I was a productivity junkie.

I carried around a notepad and wrote everything down. I played around with digital calendars, paper calendars and every other scheduling system I thought would work for me.

Then I got a smartphone.

The endless apps and tools that were developed to help productivity was mesmerizing.

This was followed by an era of productivity where endless streams of information came out on how to use the different tools.

I immersed myself in all of it until I woke up and realized the myth of productivity systems:

There is a perfect system out there for you.

When you buy into this myth, you end up seeking just about any bit of information to find a suitable solution perfectly tailored to you.

This is compounded by the fact that every new system or tool promises to be the answer to all your problems.

Let me save you the trouble – it doesn’t exist.

However, after many years of endless reading, and testing, of the subject – I’ve managed to synthesize the following universal laws:

Don’t keep anything stored in your brain.
Make sure you have something to capture information you need to reference later. Ensure all that collected information stays in one place.

Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should.
The goal of productivity is to do more with your time, not fill your time with tasks. Put it this way: if you have to schedule time with your family, you’re way off course.

As long as you can adapt those three rules into your life, you’re on your way.