Simplicity is where you find productivity. That being said, there is no reason for an introduction. Here are some productivity methods that I use and have helped me.

This is something I came across in the Moses book and really liked:

“Having a large table instead of a desk was insurance that this procedure would be followed. Since a table has no drawers, there was no place to hide papers; there was no escape from a nagging problem or a difficult to answer letter except to get rid of it one way or another. And there was another advantage: when your desk was table you could have conferences without even getting up.”

Robert Caro on Robert Moses.

-At home, I have a big glass computer desk with out any drawers at all. There, I was probably the most productive I’ve ever been. I have to go buy a new one soon for my new house and I am probably going to get a dining room table. It will be big, open and sturdy. This is what I love about my Mac. The first thing I did when I got it was wipe the harddrive and reinstall only the basics. The background is a grey screen. I extended the no drawer analog to my computer. I have maybe 10 mp3s on the entire thing. My folders are as follows: Movies, Music, Documents, Journal, Photos.

-I take all my notes for class or meetings on yellow legal pads. Every few months, I go to Wal-Mart and buy a huge pack of them. Each topic has its own pad–never mix. Then when they are full, I box them up and ship them home. All personal writings go in my Moleskine.

-I will never put a TV in my bedroom again. Chris Anderson is right. My freshman year of college, I’d watch reruns of “Just Shoot Me” instead of reading. Or I’d watch CNBC instead of writing. I’ve probably seen every episode of Law and Order at least 3 times. For me, the television contributes to my life when it is a destination instead of a foundation. That is, when I go into another room to watch it rather than it always being one.

-I always get an early night and change my bedding regularly. After reading a study, it was proven that the more hours of sleep you get each night, the better productivity you will have the following day. I put this to the test, I purchased a brand new full size mattress, changed my sheets regularly, and I have been having 7 – 9 hours sleep each night, and I have been so much more engaged and focused since.

-I have a Whiteboard in my room where everyday I write down what I need to do. It monitors the immediate present for me. Depending on the context it will be as general as “Come up with ideas” to as specific as “Read last 76 pages of ______, review notes.” For the week or month ahead, I have a desk calendar. But I think I am going to graduate to this tip from Jerry Seinfeld.

-Emails that I need to respond to are starred, so I have time to think about them instead of rushing a less than satisfactory response.

-As I said before, when I read I carry a highlighter (with tabs) and a pen. Quotes and passages are marked with flags on the right hand side. Terms to define, topics to investigate and books to buy are marked at the top. Thoughts and tie-ins are marked with the pen. If I need to define a word immediately, I use Google SMS by texting “Define ________” to 45546 or Wikipedia on my Blackberry.

-I also started drinking a lot more water–a minimum of two bottles before lunch. Besides the strange looks caused by the bathroom trips, I’ve been feeling more energetic and more alert.

As always, am looking to absorb any of the productivity knowledge the rest of you have accumulated. Post ’em if you’ve got ’em.

I am now at a point where I have to make some rather serious decisions about my life. And it is with these sort of questions that I am at my very best and my very worst. I obsess over them–I consult everyone–I consider every possible angle. I write best in these moods. I take time for reflection. The menial and trivial seem to slide away. But I also get down. The signs of futility start to spring up. The inevitable indulgence in despair is one I rarely pass up. “What if with all this thought–all this effort–I end up just degrees from where I’d be if I’d let it all go?” “What if control is just an illusion?” Some of this is outside Rudius, some of this is about which position inside Rudius.

For me, I’ve always told myself: whatever you want to do, that’s what you’ll end up doing. What happens when someone offers you that chance? Do you have an answer ready? I keep coming up blank. “What do I want to do?”

So I decided to break it down in smaller questions. What do I like? Well, I this blog. I like expressing myself. I like predicting what will happen and making moves to be there before everyone else. But I also like leaving when that gets boring. Let others sort out the details; I like the big picture. I like money. I like the feeling of fluid mastery–of the point guard taking the ball from right to left and then spinning as someone reachs in for it. The move that no one sees coming, but meticulously planned. And more than that, I like work. Sometimes, during the day, I fantasize about running until I vomit, wiping my mouth and running some more.

