Productivity
I want to get more done that matters
Doing fewer, better things on purpose. Habit design, deep work blocks and honest reviews of where the hours actually went.
95 entries · ranked by consensus across 34 stacks
Costs nothing but effort
Protocols and habits, ranked by how many tracked stacks include them. These are listed first on purpose: they are free, and they are where the agreement is strongest.
- Daily readingHabitFREE, no cost
A fixed daily reading block, usually books rather than feeds
- +13
- Early risingHabitFREE, no cost
A fixed, early wake time, often before anyone else is awake
- +3
- JournalingHabitFREE, no cost
Writing to unload the mind, usually first thing or last thing
- +3
- Environment designProtocolFREE, no cost
Change the room instead of relying on willpower
- Identity-based habitsProtocolFREE, no cost
Aim at who you want to become, not the outcome you want to hit
- Phone-free first hourHabitFREE, no cost
No email, news or social media until you have done something of your own
- Weekly reviewHabitFREE, no cost
One scheduled hour a week to close loops and plan the next one
- After-action reviewProtocolFREE, no cost
Debrief what happened, what should have happened, and what changes
- Daily minimum workoutHabitFREE, no cost
A floor you never drop below: 20 minutes of movement and recovery on your worst day
- Daily writingHabitFREE, no cost
Write something every day, published or not
- Deep work blocksProtocolFREE, no cost
Long, scheduled, distraction-free sessions on one cognitively hard task
- Habit trackingHabitFREE, no cost
Mark the calendar every day you do it, then protect the chain
- Time blockingProtocolFREE, no cost
Give every hour of the workday a job before the day starts
- Deliberate discomfortHabitFREE, no cost
Choosing the thing you do not want to do, daily, as its own training
- Digital declutterProtocolFREE, no cost
A 30-day break from optional tech, then reintroduce deliberately
- Habit stackingProtocolFREE, no cost
Anchor a new habit to one you already do without thinking
- Never miss twiceProtocolFREE, no cost
One missed day is an accident; two is the start of a new habit
- Pomodoro techniqueProtocolFREE, no cost
Work in timed sprints, usually 25 minutes on and 5 minutes off
- Temptation bundlingProtocolFREE, no cost
Only allow yourself something you want while doing something you avoid
- Thinking retreatsHabitFREE, no cost
Blocks of time cleared of the schedule to sit with one hard problem
- Two-minute ruleProtocolFREE, no cost
Scale any new habit down until it takes under two minutes to start
- Workday shutdown ritualProtocolFREE, no cost
A fixed end-of-day routine that closes open loops so work stops
- 20-slot punch card ruleProtocolFREE, no cost
Imagine a lifetime card with only 20 punches: every big decision has to earn one
- 5 Second Rule countdownProtocolFREE, no cost
Count 5-4-3-2-1 out loud and move before hesitation talks you out of it
- 80/20 analysisProtocolFREE, no cost
List what produces results and what produces misery, then cut hard
- A few high-quality decisions a dayProtocolFREE, no cost
Aim for three well-made decisions rather than a hundred rushed ones
- Accountability mirrorHabitFREE, no cost
Telling yourself the blunt truth in the mirror every day, then fixing it
- Act on the thing causing stressHabitFREE, no cost
Make the first call or send the first email on whatever is nagging at you
- Batch cooking proteinHabit$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Cook a week of chicken, lean meat or fish in one session so protein is always to hand
- Daily designHabitFREE, no cost
Writing the day ahead in the past tense, then scoring it out of ten at night
- Day one, week one mentalityProtocolFREE, no cost
Show up every day as prepared as you were on the first day of the job
- Deliberate wanderingProtocolFREE, no cost
Unplanned, inefficient exploration kept on purpose as the counterweight to efficiency
- Disagree and commitProtocolFREE, no cost
State your objection once, then back the decision fully instead of relitigating it
- Eating the same meals every dayHabit$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
A fixed set of meals repeated for weeks so food needs no decisions
- Evening resetHabitFREE, no cost
Clear today's mess and stage tomorrow before you go to bed
- Fear-settingProtocolFREE, no cost
Write down the worst case, how to prevent it, and how to repair it
- Hard thinking before lunchProtocolFREE, no cost
Book the mentally demanding work for the morning and stop making big calls late in the day
- High-protein frozen mealsHabit$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Ready meals chosen for protein and fiber when there is no time to cook
- Implementation intentionsProtocolFREE, no cost
Decide in advance: I will do X at TIME in PLACE
- Lenten fastingHabitFREE, no cost
Forty days of giving something up, plus fast and meat-free days, in the Christian calendar
- Making the bedHabitFREE, no cost
The first completed task of the day, done before anything else
- Margin notesHabitFREE, no cost
Writing in the margins while reading, especially where you disagree with the author
- Minimalist trainingProtocolFREE, no cost
Short, hard sessions built on a few sets per muscle, drop sets and non-competing supersets
- Morning newspapersHabit$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
A stack of print papers read start to finish before the working day begins
- Morning putteringHabitFREE, no cost
A slow, unscheduled first hour or two: coffee, the paper, breakfast, no meetings
- Obituary testProtocolFREE, no cost
Decide what you want your obituary to say, then live so as to deserve it
- Open calendarHabitFREE, no cost
An appointment book kept almost empty so most days are free for reading and thinking
- Public speaking courseProtocol$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
A structured class in speaking to a room, taken to get past the fear of doing it
- Regret minimization frameworkProtocolFREE, no cost
Picture yourself at 80 looking back, then pick the option you would regret least
- Rewriting notes by handHabitFREE, no cost
Copying the same material out longhand, daily, until it sticks
- Saying I get to instead of I have toHabitFREE, no cost
Swap one verb in your self-talk and the daily grind reads as a privilege
- Six-page narrative memoProtocolFREE, no cost
A written memo read silently at the start of the meeting, in place of slides
- Training first thingHabitFREE, no cost
The workout goes before the workday; a session planned for later tends not to happen
- Two-way door decisionsProtocolFREE, no cost
Sort choices by how reversible they are, then move fast on the reversible ones
- Vision settingProtocolFREE, no cost
Write down a specific picture of who you are becoming, then filter decisions through it
- Working with a life coachHabit$$$Expensive: Several hundred dollars and up.
