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Posts tagged productivity
Does Your Workplace Smell Like Productivity?
Feb 22nd
Listen… do you smell something?
That is the smell of productivity.
You can almost sense it in the air when you enter the workplace of an efficient company.
It’s Like Magic
If you have ever worked with an efficient team, you know what it feels like to be part of a well-oiled machine.
Things are moving.
Things are humming.
Things are getting done.
“When a team is productive…
Everything seems effortless…
Everyone knows their part…
Work and creativity flow… like magic.
Competitors and other teams can’t compete or keep up.”
It feels great to be part of such a team or environment.
Smells Like Productivity
So, what does productivity smell like?
- People Don’t Care About Schedules – No one cares when others are coming or going, just that the work is getting done. No one blinks an eye when Justin comes in at 9:30 or when Sally leaves at 3:30.
- No One Is Worried About “Whose Job It Is” - Everyone has their part and knows it. No one is worried about others pulling their weight. They also know that the team wins together.
- People Are Allowed to Say “No” - Team members can say “No” when appropriate. To meetings, to tasks, to their boss, and even to customers when necessary.
- Minimal Email – You might assume that a productive team would have messages buzzing. However, the highly efficient team knows the right tools for the job. They don’t send email when a phone call or text message is the right medium. Nor will they engage in email Ping-Pong when there is work to get done.
- No Pushers - When there is work to get done, it gets done. You won’t find any task-pushers, procrastinators, or mindless delegation on these teams.
- Few Regular (Repeating) Meetings - Meetings are only called when action is needed. And never to just update the team. You will not find many standing meetings on the calendar.
- Regular Team Bonding Events – Teams that work hard, play hard. And I am not talking about “going to the bar.” When was the last time your team had fun together? Often, you don’t even need to leave the office.
- Fire Drills Are Rare – You won’t find many fire drills in these environments for two reasons. One, they are on top of their work, and two, they know the difference between an urgency and a fire drill.
Does this list sound like your workplace?
It’s in the Air…
When a team is productive… everyone knows it.
They can sense it. Feel it.
There’s just something palpable in the air.
And yes, it smells good in here.
Question: Can you sense the productivity in your workplace?
Mail Pilot: A New Approach To Email and Task Management [Interview]
Feb 21st
There are so many people that just won’t get out of their email application to manage tasks. While this has been a problem in the past, new solutions like Asana and Flow allow for email and task management to be integrated within the task management solution. In many cases, the person who doesn’t want to go into the task manager can simply respond and check off tasks via email, removing a lot of the friction that can happen in a team environment.
But there’s a new kid on the block that actually lets you manage things from within email — using your email inbox as a task manager. That’s something that many people do already, but in a very impractical way. Mail Pilot looks as if it will add the practicality that’s been missing from the equation.
Mail Pilot is a Kickstarter-funded project that tackles email and task management in a way that is innovative and productive.
What does Mail Pilot do? Well, here’s the word on that straight from the source:
“Mail Pilot is a computer application & service that lets you use your current email accounts in a way that is much more intuitive than today’s email applications. Mail Pilot reimagines email from the ground up, and is built to fit into the workflow of how people use email today.”
But that didn’t answer all of my questions. So I spoke about Mail Pilot with its creators, Josh Milas & Alex Obenauer, shortly after the project went live on Kickstarter.
Mike: I’ve taken a look at Mail Pilot, and it looks really compelling because people who are wanting to manage and/or use their inbox to manage things in terms of productivity and such. Why did you decide to start this thing up and what was the plan behind it?
Alex: So I was in a class in the fall semester and we had to keep a design journal. And a couple of weeks into the semester the professor said that he was going to be doing a check of our journals…and I actually hadn’t written anything in mine yet. So I went home and I tried to come up with a problem that was so big and so problematic that would fill a lot of pages. I chose email because that’s one of my biggest issues — I receive 80 plus emails on average a day, which is less than most people’s average.
