Simple is better. Always.

I’ve had a busy week. And I still have a couple of packed days to go before I can relax. As much as I love the grind, sometimes you wish things were much simpler.

Over the past several years, I’ve realized that the way we work hampers our productivity and discourages you to enjoy the grind. As some of you already know, I’ve invested loads of money experimenting with different productivity systems that will make my life easy. But all have failed.

Even paper-based systems have failed me! Sorry to disappoint you.

Here’s something that I keep coming back to, Evernote. I’ve been a premium customer for the past 6 years and have never been able to think of a life without it. My productivity “system” is super-simple and lives on Evernote.

Here’s my simple system:

1. Create three notebooks titled: Master Dump, Week Plan, Day Plan
2. Go into the Master Dump notebook, create a notebook and let it all out! Literally! Don’t worry about organizing anything, just dump it all there. Empty your mind.
3. Now chunk these tasks into groups — work, personal, family, health/fitness, learning, errands or any other aspect of life that’s important to you.
4. Go to the Week Plan notebook — create a note and write down the groups (from the Master Dump) that you wish to focus on this week. And then load these groups with the tasks that you wish to conquer and eliminate.
5. Next, go to the Day Plan notebook — create a note and write down the groups (from the Week Plan notebook) that you would like to focus on today! Nothing more. Nothing less. Don’t have 20 things. Instead, focus on 3 big ones and 3 important and 3 small ones. Or just 6 tasks in total. You get to decide how much! Remember, less is more!

And that’s it! I’ve been following this system on and off for the past 5 years. But of late, this is the only system I use to get things done. It’s a no-nonsense system that is flexible and totally free!

You can make it fancier or more robust but simpler is better. Why? Because I’ve seen simple systems evolve into monsters! Sure, it’s a little inconvenient at times. But if you’re looking for a perfect system you will be disappointed. It doesn’t exist.

Instead, create a system that’s perfect for you!