Regular sessions with a coach who sets priorities and holds you to them
- Written goal sheetHabitFREE, no cost
Goals written down, in numbers, and kept where you see them every morning
- Yearly auditProtocolFREE, no cost
Seven questions and a scroll through the year's photos before setting goals
Then, things you can buy
Supplements, gear, books and apps filed under productivity, ranked the same way: by how many tracked stacks include them.
- Atomic HabitsBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
The practical manual for building and breaking habits
- Deep WorkBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
The case that uninterrupted concentration is a rare and valuable skill
- The Daily StoicBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
366 short Stoic passages with modern commentary, one per day
- Extreme OwnershipBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
SEAL combat leadership principles applied to teams and business
- Kindle e-readerGear$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
E-ink reader that makes a daily reading habit easy to keep
- Slow ProductivityBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Do fewer things, work at a natural pace, obsess over quality
- The 4-Hour WorkweekBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Automation, elimination and the mini-retirement, from 2007
- The Almanack of Naval RavikantBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Collected thinking on wealth, specific knowledge and happiness
- Website and app blockerApp$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Software that makes distracting sites genuinely unavailable on a schedule
- AnkiAppFREE, no cost
Spaced repetition flashcards: ugly, free, and extremely effective
- Be Useful: Seven Tools for LifeBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2023 book on vision, work, failure and giving back
- Beneath the SurfaceBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Michael Phelps's memoir of his early career, written with Brian Cazeneuve
- Can't Hurt MeBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
David Goggins's memoir: abuse, obesity, three Hell Weeks and the tools he built on the way
- Discipline Equals FreedomBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
A short, deliberately blunt field manual for self-discipline
- Ego Is the EnemyBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Ryan Holiday on the ways self-importance wrecks aspiring, succeeding and failing
- Feel-Good ProductivityBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Energy and enjoyment as the engine of getting things done
- Flow: The Psychology of Optimal ExperienceBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's 1990 study of total absorption and what makes it happen
- Home gymGear$$$Expensive: Several hundred dollars and up.
A private training space at home, from a garage rack to a fully equipped room
- I PromiseBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Picture book of daily promises about school, effort and community, for young children
- Invent and WanderBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Jeff Bezos's collected shareholder letters, speeches and interviews
- Never FinishedBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Goggins's second book: what he did after the first one made him famous
- No Limits: The Will to SucceedBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Michael Phelps on the preparation behind his Beijing gold medals
- NotionAppFREE, no cost
Flexible workspace used as a second brain, wiki and task system
- Paper time-block plannerGear$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
A physical notebook for planning the day hour by hour
- ReadwiseApp$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Syncs your highlights and resurfaces them a few at a time
- Shoe DogBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Phil Knight's memoir of building Nike from shoes sold out of a car trunk to a global brand
- So Good They Can't Ignore YouBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Skills first, passion later: an argument against following your passion
- The 5 Second RuleBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Mel Robbins's first book, on the countdown that gets you moving
- The Diary of a CEOBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
33 laws for business and life, drawn from hundreds of interviews
- The Great CoursesApp$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Recorded lecture series on history, science and economics, on disc or by subscription
- The ONE ThingBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Gary Keller and Jay Papasan on the one priority that makes everything else easier
- The OutsidersBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
William Thorndike on eight CEOs who ran their companies for cash and capital allocation
- The Rock Says...Book$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Dwayne Johnson's 2000 autobiography, written with Joe Layden at the peak of his WWF run
- The Second MountainBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
David Brooks on the commitments that follow the first climb of career and status
- Thinking, Fast and SlowBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Kahneman's map of the two systems behind your judgments
- Tools of TitansBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Routines, habits and tactics from 200+ podcast guests
- Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life StoryBook$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2012 memoir, from Thal to Mr. Olympia to Sacramento
Nothing on this site is medical advice. It is a record of what public figures have said they do, which is not the same as evidence that it works, and definitely not the same as advice for you. Talk to a clinician before changing anything about your sleep, diet, training or medication. How this works.