‘PRAGMATICS’ Noun
A mental martial art of effortless and smooth practicality in life and work, blending contemporary tools with proven time-served, productivity techniques.
D Griffiths (2020). Made Up Definitions [online]
Available at: https://djisystems.com/notes/
“PRAGMATICS” (or ‘Zen and the Art of …’) is just a phrase I coined for a never-to-be written book title, and to encompass my foundation principles for:
- Engineering a lifestyle of freedom
- Freedom from the stress of the Productivity Myth
- Freedom in creative expression for fun and profit
- Personal satisfaction in learning and development
So the phrase is a catch-all description for what my Notes aim to help with. These are no utopian dream, rather they describe the practicalities and ethos of my own smug contentment. They’re autobiography, not self-help.
And they are tended as a digital garden. Never definitive, always growing, pruned & nurtured.
Nothing more.
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.
Just the facts, Ma’am, all we want are the facts.
Sgt. Joe Friday, LAPD
I’m as organised as I need to be, so I can be as free as I can be …
David Allen on “Getting Things Done”
PRAGMATICS: START HERE
My notes are shared with somebody specific in mind:
Probably, say, a thirty or forty-something? Certainly in a dead end job, or a moribund business. Where time moves like a glacier filled with frustration, disappointment and anger. Until another weekend flashes past in the blink of an eye.
But a person driven to act, to break through the feeling of a life slipping away un-lived. Yet pinned down by the inertia of self-doubt and a lack of pragmatic guidance. Plus, needing a swift kick in the arse every now and then!
My notes apply to life, business and creativity. They connect loosely, and offer the chance to browse, surf the links, and pick out nuggets. I try to make each of them an IOU:
- I owe you: thanks for checking out my stuff
- I owe you: a return on your time investment
- I owe you: the respect of making them Interesting Or Useful
New notes appear often, but not to a timetable.
These notes may well be significantly revised on a regular basis. If this sort of thing is of any interest I'd urge you to invest in yourself: bookmark and check back for regular updates, or perhaps even sign-up below for update notifications.
Pragmatics: A Handbook for Life & Work
Well, since you’ve made it past the intro blurb, let me spell out what I’m on about in a little more detail …
Pragmatic Productivity & Creativity
Combining two productivity philosophies can be effective in gaining balance and mental calm with huge output. That’s what I’ve badged (just for ease of reference) as “Pragmatics” …
Output Productivity
I use this term as a catch-all, phrase to denote anything that is produced as a result of ‘Pragmatics’. You’ll need it to achieve tangible stuff …
Quit ‘Busywork’ And Start Productive Work Instead
That familiar feeling of not having enough hours in the day because you are just “so busy” all the time may well be masking the fact that you are actually procrastinating on your most important objectives …
BROWSE ALL NOTES:
Time Management: Boost Productivity & Focus
Welcome to the world of effective time management! In our fast-paced lives, mastering the art of managing time can significantly enhance productivity and focus …
Harnessing The 80/20 Rule for Smarter Goals
In today’s fast-paced world, achieving our goals efficiently and effectively is more important than ever. That’s where the 80/20 Rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, comes into play …
Boost Workforce Efficiency with Enhanced Employee Productivity
Are you looking to optimize your workforce productivity and drive better results? One of the most effective strategies for achieving this is …
Effective Small Business Marketing Strategies
As a small business owner, you understand the importance of reaching your target audience and standing out in a competitive market …
The Promised Land: How To Differentiate Your Venture
The traditional positioning exercise, where ventures craft a concise statement to articulate their category definition, benefits, and advantages, may no longer be very effective …
Silicon Valley Wisdom: How to Find Out What’s Going On
The worse question you can ask of your team is “Any questions?”. Every now and then you might get some feedback, but for the most part people are reticent to contribute based on this particular prompt …
Don’t Rely on AI
There are hard limits to where you want technology to control your life. Allowing tech to tell you what to do is scary …
An Uncompromising Regimen Will Keep You Productive
We picture highly productive people as those who get up in the morning, drink a protein shake, and blow through their to-do lists before the rest of us are even out of bed …
Visualise Achieving Your Goals
The only thing separating you from reaching your goals is your imagination, right ..?
Use Rewards
Business culture promotes the idea that people are most strongly motivated by external rewards, like money or prestigious titles …
Willpower Is Finite
According to theory, exercising willpower and resisting temptation is a cognitively demanding task that diminishes our ability to perform …
Optimise Your Productivity Apps & Systems
At some point, the diminishing returns of optimising our productivity systems turn negative …
Set Big Goals?
In a climb-every-mountain, live-your-best-life language of self-improvement, it can appear as if people setting the most ambitious goals turn out as the most successful …
Maximize Every Moment of Your Day?
One of the most persistent myths — so ingrained that it can be how people conceive of productivity itself — is the idea that working well is about maximising every waking moment …
Don’t Copy the Habits of Highly Successful People
In revering the performance of highly successful people, it’s easy to forget that they’ve had and still have their own set of struggles and challenges on their path …
Productivity Hacks Which Just Aren’t True
Many productivity gurus will try and sell you on a series of quick fixes to boost your output, and, by extension, make you feel much better about yourself and your business life …
Accounting Systems: The Backbone of Your Business
Possibly one of the least engaging topics for a small business owner with no accounting or book-keeping experience, nevertheless something which brings huge benefits to having an understanding of the topic …
Billing and Invoicing Systems: Streamlining Your Cash Flow
Managing your billing and invoicing processes efficiently can make a big difference in your cash flow and your overall business operations …
Document Management Systems: Keeping Your Files Organised
You’re searching for that important contract, client information, or even that brilliant blog post that you wrote a while ago. Without an organised system in place, it can quickly turn into a digital treasure hunt, which is not as fun as it sounds …
Project Management Systems: Keeping Your Business on Track
Project management plays a crucial role in the success of your business because, in reality, everything is a project …
Customer Experience & Support Systems: Keep Your Clients Happy
A solid customer experience system is your strategy for the whole journey of your customer’s interaction with you. It’s about how they feel from when they first hear about you, to making a purchase and even beyond …
Lead Generation Systems: Sales & Marketing
If your business is virtual or online then this is of course an essential part of any day-to-day function. However, even a bricks and mortar business can bring more customers through the door with some simple and easy to execute systems in place …
Essential Business Systems
There is a good reason that my partner and I decided to call our business DJI “Systems”. We provide a range of services but all of them geared towards giving our clients access to systems …
How Would You Define Your Values?
If you haven’t defined your personal values then goals which you are trying to achieve will be much more difficult …
Quit ‘Busywork’ And Start Productive Work Instead
That familiar feeling of not having enough hours in the day because you are just “so busy” all the time may well be masking the fact that you are actually procrastinating on your most important objectives …
How do YOU define Productivity?
Productivity is a trap that rarely benefits us, unless we have clarified its exact meaning to ourselves …
Six Tips for Better Project Briefs
A brief should be the starting point for most activities at work, and a clear, concise brief that fits on one page is ideal …
Output Productivity
I use this term as a catch-all, phrase to denote anything that is produced as a result of ‘Pragmatics’. You’ll need it to achieve tangible stuff …
Pragmatic Productivity & Creativity
Combining two productivity philosophies can be effective in gaining balance and mental calm with huge output. That’s what I’ve badged (just for ease of reference) as “Pragmatics” …
Pragmatics: A Handbook for Life & Work
Well, since you’ve made it past the intro blurb, let me spell out what I’m on about in a little more detail …