "It's not a reflection of their schedule; it's a reflection of YOUR position on their schedule." (Steve Maraboli)

Unfortunately, many of us lose our priority when we live our life. Let's change it by formalizing how we manage our priorities and tying them to our daily schedule. 

Day 1: Create A To-Do List and the Priority Buckets
Let's start with one to-do list. Note that we only need one to-do list. I find it helpful to use digital notes such as Apple Notes that I can update on my iPhone, iPad, and Mac Book. You can also use any note-taking app. What we need is simple: a checklist.

First, create a today and later section listing all the tasks you'd like to look at today and later. This includes uncategorized tasks or tasks, not in the planned projects. 

Second, we add a weekly plan highlighting the project we will work on in our two study times. 

Next, we add projects below and outline the task breakdowns with the time we plan to complete each task and the time for the project fishes. This is the planning that happens. For the project, list the goals, so we know the result. 

Last, we add four budgets of prioritization: Now, Today, ThisWeek, and Later.

• Now means the task is urgent and vital. It typically takes less than 5 minutes, so we get it done whenever it comes out. 
• Today means it's a high priory but not an urgent task. We will use our study time dedicated to complete it. 
• ThisWeek refers to the multi-day task we planned at the beginning of the week. I will use our study time, which usually requires a plan. 
• Later is used for something valuable and interesting to look at later. We will look at the tasks when we have free time.

In AppleNote, we can use tags and smart folders to effectively apply this approach. I'd like to use numbers to make a list personal to me and quickly add. I use #1 for Now, #2 for Today, #3 for ThisWeek, and #4 for Later. 

Day 2: Review priorities
With the list of tasks with priority created, we need to review the priority list so we can complete them as planned. This is about designing with a reasonable estimation of each task's effort. Now, you would review the list the day before and on Sunday to ensure the plan is in place. 

​Give a review of the list for you tomorrow's work. Make sure you have enough time to complete the Now and Today tasks and arrange some time for the ThisWeek job. Remember to add the Today task to summarize your learning in the email. 

Day 3: Follow the priority plan to manage your day. 
During the day, focus on completing the Now task first, then complete the Today task, and work on the ThisWeek task. Add them to the task list and assign a tag if any urgent task comes. Note, if you can finish them in 5 min, there is no need to keep notes. The notes need to be simple. The priority list needs to be short to be effective. 

After that, spend writes an email to tell me how it does. You may write anything in your mind or answer one or all of these questions: 

• How many items are on your to-do list now? How many are Now, Today, ThisWeek and Later? 
• Can you complete today's task on the 3rd day? 
• How many ad-hoc duties (approximately) are not on the to-do list that you must do on Day 3? 

Looking forward to hearing from you. 

Next Topic: Clear out Your Email Inbox

Let's work on improving email productivity. We will start taking control of the inbox in the next three days pursue the following principles: 

• Zero out the inbox with a simple archiving process 
• Cancel unnecessary subscriptions  
• Automate y grouping of emails for batch process
• Optimize the email processing procedure for efficiency  

Let's dive in. 

Day 1: Create Simple Email Archiving Structure (30min)
The number one tip to keep inbox zero is to create a simple email archiving strategy. We only need six folders:

• An Inbox
• A Send box
• A Flagged folder (smart search folder in Inbox and Sent box )
• A Template folder
• A Saved folder
• The Archive folder

The Inbox, Send box, and Flagged folder are easy to understand. Let's explain the Template, Archive, and Save folder in detail and how we use them: 

• The Template folder holds the frequently used email templates. For example, you need a meeting minute template as a project manager. The Save folder saves important emails from referencing later. They are usually emails containing valuable information. The setup allows you to make easy decisions (or avoid decision fatigue) and easily clean up your inbox at least every quarter. ​​You want to add the current quarter's archive folder to your favorites for easy access. 
• Create one Archive Folder. Within the Archive Folder, you may create subfolders to group emails based on Year and Quarter. You would not break down the grouping less than every three months. Otherwise, it will be a burden for archiving. Our goal is to archive quickly with less effort. The root folder of each folder will be all emails received during that time. We can add a sent folder in each folder to keep the email sent out during the same period. If you don't want to track older emails, you can create "XXXX (Year) and Before" to keep all old emails. Now, move all your emailing inboxes to these archiving folders. Depending on your email volume, you may change the older to be yearly or monthly. 
• Create a Saved folder where we often save the email we will be looking for. These are the email that has valuable information such as instructions or announcements. Scan through archived emails and add your sewed emails. 

