Name: Not Getting Stuff Done? Find Someone To Call You Out
Uploaded: 2022-03-23T22:17:40+00:00
Duration: 3 min 24 s
Description: Finding an accountability partner is one of the most powerful ways you can shore up your productivity

Not Getting Stuff Done? Find Someone To Call You Out

Why are accountability partners so helpful when it comes to productivity?

True or false: A good accountability partner is willing to shame you a bit sometimes.

How do good accountability partners help with excuses?

- Finding an accountability partner is one of the most powerful ways you can shore up your productivity.
  - You can understand your own potential when you see what your peers can do
  - They can offer help when you're feeling low or stuck
- Humans inherently don't like letting other people down: We're a social species. Just having someone who's expecting or even counting on you to make decent progress regularly makes you far more motivated to actually get stuff done out of fear of disappointing them.

Related resources:
- ["How do you network effectively within a company?"](https://link.jointaro.com/Hr1nr53D7sfQAEv3A)
- ["How can I better network with other software engineers in the Bay Area?"](https://link.jointaro.com/42JLsbppRMwAJAPUA)

Finding an accountability partner is one of the most powerful ways you can shore up your productivity

There's more to working in tech than just shipping software. It's vital for your career to build deep professional relationships and make real friends at work, especially if you're looking to grow to senior levels.

At the end of the day, working in tech, or anywhere really, is all about working with other human beings. Communication is the core skill necessary to make this collaboration effective.

We all have the same 24 hours in a day - The difference is that some are able to get far more out of it than others. Here's what they're doing that others aren't.

[Masterclass] How To Manage Your Time Optimally In Tech And Achieve More Results

Ever wondered what separates software engineers at FAANG and top startups from the rest? One of the big reasons is their ability to manage their time well to supercharge their productivity. At the end of the day, how hard you work and how naturally talented you may be aren't relevant if you aren't able to use your time efficiently.

Here are our Top 5 points from this masterclass (in no particular order):
- **Focus on just 1 thing** - Have a goal for every single work day. Make it more concrete by writing it down. Humans are naturally bad at multi-tasking; narrowing everything on your plate to a single task brings clarity which leads to action.
- **Break things down** - By decomposing big projects into smaller and smaller sub-tasks, you are making it more digestible and actionable. This is an especially important skill for more senior engineers and tech leads as they will need to take in huge problems and split them up into smaller chunks to delegate to others. How good a software engineer is at this is a key attribute of their seniority.
- **Move your phone out of arm's reach** - Modern-day smart phones are great, but they are also super-effective distraction machines. Relying on raw self-will to resist checking your phone every 5 minutes is overrated and often ineffective. Introduce that extra friction.
- **Find an accountability partner** - Humans are a social species, so we naturally don't want to let others down. Peer pressure is some of the most effective pressure there is and finding someone who you care about and is counting on you is often more powerful than any collection of time management tactics (including the ones in this masterclass).
- **Get consistent sleep and exercise** - Software engineers in particular will claim that they "don't have enough time" to do these. Sacrificing sleep and exercise is the classic mistake of getting a short-term gain with huge sacrifices in long-term value. These 2 things are activities you *make* time for. Get ~8 hours of sleep each day and do ~30 minutes of exercise 3-5 times a week. After a few weeks/month, you will see a huge boost in your energy and mental clarity from doing these.

Related resources:
- [Strategies To Stop Procrastination](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/90PJpQEWVdVK47yh6IiB/strategies-to-stop-procrastination/)
- ["How do I optimize my sacred hour at work?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/l8dzUVTu99CahofQsYAi/how-do-i-optimize-my-sacred-hour-at-work/)
- [Presentation Slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MCEx7X592VfvdWlFi4JrhSffiDIeNyc1FsqDJMy8hvI/edit?usp=sharing)