And so I started to write about it — and within three pages the entire concept behind Mail Pilot was there. It was very much a thing where I had such an issue with email and really broke it down try to figure out what the essence of email was, and how you would rebuild the client around that essence…ignoring all kind of prior implementations. Then I shared the idea with Josh the next day — and he absolutely loved it. He has very similar problems with email and we had shared our woes together about it.
From there he explained to me that (this) was legitimately something we should act on, that this was much bigger than just changing the way that the two of us use our email, but that this is something that not only do we have the time talents and gifts to make — but something we really should.
Mike: Now there are a lot of productivity apps out there right now where they tell users to “get out of your inbox”, essentially saying that they shouldn’t be managing from within your email. Did you guys decide to go that route because either you tried stuff other task managers and it didn’t work for you and you just kept going back to managing things from email or do you think it’s just that it’s hard to get people to understand that there is an inbox for email and an inbox for all of their stuff?
Alex: It’s definitely both. You know, one of the biggest time drains for us is translating everything in your inbox into your to-do list and translating them into a calendar…stuff like that. And then trying to put something into your to-do list or put it on to your calendar because you need to follow up with it and then link to that email — it just became a kind of complicated interconnected web of ‘to dos’, events and emails. And it didn’t seem to make much sense.
So we really thought that if you could clear out your inbox, but those messages could still be marked for review, or marked to pop back up — say, reappear in three days — then that would help you severely decrease the clutter in your inbox and you wouldn’t have to spend the time working with a to-do list or a calendar. And the other thing too is that email is a standard. You can’t really get the entire market out of the inbox. Google proved that in a big way with Wave. I really liked what they did with the project but it was clear you couldn’t get people out of their email.
Mike: Right. So you’re raising $35,000 through Kickstarter. Where will that money go to? What’s the plan for those funds?
Josh: The plan is that once we meet that goal is to bring on some additional developers to help us really get the product to market. And their goal would be to then release a beta version by June. That will first go to all of our Kickstarter backers so they can start using it and we can start getting some feedback on it. So essentially, about three months from the end of our campaign the plan would be to release our beta.
Most of the money that we would raise would go to additional development support, ramping up our server space — because a lot of our features are really services that would take up space. It’s not just folders and stuff that goes into your normal inbox. We have our own data that we have to store with Mail Pilot so we do need an amplified storage space. That’s a pretty heavy cost so that’s where another portion of the money would go to. But then after that, hopefully we can get out of the beta, release to public and go from there.
Mike: I think one of your biggest battles is that there is so many players in this space. What do you think you are going to be able to do to combat that?
Alex: There are definitely a lot of players in the space, but we definitely think that the workflow that fits right into the core of Mail Pilot is just so deliberate to the way that most (if not many) people who have used their email or try to use their email. And we think that’s it. It works so specifically well for people that it would be a very preferred option.
The other thing is that right now we are a two man operation and so we wouldn’t need a majority of the market just to be sustainable. And so we have been excited to see what we’ve gotten so far and we are really excited to see if we can gain enough support to stay sustainable and then to really start spreading the concept around to a lot more people. So far people’s reactions have been so overwhelmingly positive towards the idea in favor over so many other ideas just because it’s so deliberate in the way it really works with your workflow.
(Editor’s Note: Now that the project has been funded, the expectation is that Mail Pilot will hit the market sometime in June of this year.)
Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". Read more of his writing and learn more about him at MikeVardy.com, and you can also follow him on Twitter.
How to Prevent Others From Interrupting Your Productivity
Feb 21st
One of the top productivity excuses I hear in the workplace is… people keep interrupting me.
After all, I could get my stuff done if others weren’t constantly disturbing me.
What do you do when co-workers are preventing you from getting things done?
Excuse Me, I’m Working Here…
One of the top cited sources of non-productivity in the workplace is interruptions.
Disorganized and noisy workplaces don’t make for productive teams.