What don’t I like? Well, I hate office shit. I hate being constrained and having to run every little idea through other people. I hate waiting. I hate busy work. I hate having to tolerate people who social inertia has forced me to tolerate. I hate the Peter Principle. I hate the feeling of ripping people off, of delivering what they’ll accept as opposed to what they deserve. I hate school and I’m thinking about quitting. I hate the idea that what you do and who you are must to be entirely separate things.

What do I need? I need time. I need an understanding that creativity must be nurtured–and that almost everything is secondary to its incubation. Someone who comprehends that the war for talent in a service economy will be a costlier engagement than any that have come before it.

In the end, I’m sure a lot of you have the exact same desires. And some of the despondency comes from realizing that most jobs pretend they don’t exist. The idea that the level of bullshit is at its highest in high school and declines the further you move from it is sadly untrue. I see the same shit I hated in people now, that I did when I was 11.

So those of you who have already made this decision: What advice can you offer? Those of you who are making it now: What steps are you taking?

I’m reading a book by Ken Robinson right now and one line has been echoing in my head “Being good at something isn’t enough reason to do it for the rest of your life.” Penelope Trunk wrote a few months ago that you ought to figure out EXACTLY what you want and demand it from your job. The only thing you have to lose is unhappiness and an ill-fit. Machiavelli wrote that fortune must be thrown down and struggled with, that opportunity can be molded to your whim. But first–as is the current dilemma–the whim must be discovered and defined. I feel like I am closer, yes, but not close enough.

A few articles recently have really codified the ethos of the content model. I don’t want to give too much away but all the smart people I’ve talked to have said the same thing–that in the end, the only thing that really matters is the shit you put on the screen. And by that logic the screen is almost entirely irrelevant.

Good News for Marketers With Eye on Digital Content

Believe it or not, there is something more annoying to online video watchers than advertising: poor quality.

Gaming Consoles are for Playing Games; All the Rest is Flash

Build a big, powerful, muscle-bound machine with a billion features and people will be willing to pay a premium price for all this added functionality beyond gaming. No, I said. People who buy gaming consoles want to play games.

Scoble Leaving Podtech? No He Is Not

“I generally agree with the basic points in his points about podcast/videoblog networks needing to focus on content first. As much as I like John Furrier personally, I also can’t name a second Podtech show off the top of my head. Every time I hear of a company like PodTech or Podshow or Odeo getting multi-million dollar investments and going through it, all I can wonder is how they are spending all that money. Isn’t the thing that makes this medium interesting and available to all of us its low cost of production?”

It’s paradoxical in its ridiculousness. Today, content is cheaper to produce than it was yesterday. Tomorrow, it will be cheaper still. And yet, all anyone wants to talk about is distribution. So I ask you, when we figure it out, when its finally possible to be blue-toothed new singles straight to your phone, when major cinematic movies are beamed via satellite to your local theater and then you pick up a copy for home on the way out via your portable DVR/iPod, what exactly will we be watching?

I’ll be real fucking frank with you, I don’t want it to be “Who’s Your Caddy?” Why is the Wii succeeding? Because they made games people like, things people have been asking for. Why is PodTech failing? Because they bet on Robert Scoble instead of Robert Greene. Pre-roll/Post-roll, advertising, no one cares. They want to watch stuff that is good. Commercials have always been a burden that people bear to get what they want–and now NBC thinks they can create a portal that shows nothing but ads? This is insanity.

In the end, we will have very little impact on HOW our content is delivered to us. So many variables outside anyones’ control dictate it. Cheaper prices here, the price of oil there, an innovation in screen technology, a new codec, a massive investment from some biased source, government regulation. But just about anyone can have an impact on WHAT that content is. Why? Because you can make it. You can sit down tomorrow and develop a story arc that will change media for ever. You can skirt the rules, barrier of entry, taboos, and go straight to the source. But most importantly, the field of combat has been vacated. The competition has ceded the market. They’ve left content on the table. They just want to deliver it.