How to be productive when you don't have external structure

A few years ago, a lot of things suddenly changed: I finished my studies, quit my job, and went full time on my own projects. My life went from having an external structure to having no structure at all.

Finally, I wasn’t working on anyone else’s agenda anymore. No one telling me what to do. I could use my time however I wanted and work on projects that were fulfilling and meaningful to me.

Or so I thought. What happened was this:

I started sleeping an enormous amount of time. Throughout the day I would watch videos and surf the web, and then meet up with friends until I went to sleep again. And only once in a while would I work a tiny bit on my projects. Boy did I struggle to get anything done!

So I had to find a way to have all this freedom and still make progress.

My friend Rico Trebeljahr was in a similar situation, and together we sat down to figure out what was going wrong. What was holding us back from being productive?

What you’ll learn

This post is an exploration of the system we have developed for ourselves. We’ve been using and refining it for a couple of years.

This system works great for people who…

• Have a certain amount of freedom in how they spend their time 
• Don’t have a lot of externally imposed structure and struggle with this sometimes
• Enjoy writing or want to use writing to improve their thinking
• Are committed to personal development through deeper, regular reflection

You’ll learn how to give structure to your days, weeks, months, and even years, and how to tweak the system to make it your own.

Specifically, you’ll learn about

1. What keeps you from being productive
2. What makes a good productivity system
3. How to implement such a system in your own life
4. What additional strategies you can use to stay productive

Where possible, I'll provide examples and templates that you can use as a starting point.

What keeps us from being productive?

There are three major challenges to having no external structure.

Challenge #1: If you don’t know what to do, you'll likely do nothing at all

What had changed for me was a lack of structure. I didn’t have any specific plan for what I wanted to do and when. You cannot follow a plan you haven’t made.

As a result, I wasted most of my time mindlessly doing things that weren't important to me. But when I thought about it, this was not how I really wanted to spend my life.

Challenge #2: It's often harder to accomplish something alone than with others

For the first time in my life, I was working completely on my own. The only person I was accountable to was myself.

With no one telling me what to do, I didn’t have to “deliver” anymore. The sense of external motivation was gone because no one was going to call me out when I needed it.

Challenge #3: Goals are worthless without habits

Winners and losers have the same goals, but you can only win with good habits.

I had a lot of goals during this time, but without a system to help me achieve them, they were basically worthless. I just wasn't working on them effectively because I hadn't developed habits to organize my days and weeks.

How to create a good productivity system

Now that we’ve seen the challenges, what can we do to address them?

Strategy #1: Systems and habits

In the long run, the how becomes more important than the what. It is better to focus on systems than goals because they are effectively multipliers.

For example, a person with a New Year’s resolution to get fit who joins a gym is not creating a system. They are likely to go a few times every now and then, but may eventually stop.

Another person with a resolution to do 10 pushups every day is probably better off. Because 10 pushups is easy AND you can grow from there. A year later, this person will probably be fitter than the other one (and already doing 100 pushups a day).

Starting at a low level and gradually increasing the difficulty is easier than directly starting at a higher level. Improving a bit each day is better than making drastic changes.

This means that our system needs to be based on regular habits, and that those habits need to start small. This provides structure, but also allows the system to grow in the future.

Strategy #2: Reflecting on different timeframes

Goals are normally based on a certain timeframe. I might have a goal of doing 100 pushups someday, but right now I would be very proud to do just one.

When you think in years, you are looking at your values and the big picture of your life. If you're thinking about months, you're thinking about bigger projects. Those projects could be broken down into weekly goals. And then at the daily level, you translate those into actionable tasks.

So thinking about goals doesn't make sense without thinking about time, because each timeframe requires a different kind of reflection. They put you in a different position on the analytical vs. creative spectrum by activating different types of thinking.

But reflection is not just about setting goals. It’s also about what's challenging, your values and principles, your relationships. Thinking about these things in different timeframes helps you live a much more intentional life. It also makes it easier to adjust as you go.

Strategy #3: Accountability partnerships

Accountability partners help you… stay accountable. 😅

There’s a reason why people work in teams – it’s often much easier. Having another person to help you stay on track is not only great for accountability. It’s also much more fun and motivating. And it’s useful to get someone else’s perspective on your goals and thinking.

Suddenly, you are not just doing everything for yourself anymore. You are inviting another person to be part of your journey.

How the strategies fit together

When you combine the strategies, you create a flywheel. Each part keeps the other parts running smoothly: 

You can think of the Systems (S) as the engine that powers the reflection and accountability parts. Reflection (R) is what improves the system and provides accountability to others. And external Accountability (A) keeps the system running (i.e. makes sure no one stops) and provides the feedback on your reflections.

Putting the system into practice

So combining these mechanisms creates a killer structure for keeping yourself productive and accountable. But how do you make it a reality?