That's it. It takes some time to complete this cleanup. After this, we have a zero inbox and send box. 

Day 2: Unsubscribe, apply rules, and batch processing
it can be frustrating when there are too many emails daily. Next, let's review our email subscriptions and unsubscribe those we no longer need. Then, we apply rules to group subscriptions using server-side rules for batch processing. Now, batch processing the current Archive folder to delete those emails that no longer need to be read later. Do you feel less burden after this?

Day 3: Manage the email inflow 
Now, we will do some final touches on our email processing. 

• Turn Off Email Notifications. You don't need them. In addition, set a max number of times to check your email. We suggest three times per day at the beginning of the morning and afternoon and at the end of the day. 
• Apply the 2-minute rule: if you can respond to an email in 2 minutes, do it immediately. 
• Flag your emails for batch processing: for emails that don't need immediate action, flag them with colored flags for quick cauterization so you can batch process them later.  
• Try the OHIO. ("Only Handle It Once,") method

Now that we have cleaned up your inbox, the next step is to review your email and zero the inbox every quarter. Note that you don't have to zero your inbox every day because you would like to keep them there for batch processing. 

In summary, here are some changes from this session: 

• Save email in Draft before sending 
• Set up rules to categorize subscription emails for each batch processing 
• Zero inbox regularly 
• Use a scannable email format
• Be aware of cyber attach through emails

Next Topic:  Clarify Your Message

Let's work on creating email content that looks professional and easy to read format.

​Day 1: Save Email Before Sending (30 minutes) 
First, let's avoid sending emails without a second read. Why? To answer this question, we need to look into what email is. Email is a type of written communication, so it's a permanent content record. You don't meet with the receivers, so it can be misinterpreted or forwarded to someone you didn't intend to share. Because of this, write emails with care, verify the message, check the format and spelling and use the right word and tone. Therefore, create a habit of saving an email in the Draft folder and let it sit for 1~2 hours before sending them out. This allows you to do a second review to avoid mistakes when sending them in a rush. 

After writing your emails today, save them in Draft first. After 1~2 hours, read again, confirm who it is sent to, and send all of them out. 

Day 2: Writing Professional Emails (30 minutes) 
Next, look at the daily critical emails and basic guidelines for Writing Professional Emails.

Day 3: Protect the Email Communication (30 minutes) 
Lastly, protect yourself when using emails by turning off your email application's Use Smart Address option to prevent email cyber-attacks. (Pay Attention to the Details)

You can tell us more about your experience. Here are some example topics that you can choose: 

• How about safe email first work for you? 
• What format change you'd like to have and what's not? 
• Any other questions that you have about email content? ​​

​Next Topic: Stay in Focus

Have you ever forgotten time while working on something? People call it the Flow state. It is a time when we concentrate on one thing and become most productive. We will work on this in the next three days. We will put our awareness of those moments and intentionally train ourselves to have those moments every day. This can change how we do everything, and you will see fantastic results. 

Day 1: Clean up the Environment (30 minutes) 
Primarily, we are impacted by people and the environment. To get into the flow state, we need some preparation. 

• Block time to avoid distractions. We have done this by blocking 3 hours of Study Time, and we will use them. 
• Create a quiet and clean space. Clean up your desk to only keep a computer, a cup of water, a notebook, a pen, and anything for the task you plan to do. Close the door. That's it. 
• Avoid distractions. It's easy to say than done. We wake up to check messages, social media, read the news... Our minds won't quiet down if we don't clean them up. Use the Morning Review time to do them all. If there is an exciting read, add it to the task list with the link so you can read it later (using the #4 tag). Now, silence your phone and be ready for what you want to do. 

