I write a lot of too many Substack posts every week. I’ve gotta be averaging like 4 or 5 across the different sub-projects I’ve got going—like our read-along of Boethius’s The Consolation of Philosophy, happening right now!
I also write philosophical science fiction and fantasy short stories with companion essays to help you learn more of the philosophy at play in the stories. I make most of my living from my YouTube channel called ParkNotes where I sneak philosophy lessons into videos about notebooks. I’m writing a non-fiction book called Journal Like a Philosopher which I’m under contract for and which is due in March ‘26. I’m writing a science fantasy novel on top of that. I’m also turning my Substack publications into two physical zines and selling them on Etsy. I’m a brand affiliate for a bunch of leather goods companies and notebook companies. I’m an elder at my church and regularly preach now. I’m a jiujitsu purple belt and compete 2 to 4 times a year. I host a philosophy and theology podcast where I read the work of my guests and then talk with them about it. I work part time with a sports ministry where I regularly give talks and host ask anythings for college athletes exploring faith. I have a wife and a daughter, two crazy doodles, and some frogs and turtles. I’m probably missing some more important stuff too but it feels really weird listing all this stuff here.
Let another praise you, and not your own mouth — a stranger, and not your own lips.
Proverbs 27:2
It’s super gross to talk about one’s own achievements or level of productivity. It’s gross to ‘humble brag’ about all the things on your plate. To boast and brag is not great. And ‘humble brag’ is a contradiction in terms. It’s not humble to brag. I know it. I get it. I’m with it. I’m a midwestern boy—or better yet, a Great Lakes boy. Talking about your accomplishments—or even just talking about yourself too much—is not something we’re comfortable doing, and if we do, our friends will help us find our way back down a peg or two, lest we get too big for our britches.
But hopefully this post is reaching folks who aren’t my regular readers, folks who don’t know anything about me. So I think it’s helpful to just briefly describe the kinds of things I’ve got going on, see the opening paragraph. Those are the sorts of things I’ve found some success with. I’m not a big wheeler-dealer productivity circuit speaker, I’m just a dude with a bunch of part-time jobs who has found a modicum of success. I still let too many things fall through the cracks and I’m still not as productive as I wish but maybe my standards are malformed.
So all that to say, I’m uncomfortable with my own title for this post. I keep hearing my inner critic saying “Oh, you’re sOoOoO pRoDuCtIvE huh, Park? Look at you Mr. Productivity Czar. Wow, you’re soo successful and skilled at life, aren’t you?”. So, if that’s what you’re thinking right now, you’re in good company.
But even while I recognize it’s gross to put oneself up on a productivity pedestal, I also recognize that many people in my audience at least think I’m a productive person. I regularly get comments on my ParkNotes YouTube channel and here on Substack asking how I’m ‘so’ productive and asking for productivity tips. So I figured I’d think a little bit about my varied projects and the habits I use to work on them and see if I could abstract out some principles or tips to help my readers with their own productivity.
I am a notebook czar—I’ll cop to that. But again, I’m not a productivity czar. I don’t read a whole ton of productivity stuff and I think most of it is cringey-turned-in-on-itself-like-an-in-grown-nail trash. I’m wary of (and weary of) productivity gurus who just talk about productivity but don’t seem to be doing anything other than talking about productivity. They’re like a mirror trying to reflect its own image. So, with that said, I don’t know if I’m stepping on this or that guru’s teachings in this post. And additionally, I don’t know how beneficial these tips will be for you in your own context, but if you’re a writer/academic/education YouTuber/public speaker or any sort, then they should be useful for you.
Is that enough uncomfortable preambling? Hopefully.
Here are some of the ‘tips’ I’m abstracted from my own experience of manically jumping from project to project. Hopefully some will be beneficial to some of you.
Spin Multiple Plates At Once
Most of the jobs I have let me work at my own pace. I don’t have to clock in at any certain time, what matters most is the end result. I do have deadlines and without them I’d be completely toast, but from the time I agree to produce something to the deadline I am free to work on that project whenever I want.
This is really helpful for me because