1. Getting everything out of my head and onto a trusted list.
I've changed my productivity apps several times over the years because I must absolutely trust that space. Regardless of the app, I've used this space to collect the items that are bouncing around in my head, causing anxiety, and making me feel like I have a lot more work than I probably actually do.
What I've tried over the years:
First, I tried two alternatives to OneNote that have been discontinued on the internet, and I forgot what they were called already. Syncing was slow and would screw up frequently, tagging tasks was impossible in one of them.
Evernote : I hate this thing. Complicated, and I don't see how it's supposed to work for tasks. So many shortcuts and typing and bells and whistles. AAACK.
Asana : Can't work offline, even using the iPhone app. Dealbreaker. Also you have to assign every task to yourself in order for it to show up in your actual task list on the left panel. Annoying.
Producteev : Great. Syncs offline. Fast, easy, reliable. Loved it, no complaints. But I did leave Producteev for something new...
TeamViz : Integrates Pomodoro and GTD(ish) principles. So far, so good. Will get into that later in the post.
2. When I get the nagging task out of my head and onto paper, I define it as a clear next action.
I've been practicing GTD (Getting Things Done) since I picked up David Allen's book, Getting Things Done about 3 years ago. Over the past three years, I have followed some parts of GTD consistently, and other parts I am less consistent with. What I have practiced consistently is defining my tasks as action items. An example would be instead of writing "write entrepreneurial finance paper"which is somewhat of a vaguely-defined, overwhelming to-do I would never start until the last minute, it would be broken down into manageable tasks I could take action immediately, such as "conduct research on the mobile gaming startups and identify comparables".
3. Pomodoro Technique
This is a new habit, but it is great for several reasons. Firstly, I tend to get deep into the zone and sometimes when I'm like this, I don't come "out" for hours. Sometimes I don't even know everything I had been doing. Interruptions during this time period make me very frustrated, and the people who want to interrupt me get impatient. Time flies during this time window, and I'm pretty sure it's productive, but I never stop to reflect on whether it is.
As prescribed in the Pomodoro Technique, I divide my work up in to 25 minute chunks of time with a 5 minute break in between. I have been trying this for 1 week, but I already love it. This system allows me to focus in short bursts, reflect on what I've been doing, address interruptions/calls/texts during breaks, and I tend to have a more sharpened focus during the 25 minute chunks.
TeamViz lets you keep track of tasks (off and online), and assign each task a # of pomodoros it will take to get done. When you click on the task, you start a timer for 25 minutes and off you go. it's not super GTD-friendly, but there's a lot of value in having a simple list without tags and labels for each tasks (for context).
My 3 Productivity Challenges:
1. I struggle to switch between work and play.
I'm either full-heartedly in one or the other, but don't like switching back and forth between the two. I'll put off work if I'm having fun, and I'll skip out on fun things if I'm in the groove.
2. My daily goals are often not realistic.
When I was a kid, I used to organize my tasks well. I was able to accurately estimate how long it would take to get something done, make a schedule, and do it. In fact, nerdy Meg used to post said homework schedule on my door so my brothers knew when it was OK and not OK to bother me. This is in 4th grade.
Now, I do the same thing but somehow seem to think I can conquer the world in one night while also watching 2 episodes of a favorite TV show on the internet. The pomodoro is helping with that, though.
3. Email owns my attention.
I use a productivity tracker which I love called RescueTime, but one of its metrics makes me very depressed: how much time I spend on email. In a recent week, I logged 12 hours, or 21% of the time that I used my computer for work that week. I refuse to give that much of my day away to email.
I need advice here, and I need to make a change.
I use Unroll.Me to get me off of all those pesky newsletters, and to streamline the ones I care about into one daily email. That's a great start. Unroll.Me has helped me unsubscribe from over 430 newsletters. That is not a typo.
I see a few problems that I have with my email management.
i) I cannot stand having more than 10 emails in my inbox, no matter what I'm doing or working on. It causes me anxiety. This serves as a distraction, and I am letting my inbox tell me what to pay attention to.
ii) I'm highly responsive and I don't say no enough to requests, which I suspect actually causes more emails to keep coming in. Relative to those on the other end of the email, I tend to respond a little bit more quickly. Thankfully, Gmail Meter can tell me about my email behavior, such as my response time:
iii) I treat my inbox like a task list. Emails that take more than 2 minutes to respond to (a la GTD) stay in the inbox until addressed. I don't like the GTD principle of converting the email into a task and archiving it. Then I have to go find the email again to reply, and I might just forget to reply, ever. So, I've started to Boomerang emails that I can deal with on the weekend (Boomerang- have the email come back to my inbox in a few days), and I've started to Boomerang my replies to be delayed by 1/2-1 day in some cases.
iv) I check my email every time one comes in and I hear that "ding". FAIL.
v) I reply to everything. I see plenty of people never reply to emails, and I can guess that they get fewer emails and even less work/requests for favors/questions to be answered as a result. Perhaps it's time to start drawing some boundaries (and still be polite)!
I'm ready to make a change and I'm inspired by this HBS article to do it!
For the next 8 days, I am going to commit to the following changes and will report on how they go:
1) Determine my email budget - decrease my email daily usage from 21% to 15% on my RescueTime tracker. I am going to set a RescueTime alarm to go off after I've spent 1 hour on email each day.
2) Set boundaries around when to check my email - I will do my 1 hour of email from 5-6ish each day, and otherwise check it for urgent things once in the morning and once at lunch. If really necessary, I'll increase it.
3) I will use discipline to put longer tasks in the task list rather than tackling it to get my emails down to 10.
4) I'm going to try Sanebox and let you know how it goes.
5) and finally, I'm going to take advice from Simon Sinek and try to send fewer emails and talk to people more. Goal: 15 messages or fewer a day. We'll see how that goes.
Other advice welcome!!!!
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