🕺🏻 How I Replaced Being Busy with Getting Results

For years, I was extremely busy. My day started at 6 AM, and I worked almost nonstop, with short breaks for meals and exercise—even on weekends. But when I looked back, I often couldn’t recall what I had been so busy with or, worse, what I had accomplished beyond sending endless emails and making calls. It was a frustrating realization, especially given how exhausted I felt.

Once, during a vacation, I had time to reflect on my work routine and realized I had confused being busy with being productive. Tackling a pile of urgent tasks isn’t the same as making meaningful progress on projects that generate results. I wasn’t procrastinating in the usual sense—like binge-watching shows or playing video games—but I was stuck handling whatever demanded my attention first while postponing less urgent but more impactful tasks.

I spent a year experimenting with various techniques and seeking advice from friends who impressed me with their productivity. This research led me to develop five essential techniques that transformed my work. Now, I tackle the most critical and challenging tasks without procrastination, and every action I take moves me closer to results.

1. Deep Work

Deep work means dedicating your full, undivided attention to your most important task. You should not check your phone, grab tea, answer emails, or take calls—just pure focus. Most people can only manage 30 minutes of deep work, and a 5-minute break is recommended after each session.

This concept is nothing new. It was even popularized through the famous Pomodoro technique. However, all my previous attempts failed to stick.

This time, the biggest change was committing to three hours of deep work daily, six days a week. It doesn’t sound like much, but those three focused hours (or six 30-minute sessions) on key projects achieve more than ten hours of multitasking. It’s the Pareto principle in action—80% of results come from 20% of efforts, and those three hours are the 20%.

Committing to six sessions every day, no matter what, was a game-changer. It gave my day structure. I also started writing down my tasks during each session in a daily planner. Seeing my progress gave me immense satisfaction, especially at the end of the week, when I could review everything I had accomplished.

Another small but important change was using a physical timer designed for deep work. It sits on my desk as a constant reminder to focus on essential tasks. The timer is simple: no buttons—flip it, and it starts. Once it’s running, it’s just me and my project. After 30 minutes, I jot down what I worked on, take a short break, and continue.

Committing to six sessions, writing down my tasks, and using the timer transformed my routine and gave me a massive sense of accomplishment.

2. Accountability Partners

Creating an accountability group was an even more significant change. My friend Dennis, an ML engineer and a big advocate of deep work, suggested forming a group with our third friend, Pasha, a professor at a business school. The goal was to track our deep work sessions and hold each other accountable.

It's been a game-changer for us because we each face different challenges that deep work helps solve.

I deal with the classic founder’s conflict between the Manager and Maker’s Schedules (read Paul Graham’s essay on this). Dennis works at a Big Tech company, where his work is judged by improvements in ML models that require weeks of focus, but he’s constantly distracted by team calls. Pasha has to juggle teaching with his scientific research, so he must carve out deep work time to write new papers.

We all committed to three hours of deep work daily. We created a shared spreadsheet where we log our results each day. If anyone logs fewer than six sessions, they explain why. Nobody wants to fall behind, so this system keeps us on track.

There were days when we’d realize we’d spent half the day on small tasks or calls. Knowing we had to report our sessions by the end of the day pushed us to drop urgent but less important tasks and focus on deep work instead.

As a result, challenging tasks that I would typically postpone for weeks, like creating a new investor deck or rebuilding a website, now take two to three days to complete.

3. Daily Metrics

Beyond deep work, I track other key metrics that impact my productivity: sleep, nutrition, and exercise. I feel unstoppable when I sleep well, eat healthy, and stay active.

Sleep: I use Whoop to monitor sleep duration, recovery (a measure of sleep quality), and HRV (Heart Rate Variability, which reflects stress levels).

Exercise and Meditation: To reduce anxiety, I aim to work out at least four times a week (gym, boxing, or running) and meditate twice daily.

Nutrition: I track sweets and eating out. Overindulging in desserts makes me sluggish, and restaurant meals often contain unhealthy ingredients like excess sugar and butter. Moderation is key, and tracking helps.

I also log my mood daily (on a 1–5 scale using Daylio) and note any illnesses, as these factors affect all metrics. Filling out this table takes just 2 minutes and provides valuable insights. Without data, emotions often distort reality—I might feel like I’ve slacked off, only to find I’ve been consistent, or vice versa.

4. Dated Daily Planner

I never used a physical planner until recently. Now, it’s a cornerstone of my routine. Here’s why:

1. I record my deep work sessions, which gives me a tangible sense of accomplishment.

2. I jot down ideas throughout the day, so I don’t need to rely on my phone (a major source of distraction). Every Friday, I review these notes and decide if they’re actionable, adding them to next week's task list.

3. Assigning specific tasks to dates keeps me organized. For example, if I have a call with Alex on Friday, I’ll create a task on Thursday to prepare for it.

Surprisingly, this analog system works better for me than digital tools.

5. Second Phone and Grayscale

My biggest productivity killer was my phone. Even after removing social media apps and disabling notifications, I checked my work messenger and email every five minutes. This habit caused countless issues—from being rude during family dinners to reading stressful emails right before bed.

To solve this, I bought a second phone exclusively for work apps. I only use it when I can’t access my laptop, like when traveling or commuting to business meetings. On all other days, it stays hidden.

I also set my personal phone to grayscale mode, which makes the screen black and white. This reduces the temptation to mindlessly scroll through news or YouTube, cutting my screen time significantly. To activate it:

iPhone: Go to Settings → Accessibility → Display & Text Size → Color Filters → Enable Grayscale.

Android: Go to Settings → Accessibility → Color and motion → Color correction → Enable Grayscale.

I hope these techniques inspire or help you find your path to greater productivity!

Speak soon,

George Levin

January 19, 2024

LinkedIn | Consulting