In the name of teamwork, cost-savings, and openness, companies setup workspaces that actually encourage interruptions.
“Many companies set themselves up for failure by creating work environments that are counter-productive.
Small cubicles, open meeting rooms, a limited offices may provide a team-like atmosphere…
But, they don’t lead to completed work or productive workers.”
Despite good intentions of team-friendly environments, many companies end up with chaos looking like a battle-scene from the movie Braveheart.
While socialization and teamwork is crucial to the workforce, so is getting actual work done.
Creativity and new ideas require long periods of uninterrupted work.
Does your workplace provide areas conducive to getting work done?
Or is it contributing to your team being unproductive?
Stop Interrupting Me!
What can you do if your workplace is a center of chaos and non-productivity?
Here are 7 Ways to Prevent Others From Interrupting Your Productivity:
- Go Someplace Quiet – Go to your Fortress of Solitude. It may be a quiet conference room. It may be on a floor away from your desk or office. Sometimes it is where you work. If your workplace allows a flexible work schedule, then work remotely for part of your time.
- Shut The Door – Doors were made for a reason, and sometimes they are intended to be shut. Don’t let misguided “Open Door Policies” prevent you from getting work done. And when you are finished, by all means, open that door!
- Signal Your Isolation – Your co-workers might not take kindly if you put a “Do Not Disturb” sign on your desk. However, there are many great ways to signal to your co-workers that you are occupied at the moment. It could be as simple as putting on headphones. Your co-workers will be less likely to interrupt you if they understand you are busy.
- Work When Others Are Not – One of the best ways to avoid interruptions is work when there are less of them. If you can flex your time, then come in early or stay late and work when there are fewer interruptions.
- Turn Off the Interruptions – It is ironic when people get frustrated with interruptions, yet they continue to let them happen. No one said you had to answer that phone. Turn off the email notifications and phone chimes, too.
- Play That Music - Music is a great way to isolate yourself from disturbances and drive your productivity. Often, just the mere practice of wearing headphones will prevent others from disturbing you. (See #3.)
- Put On Your Blinders – When you must get work done, put on your productivity blinders. Concentrate on the task and hand and shut out the interruptions. Try working with you back to the door. Tell those that do stop by that you will have to get back to them in a short while. Stay on task unless you absolutely have to be stopped.
Work Without the Interruptions
Interruptions break your productivity flow and hard work.
Take steps to minimize the disturbances when you are doing important tasks.
By minimizing the interruptions in your day, you will complete your work that much sooner.
Perhaps, you can finish and head out while others are still interrupting each other.
Question: How do you prevent interruptions in the workplace?
9 Ways to Get Rid of All the Crap in Your Life That’s Holding You Back
Feb 21st
The Mayan Calendar proclaims 2012 as the Year of New Beginnings.
But it doesn’t say that in your overloaded planner, now does it?
Too much to do, too many responsibilities, too many meetings, deadlines and far too little time. Too much crap in the way. Feels more like the end of the world then a new beginning, right?
It felt like that to me when I landed in the hospital over Christmas. Needles pierced my skin begging me to make changes. Three surgeries and weeks of healing later, I decided to cut the crap that is holding back my life and make 2012 the Year of New Beginnings.
From now on all my decisions and time need to be dedicated to those matters most important to me: my health, my family, and my purpose.
Anything not aligning with these areas had to be culled and cleared.
When you face an illness or relationship breakdown (or any other life challenges), you start to understand the importance of prioritizing. So much of our precious and limited time is taken up with unimportant tasks and people pulling our attention this way and that.
The good news is that you have control over where you give your attention. Wake up now and only focus on the essentials.
What are your three most important focus areas?
Decide on your three highest priorities. Then take action using the following nine ways to clear out the crap so you can relish every waking minute as you realign your time and energy with your priorities to recharge your life.
1. Remove Yourself From Negative Environments
Travelling for many years put me in a happiness bubble where everyone was friendly and kind.
