Posts tagged Tips
Sticky Note Surprise
Nov 16th
Here is a quick sticky note hack that I like to call the “sticky note surprise”. Basically, you take a bunch of sticky notes, or Post-it® notes if you prefer, and affix them inside your planner. They are handy whenever you need them, wherever you are. If you miss someone at their desk and need to leave them a note, you can avoid that awkward moment when they return unexpectedly to find you rummaging through their stuff looking for paper. It’s also handy when you need to give out a phone number or scribble down an address for someone.
As you can see in the picture below, tucked inside the cover page are stacks of sticky notes of various sizes. Each stack contains about 5-7 notes. The front page works nicely for this since it is a heavier thicker paper than the tabs. Also, if you arrange enough stacks to fill most of the page, the page will lay fairly flat when you close the book.
By the way, the book I use is actually a 5½” x 8½” Blue Sky® Telephone/Address Book from Office Depot. It happens to be the same size as the Franklin-Covey “Classic” binder I used to have. The reason I like it is that >> READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY >>
PROCRASTIVITY! Yikes!
Jun 7th
During one particular period when I was actively tweaking my “GTD” system, trying out all sorts of software tools, and scouring numerous productivity blogs, I came to a startling realization. I was guilty of something. Something unproductive. Something that went against the very nature of what I was trying to accomplish. But what? I needed a name for it. The name I came up with was “procrastivity”. Yes, that was it. I was guilty of procrastivity. Uhg. I was procrastinating by organizing and re-organizing task lists and task management tools, all under the guise of productivity.
So why was I doing this? Well, first of all it was fun. It’s interesting to see what new tool or technology is out there. It’s fun to try them out, make mods and customizations, and try to bend the tools to my will. The second reason is that there were some daunting tasks on my to-do list. I could easily rationalize that by working on this tool I was indirectly working on those tasks. Not true, and pretty pathetic.
So how do I break this cycle? Well, procrastivity is like any other addiction. The first step on the road to recovery is admitting that you have a problem. You also have to realize that if you’re not careful, you can fall back into the bad behavior at any time. From there, the next big step is to regain focus by making sure that those things on your to-do list are actually doable. The question that comes to mind, based on a quote by GEN Creighton Abrams, is “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer, of course, is “one bite at a time.” In other words, your to-do list should not contain the task “eat the elephant”. You would start off with a task like “take a bite of elephant’s leg (without getting stepped on)”. In GTD parlance, David Allen would have you create a project titled “Eat elephant”, and place only the next action (take a bite) on your to-do list. When I first read his book, I didn’t give much credence to the project list. I thought, “Why would I want to manage yet another list?” It would be much simpler to have only one list to worry about, right? Not so much. It turns out that the “one list” gets too crowded with fuzzy ill-defined tasks (a.k.a. projects). Every time I would glance at it, I had to work out in my head what to do next. This probably happened 50+ times during the course of a normal workday. Lots of wasted energy.
There are two ways I handle my projects now: (1) project pages in Microsoft OneNote, and (2) PigPog tasks for those multi-step tasks that aren’t quite big enough to warrant a dedicated project page. Since there are pros and cons to each, I use both depending on the “project”. I will write about each of these in more detail in a future post. The only list that gets printed and travels with me is my to-do list. The projects stay tucked away until my weekly review and do not distract me during a normal workday. In addition to the basic principles of project vs. next actions, there are some very nice tips on the ZenHabits web site and on LifeHacker.
Another tip is to slow the pace of your tweaking. Allow yourself to only make changes to your “system” once per quarter. To help resist the urge, create a project for your system. Every time you think of a tweak you want to make, just jot it down as a next action in that project. Knowing that the tweak is captured will help you resist the urge to jump in and immediately start tweaking. For those engineers and technical folks, think of this like a field test or pilot run, or even a beta test. You need to stop making changes long enough to test the system, right? Once per quarter, you pick the best tweaks/ideas off the list and roll them into your system. Purge any ideas that no longer apply. Then, test the updated system for the next quarter by actually using it!
One last tip to avoid procrastivity: Energize your conscience. Let it remind you if your current actions are unproductive or if you are guilty of procrastivity. One way to do that is with the self-check timer, which I previously discussed here.
That’s it. Good luck out there!
Self-Check Timer
May 5th
Here is a little life hack you might find useful. I call it the self-check timer.
Often times I get sucked into meaningless non-productive tasks. It’s usually when I have a difficult task that I don’t want to start, or a task that is longer or more tedious than expected. Granted, we all need a break now and again. No problem. When the break turns into 90 minutes of web surfing, however, that is a problem.
Here’s one way to stay on track: Ditch your fancy Rolex for a digital watch with a programmable timer. I happen to like my Timex Ironman. Whatever watch you choose, it should have a simple count-down and repeat capability. Set the timer to go off every 27 minutes. Okay, the exact time is not important, but pick something that will not hit on the half hour or hour. It should be fairly random and asynchronous with respect to your calendar. Whenever the timer goes off, stop and assess what you are doing. Does your current activity support one of the day’s most critical tasks? Be honest. If it does not, get back on track.
That’s it. It seems like a very simple thing, and it is. You’d be amazed at how many times you catch yourself being unproductive during a single day. Try it. You’ll also find that while you are able to take short breaks, you won’t get completely lost.
One caveat: Don’t do this every day. If you do this too often, your conscience will learn to tune out the beeping and it will lose its effect. You will also start to annoy your co-workers when they catch on. I only do this a few times per month. I may pick a day that is more heavily loaded with critical tasks and has less room for slacking.
Another side benefit… You’ll find that it is a handy excuse to escape those never-ending conversations with the office gossip. You don’t want to seem rude by glancing at your watch, but it’s a completely natural thing to do when your watch starts beeping. Also, observe the behavior of people around you when your watch goes off. Everyone will likely look at their own watches as you look at yours. The net effect is that you just increased the productivity of everyone around you while creating the perfect moment to gracefully exit the conversation and move on to something productive. Nice work : )
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