This post on "productivity pr0n" has been doing the rounds, but following my post on Multitasking for Productivity I thought it might be a nice follow-on. In particular I like the idea of not keeping a schedule - that's brilliant!

Given customer commitments and what-not, it may be hard to drop my schedule completely, but I think the underlying principle is sound.  One of the chief causes of stress is not having control or influence over our workload and I would concur that a highly structured schedule actually diminishes one's ability to do the things you want/need to.

Note that the other key point here is not that you should abandon all work or obligations, rather that a looser schedule allows you to focus on what is most important at the time.  I hate to think of all the times I've been dragged into a standing meeting while far more important matters were on the boil.

I think I'm actually going to try this.