I got my best productivity habits from great philosophers.

And what’s fascinating is that I didn’t get them from abstract theories.

I got them from things that actually happened in their lives.

Number five: 

Montaigne taught me to build a lifestyle that can survive disruptions.

There’s a great anecdote from his life: 

Montaigne suffered from kidney stones, but instead of becoming paralysed by pain, he followed his passion without exerting excessive effort.

He paid attention to what the pain felt like and how his body reacted, but continued to live a happy life nonetheless.

He achieved a high productivity because his lifestyle was designed to function despite disruptions.

That’s a very important productivity lesson.

Our life will be interrupted no matter what we do.

We will get sick. We will have to travel for work. We will have family problems. We will have bad days. Our plans will collapse.

So let us build a lifestyle that can deal with imperfect circumstances.

Let us adopt routines that will keep going even when life gets messy.

Productivity does not need a perfect streak.

What it needs, it’s resilience and continuity.

Number four: 

Seneca taught me to simplify my lifestyle.

Here’s the remarkable thing about Seneca: 

He was enormously wealthy, but adopted a simple lifestyle.

He would sleep on a field bed, wear simple clothing, and eat simple food.

Why?

To become more self-reliant.

In his forties, Seneca was exiled to Corsica by emperor Claudius.

Suddenly, the man who had practised simplicity, found himself with fewer comforts than he had ever imagined.

Seneca wrote, “The man who is content with little, will never be poor.”

Simplicity is a key productivity principle.

The more complicated our lifestyle, the more things will demand our attention.

For this reason, I simplify what I eat.

I simplify my routines.

I simplify my possessions.

In this way, my productivity increases.

Number three: 

Lao-Tzu taught me not to overdo things.

There’s a famous story about Lao-Tzu leaving his job at the royal palace.

One day, he decided to quit his job and travel on a water buffalo.

At the frontier of the kingdom, the gatekeeper recognised him and asked him to write down his insights.

As a result, Lao-Tzu wrote down the Tao Te Ching.

One of its key lessons is that doing things in excess is counterproductive.

If we keep sharpening our knife, the blade will wear out and break.

That’s a crucial lesson for productivity.

We could keep optimising our calendar until optimisation becomes a full-time job.

We could keep improving our projects without ever finishing them.

Sometimes the most productive thing is to let good be good enough.

Number two: 

Schopenhauer taught me that relocation is sometimes the best solution.

He spent years trying to develop a career in Berlin with little success.

Then came a cholera epidemic in 1831.

Schopenhauer left Berlin and settled down in Frankfurt.

Frankfurt became his permanent home.

And his life in Frankfurt became extremely productive.

The lesson isn’t that it is a waste of time to stay in the wrong environment.

I mean, the wrong job.

The wrong city.

Or with the Wrong friends.

When the environment is the problem, it is better to relocate.

Change the city.

Or change the people around you.

A better environment can enormously increase our productivity.

And number one: 

Aristotle taught me to define clearly what I want to accomplish.

In his Lyceum, Aristotle was not merely teaching facts.

He was teaching how to achieve happiness.

His philosophy revolves around purpose.

Purpose is crucial for productivity because it enables us to say no.

If we know what matters most, other things become secondary.

Then we can say no to useless emails.

Or unpromising opportunities.

Or unpromising travelling. 

And so forth.

High productivity requires to say no to distractions.

To say no politely but immediately.

That’s how we protect our time for doing important things.

Productivity is not about fitting more tasks into our day.

It’s about making sure that our day is spent on worthy activities.

If you are interested in applying rational ideas in all sorts of situations, I recommend my book “The 10 Principles of Rational Living.”