My productivity system
Just before I took a break for Christmas, I got asked my favorite question: "If you’re in charge of engineering, product, sales, marketing, customer support, and everything else, how do get anything done?"
I don't work an insane number of hours, and I don't think I'm exceptionally gifted at context-switching.
But what I do have is a productivity system that I've honed over the years. It's nothing fancy, but I want to share it with you today.
Long-term goals
Every 3-6 months, I set a singular long-term goal. It’s important to be honest here about what you really want. If you’re not, you’ll constantly second guess why you’re doing any of this.
For me, I want to add $50K ARR—just enough to bridge to my full living expenses for a family of four, including healthcare, college saving plans, and retirement contributions.
I have no disillusions—I need to make money for this business to be worth it.
Short-term goals
Every 1-2 months, I set a small number of short-term goals. The idea is to directly align these with the long-term goal.
My current short-term goals are to expand in my existing customers, add 2 new customers, and launch on a new marketing channel.
I track both long-term and short-term goals in a spreadsheet, which I look at as I start each workday. It’s a good reminder about why today is so important.
Mondays
Most days follow the same routine, but Monday’s are special.
First thing in the morning, I look at what needs to get done during the week to make progress against each short-term goal. Then I write down, for each working day, what I need to do to make those goals happen. These become my daily goals.
I also set a daily plan for the customers in my funnel. This is really useful because I don’t overthink about how to move deals along. I don’t get emotional day-to-day. I just look at my sales plan and do what I thought on Monday was objectively best.
This process helps me push harder than I normally would. Instead of kicking tasks a few days down the road, I have a sober reminder of what has to get done by Friday night.
All of this gets tracked in Obsidian. I keep it simple. I have a journal entry per day and a backlog page.
Daily goals
When I start a workday, I copy in my goals from the weekly plan, then tick them off one at a time. I feel confident because I know they align with my long-term goal.
Now, this is a neat and tidy description, and to some extent my system works that way, but I’m constantly reshuffling things within those boundaries.
Bugs come up. Deals get dropped. Features take long than expected. A day needs to get taken off.
When that happens, I recalibrate. Maybe I need more time to work with a lead—that’s okay. Maybe I need more pipeline, and to spend more time prospecting—that’s okay, too.
But I still find this system helps me cope with change because I’m always focused on what I want over the long-run. In other words, it minimizes self-doubt.