As I’ve written above, the system is about regular (#1) reflection (#2) on different timeframes with built-in accountability (#3). The easiest way to do this is by reflecting once a day, week, month, and year on that period of time, and to review each other's reflections on a regular basis.

So each day you reflect on the last day and the next; each week you reflect on the last week and the next week, and so on and so forth.

In this section, I want to walk you through my personal implementation of such a system. This is a set of habits that work well for me, but it may be different for you.

Daily Reflection

At the end of each day, I sit down and create a list of everything I did. I then make a plan for the next day. It’s a simple plain text list, nothing fancy.

I also write a short summary about my day, which might include things like

• What I did
• Something I learned that day
• Things that are still on my mind

The daily reflection is a living document – I simply check things off the list throughout the day. If something urgent comes up, I add it to the list.

When I’m done, I send it to the accountability group on WhatsApp and save the reflection in Notion for later reference.

For me, the Daily is one of the most powerful tools to give structure and clarity to my days. I always know exactly what I want to do, which helps me to actually do those things.

Weekly Reflection

The weekly reflection is similar, except that the timeframe is longer. Every Sunday, you look at what you did last week and think about what to do the next week. This gives your week a structure and a purpose.

But because the time horizon is bigger, it’s possible to expand more on the reflection part. This is the time to think deeply about what has happened to you, to reflect on your problems, to be grateful. Your Weekly can be whatever you like, depending on what is important and helpful to you.

I’ve divided my weekly reflection into the following sections.

Summary

This is a place to collect general reflections from the week, to give a quick overview of what happened, and to connect to my progress on some broader topics. Although this is the first section, I usually write it last.

What got done?

A list of everything I’ve done during the week. I essentially go through my calendar and my daily reflections and add everything I’ve done during the week.

Lessons Learned

If I’ve had any insights during the week, I’ll write them down here. This is the best place to reflect on failures or challenges, and to try extracting value out of them. It's one of my favorite sections because I get to share new knowledge with my friends.

Goals From Last Week

In this section, I copy the goals from last week and give myself a grade from 1 to 10 on how well I accomplished them. (The grading is inspired by Michael Lynch's retrospectives.) I also add some notes about my progress or a justification of the grade I gave myself.

While this section is similar to the “What got done” section, I think this is different. Goals you haven’t completed won’t show up in the other section, and some things you’ve done weren’t in your goals section. I could probably improve this structure because of the redundancy, but so far it hasn't bothered me yet.

Goals For Next Week

This is again just a simple list of what I want to work on next week. Sometimes I’ll indent the list to indicate subgoals. In case this list gets too long, I’ll also make a rough schedule for the week of when to do what.

Time Tracking

Here I add a screenshot of my time tracking tool to see how much time went into what. This section helps me see what I’ve been focussing on this week.

Areas Of My Life

In this section, I rate myself on how well I'm doing in different areas from 1 to 10 (but I can't pick a 7!) This allows me to spot patterns and blind spots, and it can also act as an early warning system if a certain area is consistently not getting a good rating. (I’m also just really curious to analyze this later this year.)

See the image above for the areas I’m including. I’m still thinking about which other categories to add, because in this case more data is better (and it doesn’t take much time to grade yourself).

Song Of The Week

Another fun little section that is mostly for spreading joy. Often there’s a song or artist I’ve been listening to all week, and this is my opportunity to share it. During the yearly reflection, it’s also great to rediscover old favorite songs.

Something awesome I’ve read

I just recently added this – whenever I find something interesting, I’ll add it to this list. This serves as an artifact of what I’ve been consuming over the past week, but also as a way to share it with friends.

When I’m done, I send the reflection to my friends/accountability partners. Then they add some comments. They cheer for me, or ask questions if something is unclear. Or if it makes sense, they might even challenge me on some things. Reading their thoughts is a big dopamine hit and one of the most rewarding parts of the whole system.

The choice of what to think about is very personal. Rico uses a different format, and it will probably be different for you, too. Maybe you want to add a gratitude section, or one about your finances? Try it out, and see what works best for you.

Monthly Reflection

On the analytical vs. creative spectrum, the monthly reflection leans more toward the creative side. It’s about translating your big picture into more specific and actionable goals. For me, it’s also the least structured of the reflections.

That’s because it’s essentially a deep conversation with a good friend. It’s about listening deeply and giving space to the other person, and then getting an outside perspective on it. It can be like a Pensieve Diary but with a real person listening.

We always start with a ritual of doing 30 pushups together. Then for each person, we focus on what has happened in the last month, what we might be worrying about, and what progress we’ve made. And then on how we want to spend the next month and what goals to set.

To keep the conversation focused on the most important points, we try to prepare in advance. During the conversation, we both take notes to deepen our listening and understanding. Afterwards, we reflect on the session at a meta level – discussing what went well and what could be improved next time.

