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My favorite productivity tools
Saturday, 22 July 2006
Most of us want to get more done. The tools we come up with often help us to achieve this goal. Here are my favorite productivity tools.
Spiral notepad and pen
Whenever I'm working, I always make sure a spiral notepad and pen are nearby. These have to be among the best productivity tools ever invented. I mostly use them as a type of short-term memory system.
I note down anything on the open page that I'm likely to need to know in the next day or so, but can be forgotten about later. This becomes a sort of scratch page. For example, if I'm trying to figure out how a particular piece of computer code works, I'll sketch out the paths it's following.
I also use my notepad as a kind of personal brainstorming center. If I'm working on a new project or idea, I'll sketch things out in a rough manner just to get them straight in my head. These often become drafts for more formalized documents.
I hardly ever throw my pads out. Usually, they end up pretty messy and all over the place, but a quick flip through can help to remind me of some piece of information I'm looking for.
Systems for repetitive tasks
If I notice anything that I'm having to do again and again, I'll look for a way to systemize it. This comes down to such basic things as having my bank automatically pay my bills for me, up to writing programs to automatically refractor computer code so I can migrate it across to a different platform.
Systems for repetitive tasks should achieve two thing - they should reduce the amount of time it takes to complete the task, and increase the quality of the outcome. The quality factor occurs because the likelihood for human error has been reduced by formalizing the steps to be taken. Nothing is left to chance.
The amount of resources saved from thinking out a good system can be enormous.
One point to note is that just because you have a system, doesn't necessarily mean you'll be more productive. A bad system can often be worse than no system at all. The classic example of this is government bureaucracies, which often insist you perform steps and fill in forms that are unnecessary.
Watch that the systems you design don't become tasks in their own right - where the original goal is forgotten and serving the system becomes the goal. This is an easy trap to fall into. If it's not saving you time AND increasing quality then it's probably a bad system.
The word "no"
Once people see that you're someone who knows how to get things done, the demands on your time and resources will increase dramatically. Those who can produce efficiently are so rare that others will automatically start trying to load you up with tasks.
This is where the word "no" comes into play. You should use it ruthlessly.
Using "no" a lot will also help to reduce scope-creep on your projects. Keep your goals to a minimum and focus on them like a laser. If X is your desired outcome, then resist the urge to be persuaded that "it's not that much more effort to do Y and Z as well as part of the work towards X".
A calendar and a to-do list
I'm probably going to get lots of flame emails for dismissing a religious institution so lightly, but I'm not a huge fan of Dave Allen and his book Getting Things Done. I read it and found most of the advice pretty banal. No hard feelings I hope Dave.
I think it encourages too much focus on the system, so that the system itself becomes the goal. You can see that this is a trap many people fall into if you read the various blogs around the place about Dave Allen's book. The amount of work some people put into improving the system and the tools for Getting Things Done and then blogging about it would leave little time to get anything done from what I can see. It becomes a monster that feeds on itself.
One excellent piece of advice from the book, that can be summed up in a couple of sentences, is to get tasks out of your head and written down. A calendar and a to-do list that are easily available should be enough. Rather than using your head to remember what you need to do, write everything down. If it's something that needs to be done on a particular date, add it to your calendar, otherwise, put it onto a to-do list.
My computer and internet connection
These are fabulous productivity tools and well-worth learning how to use well. Since I'm probably preaching to the choir on this point, I won't waste time trying to convince you.
A good night's sleep
If I'm tired - I'm impatient, cranky and unproductive. Enough said.
Plenty of time to relax and not be stressed out
Running around like a chicken with it's head cut off is a terrible way of getting things done. If you're busy putting out fires all day, then you're not spending time thinking about that wonderful new firefighting system you could be building.
The first hour of work on any task is usually the most productive, I find. If I've had a bit of time to do my own thing before that and get into a relaxed state of mind, then I'm even more dynamic.
Even better, relaxation time is great for thinking things over. My best ideas usually come to me while I have some time to ponder, not when I'm in the middle of doing something.
While it seems counter-intuitive, with work sometimes less is more.
A decent diet and moderate exercise
Never getting any exercise and eating only bad foods makes you sick. Sick people are unproductive. Take care of your health, and you'll get more done.
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