Gail Marie, former Director of Quality at Animalz, invited Saent cofounder Tim to give a presentation to her fantastic team of editors about his personal productivity journey. That request inspired him to turn his slides into a nine-part article series:

• Introduction (this post)
• 2008: Empty your mind and stop multitasking
• 2011-2012: The crazy idea of intentional disconnecting
• 2014: Timeboxing + distraction blocking + gamification
• 2015: Press a button for focus
• 2016: The productivity company
• 2017 - 2020: Being productive back in the real world
• 2021: Flexibility for more balance and more Saent
• 2022: Tame the ravenous work beast

Introduction

Picture someone who's freakishly productive—focused, organized, punctual. What kind of person comes to mind? Do they look geeky? Are they buttoned up in a suit? Do they code? Maybe they live in spreadsheets in the finance department?

When we think of people who are “into productivity,” some dull stereotype typically comes to mind. While that image is often accurate, it's also comforting. "I might not be as productive as that geek from the development team, but I'm fun to hang out with, do creative work, and have a life," we tell ourselves.

Because of this stereotype, few people can picture me as a productivity person. I’m creative, flexible, and sometimes messy—desk, clothing, haircut. After I tell someone I'm "into productivity," there is no small amount of surprise, wonder, and then questions:

• How did you become passionate about productivity?
• What's your most important productivity tip?
• How did you get the idea to build a productivity product and company?

I'll walk you through my personal productivity journey in this article series. I'll answer the questions above—and many others—along the way.

Read next 👉️ 2008: Empty your mind and stop multitasking