You can see we are shifting our focus. It's intentional to bring awareness of what we plan to do. If so, we are ready for the next step. 

Day 2: Experience the Flow State (1.5 hour) 
With the environment cleaned up yesterday, we will start working on a task in a focused 

• Before the start, also remind yourself of the work to be done and the goal to reach. 
• Set up a timer to bring you back when the time is off.
• Then start concentrating on working to reach your goal. 

Try it both in the morning and afternoon study and see if you can get more done. You can optional use the Pomodoro Technique in your study time.

Day 3: Review What Works and What's Not (30 minutes) 
Hope you experienced the flow moment. If not, drop me an email and let me know how it goes. Then, let's reflect on what we have done and experienced: 

• We clear our intention. 
• We turn off distractions and make attention. 
• We focus on goals and take action to reach the goal. The process seems trivial and flows smoothly. 

Now, tell me your experience by writing your thoughts or answer one or all of the questions as follows: 

• Did you experience the flow state? What doesn't it feel like? 
• What did you do in your flow state? What works and what doesn't?

Hope you can control your full attention and enjoy the moment of concentration and the result of getting things done. 

Next Topic: Build Your Second Brain

This session will be hands-on. We will start with understanding the concept of the second brain and then work on building one ready for you to use. If you are new to note-taking systems such as Notion, EverNotes, or Apple Notes, you may focus on understanding the concept, join our note-taking sessions, and then take time to build it later. 

Day 1 What is a Second Brain? (1 hour) 
A second brain is a Personal Knowledge Base (PKB) through which you extend your mind with digitized notes and make it available anytime for quick lookups. The system saves your brain from thinking more and making more decisions than remembering things. The necessary actions for making an effective PKB include:

• Capturing everything you learn in notes.
• Adding digital notes into a "playbook."
• Organizing and connecting the content.
• Processing the messages to refine the quality.

We will apply the Zettelkasten method and PARA methods. 

• The Zettelkasten Method is a note-taking method. It consists of four notes: fleet note, literature note, reference note, and permanent note. The process starts from a fleet note that quickly captures thoughts and ideas. Later, we can move references to reference notes and turn a fleet note into a literature note by adding our topics, understandings, and questions. After translating the subject into our own words, we finalize our notes with permanent notes from the literature note. In the permanent notes, we express our viewpoints and connect to all relevant notes.
• The PARA method a knowledge management system with a hierarchal relationship is between the actionable elements, including missions, projects, and tasks, and a correlation relationship between notes and other components. PARA also introduces the archiving workflow to differentiate active vs. inactive content, creating spotlights in the knowledge management system for better focus. PARA stands for the Project, the Area (of interests), the Resource, and the Archive. A project comprises a series of tasks, has to complete within a limited time, and links to one or multiple areas of interest. An area (of interest) establishes the meaning of a project and is also called a goal or the scope of demands. A resource is an idea, a topic, or a theme of interest. An archive is used to mark inactive items.

​
Day 2 Build a Second Brain System (2 hours) 
We will spend 2 hours organizing your past notes to build a second brain system. 

Wait for a second. Do you really need a second brain? You may wonder if I can search google or some good website to answer my questions. Why do I need my own? This is a great question. The goal is about customization and tailored for yourself. Here is some content that you will not have on public websites:

• Your personal contacts and related information. 
• Your learning notes

If you don't need to build this, skip it and start working on it until you feel the necessity. Now, you can get started. Depending on which note-taking tool you pick, you can read the following guidelines on creating a second brain system.

• How to take notes in Notion
• How to take notes in Apple Notes
• Comparing Note-taking Applications
  

Day 3 Use Your Second Brain System (30min) 
Now you have your second brain system, give it a try to resolve one or two problems. If you have limited content, then keep adding your content. With our sample data, you can try answering questions like:

• What should I consider when hosting a meeting? 
• What should I do to improve critical productivity? 

