Improving your productivity
There's a good amount of material at Less Wrong about increasing personal productivity. There's been little systematic research on which suggestions work well, and some of the practices discussed could decrease productivity for some people. However, it's worth reading what other people have found helpful to get ideas for practices that you could implement in your life that might work well for you.
Two books that people have recommended on Less Wrong are
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. This book has a very favorable rating on Amazon with 1,000+ reviews.
- The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Start Getting Stuff Done. The suggestions in this book are backed by academic research. The book is summarized and reviewed by Luke Muehlhauser on Less Wrong here and here)
Some Less Wrong posts where people have discussed their own experiences are below. Many of them center around overcoming procrastination specifically. It's important to note that this is by no means the only input to personal productivity: for example, developing good study habits and better prioritizing what to learn can increase your productivity substantially.
The mechanics of my recent productivity by So8res
Working hurts less than procrastinating, we fear the twinge of starting How I Am Productive by Peter Hurford
The Power of Pomodoros by elharo
My workflow by Paul Christiano
How to Beat Procrastination (to some degree) (if you're identical to me)