Sometimes we split the monthly reflection into two sessions because they can get quite long. The length is also the reason why it seems impractical to do this with more than one person – or at least we haven’t figured out yet how to scale this.

Yearly Reflection

The final part is the yearly reflection. Here you try to look back on the past year to understand what happened, how you feel about it, and what you can learn from it. And also to look ahead and dream big, make plans, and connect with your values. During this reflection I always tend to get really excited about the next year.

But why isn’t doing the monthly reflection enough? Aren’t we already looking at the bigger picture there?

There are a couple of differences that make the yearly reflection valuable in a different way. First, thinking about this broader timeframe puts you in another frame of mind. One that is more about dreaming big rather than executing. It’s zooming out far enough to see where you are in your life right now and where you might go. Second, it’s not a conversation, it’s something written. This generates a different set of ideas.

Complementary Strategies

Regular reflection is the main element of this system. But there are a few other strategies that I find extremely helpful and that make the system even more effective.

Wikipedia Pacts

A Wikipedia Pact is a kind of a commitment device. It’s a rule you set for yourself, and if you don’t follow it, you lose money.

For example, “If I don’t send this email by the end of the week, I’ll have to pay $50 to Wikipedia.” This is a great way to counteract the “monkey brain”. Either by making procrastination more painful or by attaching consequences to otherwise “easy” behaviors (such as eating sweets). The accountability group keeps you responsible by checking in or just witnessing the process.

I’ve written a whole article on Wikipedia Pacts where I explore the idea a bit further.

No Procrastination Tuesdays

Sometimes there are tasks that always get neglected somehow. To make room for them, Rico has invented “No Procrastination Tuesdays”.

At the beginning of the week (e.g. during the weekly reflection), you make a list of tasks that you no longer want to procrastinate, and then choose a day and time to do them. Rico swears by Tuesdays, but I guess anything goes. 😅

Combine this with a Wikipedia pact and you have a formidable combination of accountability and external motivation (e.g. "If I don't complete these tasks by the end of Tuesday, I’ll pay $50 to Wikipedia").

Optimizing your environment

Optimizing your environment can mean two things:

• Changing how you feel by changing location
• Making good behavior easy and bad behavior hard by shaping your immediate environment

There’s a profound difference in my productivity between working in a library and working at home. My brain simply kicks into a mode that is focused on getting things done. It would be so awkward to slack off in a library, and it’s easy to study or work there.

You can also shape your environment so that it takes less willpower to do the right thing, like taking steps to make your phone less addictive, or not having unhealthy food available at home.

But that is just the physical environment. You can apply the same idea to your mental environment by taking advantage of good sleep, morning sunlight, cold exposure, meditation, caffeine, etc. These things work, so use them!

Time Tracking

While I don’t think tracking your time is necessary, I find it valuable to see where my time is going. It helps you compare your intuitive sense of productivity with something more objective.

Time management techniques

There are a few more strategies that help me manage my time and energy levels.

Notice when you have the most energy and focus to work. For me this is early in the morning and late in the evening. These times are sacred, so I protect them as best as I can. Do your most important focused tasks during this time.

To get in the zone and to make it harder to procrastinate, try the Pomodoro technique. For those unfamiliar, in its most basic form you alternate between 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of rest. This tool helps you resist procrastination by putting all procrastinating activities into a separate time slot.

Prioritize. This is a huge topic in and of itself, and it’s something I’m often bad at. But one thing that has helped me get better is realizing that urgency is not the same as importance.

And last but not least: don’t do more than you need to to meet your own quality standards. Or in other words, stop wasting motion.

Getting Started

Now that you know more about this productivity system, you may be thinking that this takes way too long.

And in a way you would be right, it does take a lot of time. But it’s worth every minute. This time investment compounds with everything you get done.

This set of strategies has solved most of my productivity problems by giving me accountability, a space to reflect, and structure to my life. In fact, I could probably say that this system has improved my life more than anything else in the last two years.

So how do you start?

Start small and then slowly expand from there. Focus on creating a new set of habits.

To start:

1. Find an accountability partner. Send this article to 1-2 friends and ask them to start an accountability group together.
2. Write regular weekly reflections. Keep them as simple as possible, such as starting with last week’s and next week’s goals
3. Review each other’s weekly reflections.

I've found that the weekly reflection has the biggest impact while the time investment is still ok. Daily reflections are also good, but they lack that big picture view. Monthly reflections are too far apart to make them a habit. I do recommend doing the yearly reflection.

This is the place from which everything else can grow. It’s the basis of your flywheel – your very own productivity system.

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PS: My friend Rico (who is my accountability partner) published an article with his own version of such a productivity system. Check out his post here – you might find something in there that I haven't covered ✨