How to stay the course & develop great products

As someone who solves problems for a living, you’re called on to be creative, smart, and engaged every day that you’re at work. It’s on you to not just be productive consistently, but also come up with original ideas and implement them on a daily basis.

But when you get stuck in a rut, or feel like you can’t get ahead of your to-do list, it feels impossible to stick it out — no matter how great the product you’re creating is.

This guide breaks down why certain tasks drain your energy, how to organize work in ways that make progress easier, and what habits actually support long-term creativity and product development.

Why aren't all tasks equal?

Most people create a to-do list and tackle item #1 without considering the bigger picture. The issue? All tasks carry different weights, different energy requirements, and different impact. Random order often leads to random results.

How should you categorize your tasks?

Try sorting your task list based on one or more of these meaningful dimensions:

• Type of work: administrative, coding, design, planning, etc.
• High-flow vs. low-flow activities:
  • High-flow: design, coding, writing, anything that gets you into deep focus
  • Low-flow: admin tasks, email, status updates
• Time required: ideally based on past data, not guesswork
• Impact/ROI: which tasks move your current project forward the most?

What’s the best way to approach tasks once they’re sorted?

Once your tasks are grouped, you can match the right method to the right type of work:

• Use the Pomodoro Technique for low-flow or administrative tasks to get through them quickly.
• Use longer, protected time blocks (like two-hour “deep work” windows) for high-flow creative work.
• Use productivity heat-mapping to identify when you’re naturally most productive and schedule high-flow tasks during those windows.
• Batch similar tasks together to reduce context switching — emails with emails, writing with writing, planning with planning.

This isn’t about rigid systems. It’s about using the right structure at the right moment.

How can you generate more (and better) ideas?

If you find that the standard brainstorming model doesn’t work for you, you’re not alone. In fact, there’s shockingly little evidence that brainstorming actually works. If that method leaves you uninspired, here are alternatives.

What is “brainswarming” and why does it work?

One alternative approach is “brainswarming” —  head here for a full-how to on brainswarming. With brainswarming, you're focusing on moving from goals to resources to solutions. It works especially well for people who don't enjoy freeform brainstorming.

What habits support creativity, even outside your tasks?

There are also things you can do that might not seem related to creativity, but can have surprising side effects.

Learning is one of those things, with language-learning in particular having proven benefits in proven benefits in several areas that are useful for work, including creativity. With great free apps like Duolingo or Memrise, there’s no excuse not to try your hand at learning a new way to speak, and seeing how it impacts your creativity.

Meditation also has many proven benefits, but it can be hard for some people to make the time for it — or sit still that long! Another option that has similar benefits to meditation but feels a little more active and can be easier to get in the hang of is morning pages.

The idea with these is that you’re clearing out mental clutter first thing in the morning by writing three longhand pages (or approximately 750 words, if you want to type it). Clearing that clutter out often makes a huge difference in ability to focus and often gives people a way to “think out loud” about their plans for the day (which can make the rest of these tips a lot easier to implement).

What does it really take to build great products?

You can optimize your workload ’til the cows come home, but often, developing great products is just a matter of managing to stay the course and stick it out when times get tough. Especially as a remote employee, it can be hard to stay motivated.

On a day to day basis, make sure that you’re taking breaks (both from the computer and from work in general). It’s a good idea to set “office hours,” too — no staring at your email on your phone before bed!

Experts note that taking regular breaks during the workday and enforcing “office hours” for yourself not only keeps you productive in the short term, it can help you avoid burnout in the long term.

If you have a hard time remembering to take breaks, try using something like Posture Coach that prompts you to take breaks. It even gives you stretches to do in the meantime to help prevent repetitive strain injuries and other issues. Remember: it’s hard to have that next big breakthrough or focus on the task at hand when you’re distracted by a twinge in your neck because you haven’t moved from your desk for three hours.

What’s the bottom line?

Creating a healthier, more productive workflow doesn’t require a full life overhaul. Small adjustments — sorting tasks by energy type, using the right time blocks, adopting habits that support your brain, and protecting your work boundaries — go a long way.

If you have a favorite productivity habit or workflow tip, we’d love to hear it. Share yours on X/Twitter and tag us.