Nish

Scaled 3 businesses 0→$5M + raising 2 kids - Free ebook 'Powerful Productivity Habits for Busy Entrepreneurs to save 15 hours/ week' -

[Nish @nerd_productive]

I've been obsessed with productivity and entrepreneurship for over 15 years—testing every system on my own ventures, coaching business owners through growth plateaus, and running workshops for corporate executives.

I applied the growth methodologies I've learnt to scale a luxury ecommerce brand from $2M to $6M, launch a consumer wearable to $3.5M ARR in 18 months, and grow a consumer electronics brand to $5M in 2 years.

My background: Chartered Accountant, Former Consultant (EY), INSEAD MBA, two e-commerce exits.

Now I work with entrepreneurs, helping them double their revenue while working fewer hours using battle-tested growth and productivity frameworks.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

"There is usually an inverse relationship between how much something is on your mind and how much it’s getting done."

David Allen, Getting Things Done

[Nish @nerd_productive]

"Problems are like mushrooms: When it’s dark and rainy, they multiply. Under bright light, they diminish."

Gino Wickman, Traction

[Nish @nerd_productive]

"First of all, if it’s on your mind, your mind isn’t clear. Anything you consider unfinished in any way must be captured in a trusted system outside your mind, or what I call a collection tool, that you know you’ll come back to regularly and sort through. Second, you must clarify exactly what your commitment is and decide what you have to do, if anything, to make progress toward fulfilling it."

David Allen, Getting Things Done

[Nish @nerd_productive]

"When you visualize your own work (in a list, a graphic, or some other form), you can organize it, speak about it more clearly, and structure it to become much more manageable."

David Allen and Edward Lamont, Team

[Nish @nerd_productive]

I've read and applied GTD, Deep Work, Seven Habits, 4-Hour Workweek, The Effective Executive, and Flow. Each one has powerful ideas. None of them give you a complete, practical system you can run your life with. So I built one that combines the best of all of them.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

To focus deeply on any single task means withdrawing attention from everything else. That's hard when you have too many open loops in your head. A trusted productivity system is what makes that withdrawal possible.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

Just 20 minutes of undistracted focus on one task can unlock your innate intelligence, energy, and creativity. But one notification can destroy that flow completely. It then takes 15 minutes to get back, if you can get back at all.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

I set a timer for 45 minutes of focused work and I'm amazed at how much I've gotten done in just 23 minutes. Large uninterrupted blocks of time are absurdly productive. Even one per day changes everything.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

These blocks aren't rigid. My system is flexible. I switch things around when something urgent or interesting comes up. The point isn't a perfect schedule. The point is that important areas of life have protected time on the calendar.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

As you go deep into one type of work, insights and creativity flow. Context switching kills both. When I'm in a project block, I'm fully in that project. No email. No other tasks. Just that context.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

Parkinson's law works in your favour here. Work expands to fill time. So if you've allocated a finite 3-hour block to a project, you'll finish more in those 3 hours than if you had "all day" to work on it.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

Time Allocation before Task Prioritisation. Stolen from Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. Instead of staring at one giant to-do list, I allocate pre-scheduled blocks to client work, projects, family, admin. Prioritisation becomes easy within each block.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

I wrap up most workdays by 4pm to pick up my kids. I train for half marathons. I deliver beyond client expectations. Not because I work more hours. Because I allocate time to areas of my life first, then prioritise tasks within each block.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

Admin work piles up fast. If you ignore it because you're focused on big-picture work, the backlog eventually eats into the big-picture work anyway.

A productivity system that tells you to focus only on the big-picture work is incomplete, but so is a productivity system that manages all the minutiae while ignoring the big picture.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

Without a system that balances urgent demands with goal-aligned work, you're left reacting to whatever's shouting loudest. With one, you can work fewer hours, make faster progress, and actually enjoy your afternoons.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

The real cost of living in reactive mode isn't burnout. It's unachieved goals. Projects that could transform your business sit on the backburner for months while you drown in 5 meetings, 136 emails, and that presentation due tonight.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

Eisenhower said "What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important." Most people know this quote. Almost nobody has a system that actually enforces it in their daily workflow.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

Your brain is wired to prioritise urgent tasks. They trigger adrenaline. They demand immediate attention. Meanwhile, the truly important work sits quietly in the background, patiently waiting for attention it rarely receives.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

Success comes down to two things: WHAT you choose to work on in any given moment, and the QUALITY of attention you bring to it. Most of us spend our days chasing whatever is latest or loudest instead of what's strategic.

[Nish @nerd_productive]

The real power of a productivity system isn't saving time. It's eliminating the mental overhead of tracking everything yourself. When you stop keeping everything in your head, your brain starts being a creative engine.