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Ironically: Jason’s productivity at 37signals went way down during the magazine interview.

I agree that I’m more productive when I enjoy the task at hand, but what do you propose? Not doing things you don’t want to do? If that were the case, there are a lot of jobs that wouldn’t get done. In fact, isn’t this the plague of “entrepreneurs” who spin off idea after idea with no execution? They like to think, they don’t like to do?

@Nick Carter
their article about being passionate about the process, not necessarily the object of what you’re doing, covers this I think. And if an idea isn’t executed, then it only seems to harm the guy who wasted calories thinking about it… Just my two cents…

@Nick Carter: I sell SSL certificates and I am excited about making it easier for clients to buy it, improve marketing communication, train staff to sell better and increase customer support quality etc. Love the process – that’s enough!

It’s funny that you are advertising for your competitor (the people who make that pdf). They only make the magazine to try to sell their app.

@Paul – good point about enjoying the process – I love both the process and the product, but in time, as your business grows, loving the process helps you stay relevant in the long run.

@jJohn – you seem not to understand how things work – first – I do the magazine out of my passion for productivity. My app’s logo is there as it pays the bills (the magazine doesn’t bring any profit and it’s not supposed to) – the magazine has no significant increase in our sales – we don’t need this magazine and it’s a lot of work and effort to prepare each issue.

Second – we are no competitors – we work in similar field and some customers might overlap, but my app is for GTD enthusiasts which is a smaller niche than what 37signals do. They actually inspired me to cater for this niche as I was there and needed this kind of tool.

The real reason behind the magazine is to inspire my users to be more productive – my users read the magazine and I do it for them – if I thought 37 is my competitor I’d never put Jason’s face on the cover to show off my competition.

The thing is – apart from the tools that we build people need inspirational material that’s timeless – and that’s what the magazine is bringing to the readers. Hope you’ll also enjoy the magazine’s content as much as we enjoyed preparing it for you.

I’m thankful for 37signals’ support and Jason’s appearance in the magazine – he is my software/business guru.