As soon as I returned to the real world (and the blogging world), I realized that there are a lot of people who love to argue. I soon found myself getting swept up in the negativity. I thought I was contributing in a positive way — or at least being helpful — but really the very act of me contributing meant that I was taking in and expending negative energy.
It’s not just the arguing in the moment, but the processing of it afterwards that consumes many of your waking hours. I’ve learned that I can’t change people, but I can change my focus and where I hang out.
I have since culled several communities from my online space.
Don’t let people rent space in your head. Make the decision to stay away from any environments that don’t serve you. Hang around only those who help you grow and are positive and encouraging.
2. Shut Down Social Spaces
I’m big on having as many windows open as possible when I’m working online. It drives my husband crazy, but it helps me to keep on track and not forget any important tasks I need to get back to.
But it also ensures that I stay connected to the social sphere.
The notification numbers flash at me and before you know it…I’m distracted by ridiculous status updates about lunch selections, tweets directing me to yet another interesting article, and the explosion of a new online argument.
Take control and shut down the windows of your social communities. Log out. Designate times of the day to check in.
Take advantage of some useful tools like Post Planner to schedule your updates for the day.
You’ll soon be so involved in being productive that you won’t even notice that the social world has disappeared.
3. Forget About Checking Email Five Times an Hour
Why do we feel like we need to check our emails multiple times in an hour? The fear that we are going to miss out on the next big opportunity grips us as we go and check one more time.
Just in case.
Did we ever check the mailbox multiple times a day? No…because we trusted that whatever was wanting our attention or needing us for the next big opportunity would arrive at approximately 3 pm every weekday afternoon.
I have found a great deal of resistance to letting this one go, which I think flags another needed change: a “desperate” mindset.
I have organized set times during the day to check email, and outside of those times I log off and shut down. My productivity levels have increased dramatically as a result, and I could do better still.
Turn off all your email notification pop-ups (don’t forget those phone apps) and schedule in times to check your email. I promise you are not going to miss out on anything.
4. Get Back To Pen and Paper
I wrote this article sitting on a beach chair by the pool. The afternoon breeze blew the sticky heat off my skin and the rainbow lorikeets sang a sunset song to me from the banksia bushes.
I locked the computer away inside and I let the thoughts write freely on the page with the help of my pen — the trusty one that writes well. (Admit it — we all have that one pen that we’re attached to…)
It might seem like extra work because I will have to eventually retype the piece, but it’s not really. I am relaxed, the thoughts are flowing easily, my eyes aren’t turning square, and there are no distracting flashing neon notification lights.
To increase your productivity, it is important to remove yourself from your normal environment and go to a creating space that does not involve technology. You will banish that stilted electronic energy and use a more natural form.
Grab a pen and paper, a hammock (and maybe even a beer), and get creating. You’ll be amazed by the quality of your word flow.
5. Go to Bed Early
If you are a parent like me, you are probably thinking I am crazy for suggesting this. When the cherubs are safely tucked in their beds that is really the only time you have for productivity.
But if you are culling in other areas, then your work hours will be filled with more space for greater productivity. Now you have time to go to bed at a decent hour.
Studies have proven that the human being cannot function optimally if it does not get adequate rest. Burning the candle at both ends is not going to help you progress forward. You might think you are being productive but the quality of your work will suffer — not to mention the dark circles that will develop under your eyes.
The more sleep we get, the more energy we have to create amazing work and complete tasks. Make an effort to get to bed before 11 pm every evening, aiming for no less than 6 hours sleep. Besides, going to bed early will help you achieve the very next important way to increase your productivity.
6. Get up Early and Utilize this Focus Time
Grab the vibrant energy that arrives with the sun. As the world is not quite up and creating chaos around you, this is the perfect time for you to snap up some hours to be highly productive.
Leave the emails, the social sites, and the reading of other posts. Get straight to the creation work; the work that is best going to help you achieve your goals.
