When it comes to strategies for getting things done, I experiment. In 2020 I was briefly a bullet journaler. I have started (but not yet completed) The Artist’s Way. With awe and suspicion, I watch YouTube creators model perfect lives, wondering if their tips actually work for them. I am powerless against a Sunday reset or a productive-day-in-my-life vlog. When I have a goal to accomplish—say, writing a synthesis of books on a topic—I usually break it into smaller pieces, time-block, and motivate myself with a weird series of rewards. I employ the Pomodoro method.
A version of this article appeared in the January–February 2025 issue of Harvard Business Review.