Drop me an email to tell me how you feel about the 2nd brain system by writing your thoughts or answer one or all of the questions as follows:

• Do you think the 2nd brain system work for you? 
• What do you like and don't like about the 2nd brain system? 
• What are your challenges in building and using your 2nd brain system? 

The critical task away from our second brain discussion is that our brain is for thinking, not memorizing. We can use a note-taking system to build knowledge that helps us remember and assist our future considerations. ​

Next Topic: The GDT Method

In the last 9 emails, we discussed various productivity tactics, including setting up our schedule, maintaining a to-do list, and creating proper emails. In this 3-day session, we will learn the Getting Things Done (GTD) method, a well-known and the most well-received productivity system, and use it to re-examine our productivity suggestions from a different perspective.wrapping-up.html

Day 1: Understand the GTD Workflow (30min) 
The GTD method defines a five-step knowledge management process that includes collecting, clarifying, organizing, reflecting, and executing. In short, people call it the CCORE principle. 

• ​Collect is about capturing things that need to get done and storing them in a task management system. David Allen believes our brain should focus on analysis and thinking instead of remembering what to do. The task system can free our minds and record the tasks in a trusted system. We will do the job that can finish within 2 minutes right away. Others are recorded for future planning. 
• Clarify the list, and determine what is needed to get things done. The step secures items with an acceptable reason, a clear goal, and an understandable outcome. 
• Organize estimates efforts, prioritizes the choices, and organize the tasks in batches. 
• Reflect is a regular review going back to the list to update, empty, and adjust. ​
• Execute is about trusting the system, focusing on things, and emptying the list constantly. 

Read our Getting Things Done (2001) book summary for more details. 

Day 2: Review our System Using the GTD principle (30min) 
We have involved the GTD method in our tactics as we speak, let's look at them:

• Collect: This is our to-do list. We used a simple note to store what needed to be done. 
• Clarify: During our weekly review Friday, we set goals, grouped and sorted the tasks into projects, and defined milestones. We decided what must be done in the coming week and assigned them to our daily study time. 
• Organized: During our daily morning review time, we group similar tasks and batch process them during our study time. 
• Reflect: We review our daily work during our afternoon review time. 
• Execute: Our to-do list and calendar guide our daily work. We empty the to-do list constantly. 

Review the process that we have gone through the view of GTD principles. 
  
Day 3: Reflect on the GTD View for your Task Management System (30min) 
Let me know what you think of the GTD method by writing your thoughts and answering one or all of the following questions. 

• Does the GTD workflow make sense to you? 
• How much have you applied the method in practice? 
• What do you think still needs to be added to your perspective? 

Now, you can see productivity is part of your everyday practices. Let's focus on what we want and maximize our time to get things done.

Next Topic: Wrapping Up

This is the summary of our 30-day productivity challenge. Congratulations! We have worked on the following topics:

1. Why we are here starts the discussion from understanding why we need to improve productivity.
2. Setting lifetime goals explains being busy is not equal to being productive. Productive work has to be meaningful and serve the intended purposes. 
3. Making time, our friend spends efforts to understand time and set the basis for time to serve us, rather than against us. 
4. Arrange the schedule explains how to use a calendar to set up daily rituals and plan our schedules.
5. Build a prioritized to-do list discusses how to create a to-do list, prioritize the tasks and put them on our calendar to get things done. 
6. Zero email inboxes tackles  controlling the inflow of information.
7. Apply email tactics - explores how to avoid inefficiency from. miscommunication.
8. Experience-focused time emphasize the importance and how to stay focused. 
9. Build a second brain suggests building a note system for knowledge management.
10. Applying the GDT method​ summarizes a widely respected and well-adopted process to get things done. 

You have made a brave move to get here. The next step is to experience the changes. Please continue to ask questions, share ideas and send feedback. Hope you enjoy the challenge. Feel free to send your suggestions. ​