You may also wish to use some of this time for exercise or meditation work. I find meditating first thing in the morning helps to clear my mind and gets me feeling relaxed, connected and fresh.
If you get up at around 5 am this will give you a good solid two hours of focused work; it is amazing what you can achieve in this time.
7. Say No More Often
Life comes with a never-ending supply of parties, coffee meetups, meetings, phone conversations, dinner dates, conferences, press trips and every other imagined opportunity demanding our presence.
It is wonderful to feel wanted, but at what cost?
Attending all these functions will have a detrimental effect on your lifestyle and productivity.
Last year, I was laying the foundations for our blogging business so I said ”Yes!” to everything.
The four months previous to ending up in the hospital, I had a baby, was a single parent for two weeks, went overseas twice, travelled domestically for business three times, spoke at four conferences, and had meetings and events non-stop.
We don’t want to miss out or let others down, so we say “Yes” instead of “No.” But this will quickly lead to a case of burnout.
Saying “no” to those things that aren’t that essential will open up the way for those more important opportunities to take priority.
I’ve said “no” several times this year already, and I feel less overwhelmed and more laser-focused. The right opportunities and teachers are now arriving.
For each new invitation or request, ask yourself the following:
“How will saying yes to this help me grow and improve in my three most important focus areas?”
If it doesn’t, then say “no”.
8. Improve your Diet
Have you ever stopped to think of the crap we put into our bodies? I’ve paid attention to this recently while implementing some very specific dietary lifestyle changes.
After a week, it became glaringly obvious the reason for my slump in energy and frumpiness, when I lost 4 kilograms and my natural energy levels shot through the roof.
My productivity levels were now matching my energy.
Reduce the animal fats and sugar in your diet. Eat to live, not live to eat. I now follow the diet of the Okinawan race in Japan who have the longest life expectancy, and little incidence of heart disease and diabetes.
Basically 2/3 of your diet should be plant food and 1/3 meat, comprising of mostly fish.
Your health is your most important asset. Don’t push it to the side any longer.
9. De-clutter your Environment
You’ll notice that up until now you have culled in order to improve your work and health, now it is important that you clear up that stale energy around you.
Letting your head space be taken up with so many unimportant tasks means that we allow the papers to build up around us. And it’s not just the paper, but the clothes, the toys, the gadgets — all those things we haven’t used in months or years.
Usually, we are holding onto them either because we are too lazy (or busy) to clean it, or we have that “lack” mentality that tells us to hoard…just in case.
If you haven’t used it in a year, then you don’t need it. I like to assess my belongings on the basis of a year to account for the change of seasons — mostly in regards to clothing. All other items can be assessed on a shorter period of time.
As a traveller, I want more memories and less stuff. Culling comes easy for me.
I recently discovered old journals filled with the pain of past mistakes and regrets. I am focused on moving forward; holding onto a past I no longer want does not help me with that. I threw them directly in the bin to free up that positive energy space for me.
What are you holding onto that you no longer need? Start with a different section of your room every day to declutter.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Do I really use you?
- Is holding on to you going to help me move forward and enable me to be productive?
In Closing
The end of the Mayan Calendar does not really mean the end of the world. It just signifies another cycle; a cycle that gives us permission to break free from the crap that holds us back.
All you need to do now is decide. Are your dreams worth it? Do you believe in them enough? If you do then the choice becomes pretty simple.
No more crap. Just new beginnings.
(Photo credit: Conceptual Image of Papers Coming Out of a Man’s Head via Shutterstock)
30 Days With: Asana
Feb 20th
(Editor’s Note: This is a featured post in our ongoing series “30 Days With…”, which outlines the use of a productivity tool, service, or product that we have used for the past 30 days. We want to provide our readers with an in-depth view of tools and products that they are interested in, provide them our thoughts anod offer ways to use these products faster and better. Enjoy.)
