Which productivity system should you use to organise your life?

Whole-life systems (Second Brain, LAZI, RAD, his complete system) and how complex they should be.

Axis: one elaborate system … whatever simple system works for you

Answers by date: 20 records in 16 sources, newest first; the answers above are the current ones. The advice was refined (2019, 2020), never reversed, in these records.

date	who	answer	source
2020-10-21	Ali	Step one of GTD, capture: many of us feel overwhelmed and stressed because we use our brain as a to-do list, so any open loop on our mind should be written down and put somewhere.	The 5 Key Principles of Productivity 00:04:02
2020-10-21	Ali	Ali recommends reading David Allen's Getting Things Done, the single book that has most transformed his own productivity.	The 5 Key Principles of Productivity 00:01:36
2020-10-01	Ali	David Allen's Getting Things Done, Ali says, treats capture, clarify and organise as different steps, and capture should have as little friction as possible: the fewest clicks from a thought to writing it down.	What's on my iPhone - Favourite iPhone Apps ft. @KharmaMedic 00:05:42
2020-09-27	Ali	Ali's productivity tip: keep a list of all the projects you are working on, ordered by the effort or attention you want to give each; it has transformed his productivity.	Collecting My Tesla Model 3 - Day In The Life 00:04:44
2020-08-20	Ali	The fifth Building a Second Brain principle, slow burns: keep a list of the projects you are working on, all on the slow burner, instead of doing each as a heavy lift.	The Second Brain - A Life-Changing Productivity System 00:05:44
2020-08-20	Ali	In 2019 Ali spent a stupidly large amount of money on Building a Second Brain, an online course that he says genuinely changed his life.	The Second Brain - A Life-Changing Productivity System 00:00:00
2020-07-21 (said on 2020-07-20, implied)	Ali	Ali advises against copying someone else's Roam Research setup exactly: look at what others do, play around with it and build it into your own workflow.	How I Organise My Life 00:20:31
2020-06-28	Ali	Ali suggests spending about 80% of our time in plane mode, following the pilot's instructions, and about 10%, maybe 15%, in pilot mode: moments of clarity about our vision, purpose and plans for the day.	My Simple Productivity System - The Equation 00:04:23

More answers (12)

date	who	answer	source
2020-06-23	Ali	Ali concludes that productivity is not about reading a book or watching a video and stopping there: we should all control our own time, and if we do not, understand a framework, experiment with techniques and make time our own.	My Favourite Productivity Book of All Time 00:12:06
2020-06-23	John Zeratsky	John Zeratsky's parting advice: find a way to establish your own system, make experimenting a habit and believe your time, attention and energy are yours to design, since following someone else's steps will not make life perfect.	My Favourite Productivity Book of All Time 00:11:37
2020-04-29	Noah Kagan	Once you are 30, Noah says, you don't change your productivity system: find the one that works and don't get sidetracked by which to-do app to use.	Productivity, Books and Careers Advice - Ali Abdaal x Noah Kagan // Deep Dive 01:25:00
2020-04-17	Ali	Ali's third habit is the capture habit from David Allen's Getting Things Done: the brain is designed for having ideas, not storing them, so he writes down every idea or thought, usually in an app, which frees his brain.	Answering your Questions 00:07:49
2020-01-07	Ali	Ali's main takeaway from David Allen's Getting Things Done is an inbox for your brain, a place to capture ideas as soon as they come, so the brain is for having ideas, not storing them.	15 Lessons that Improved My Life 00:20:54
2019-12-27 (said on 2019-12-20, implied)	Ali	Tiago Forte's Building a Second Brain, a workshop, online course and series of blog posts, has changed the way Ali thinks about content creation and note-taking.	My Annual Review using Notion 00:07:02
2019-12-11	Ali	Ali uses Evernote as the long-term memory of his second brain, with notebooks for the subjects he cares about.	What's on my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020) 00:07:43
2019-12-11	Ali	Ali also tracks his videos, video ideas and upcoming sponsored videos in Notion: he uses Notion to track his entire life.	What's on my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020) 00:03:41
2019-11-20	Ali	Ali is working on making his own productivity system as app-agnostic as possible, so that if Evernote, Notion or Todoist shut down he could easily move it to another app or even pen and paper.	Study with Me + How I Learn New Content 00:03:24
2019-10-14	Ali	A student aiming for productivity should first build their own productivity system before optimising for speed on devices, Ali says, as a pianist first plays slowly to learn the basics.	Do students need an iPad or a MacBook? 00:05:37
2019-09-17	Ali	Ali also uses Notion to manage his email newsletters, his videos, his weekly review, his online courses, content for his website and YouTube channel, his team and his ideas.	My Favourite Productivity App for Students - Notion 00:14:50
2019-05-31	Ali	After Building a Second Brain led him through the rest of Tiago Forte's website, Ali changed his own productivity systems: he has watered Forte's ideas down to fit his life and is experimenting with them over the coming weeks and months.	Monthly Favourites #9 - Ali Abdaal 00:05:51

Dates are upload dates, which set the order. Where the speaker gives a different recording date in the video, it is added as "said on YYYY-MM-DD, implied" (derived from the date said in the video).