When I was working independently, I really didn’t have much need for a task manager that could handle communication and collaboration across the miles. However, since I started to be involved in many more team activities – so much so that I tend to spend more time in a team environment than not – I found that my task manager I was using (OmniFocus) was leaving some of the much-needed tasks on the table. In addition, a lot of the people I work with aren’t on a Mac or iOS device, which made using OmniFocus a moot point.
I tried other task management solutions, such as Flow and I even waded into Wunderkit for a bit. But nothing captured all that I needed in a solution better than Asana, the brainchild of former Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and former Facebook employee, Justin Rosenstein.
There was a lot to explore in my 30 days with Asana. And while I did dive in pretty deep, I don’t want to overwhelm you with all of the finer points. Instead, you’re going to get many of the highlights I discovered during my use of Asana during the last 30 days, and I’m leaving some breathing room for more exploration as the product develops.
Let’s get started…
Workspaces
Asana allows you to create Workspaces – which are really more than projects. In fact, you can put projects inside of Workspaces. The best way I can describe Workspaces is that they are really “areas of focus” that you need to keep tabs on – and have several layers to them so you can manage tasks and projects within them. I have created several Workspaces:
- Personal: Contains personal projects and tasks
- Professional: Contains individual projects and tasks that are work-related
- Family: Contains family projects and tasks
- Multiple “Team-Based” Workspaces: Each of which contains projects and tasks associated with the team I’m working with in that Workspace
On that last point, Lifehack has its own Workspace, my podcasts that I have co-hosts with have their own Workspaces, and so on. Basically, any professional area of focus that requires sharing (as a whole) gets its own Workspace. I made the mistake of putting them under Professional at first, but then had to make all of my Professional projects and tasks private to me as a result. So if you’re going to use Asana as both a team and individual task management solution, keep your Workspace solo and add Workspaces for the different clients/partnerships you need to collaborate on and add those involved to those Workspaces.
I also have Family separate so that I can share that with my wife and she doesn’t have to see all of my other stuff that doesn’t directly impact her. Sure, I can share individual tasks and projects with her under that Workspace, but having a Family one basically makes her and I teammates in an area of focus instead.
During my first couple of weeks with Asana, I wasn’t able to move around Workspaces on the sidebar; they stayed in the order in which they had been created. Yet just before I finished up my initial time with Asana, they had made reordering of WorkSpaces (among other things ) happen. That’s how actively developed Asana is.
Each person you add to a workspace will receive an email invite, and you’ll be able to see whether they’ve accepted by checking the Members tab in your workspace settings.While someone can be a member of more than one Workspace, the tasks and projects of each are independent – so they can only see them within that Workspace and not throughout Asana as a whole. I find that – despite not digging getting a ton of email – a regular update email from Asana on Workspaces helps out with this if you’re not used to working in multiple areas of focus. You can turn on or off email notifications in your Asana Account Settings under the Email Notifications tab.
Tip: The great thing about Email Notifications from Asana is that you can send them to whatever email you’d like for the Workspaces you choose. All of my Lifehack notifications come from and go to my Lifehack email account, making the managing of that area of focus far easier.
Projects
Projects are essentially the backbone of Asana, as opposed to tasks in other systems of note. You can view prjects in several different ways: by priority, by assignee, or by associated tags. The filtering that Asana has built-in allows for a great deal of customization so that you can look at what you want and how you want.
Once you figure out how Workspaces work, slotting projects in them is easier to grasp. You can create both public and private projects within a given workspace, the former of which are viewable by all the members of that workspace. You can also create a project by duplicating an existing one – which is great for repeating projects (such as managing a podcast or a weekly blog posting schedule, for example). Just click the arrow dropdown at the top of the project you want to copy, and select “Duplicate Project.” Then you’ll get a list of what items you want to duplicate, as well as the opportunity to change the name of the newly-created project.
Tip: Create project templates using the duplication method above; they are extremely useful to have and you can maintain many of the attributes from the original project so that you can work more efficiently with those projects that cycle regularly. Oh, and you can’t add due dates to projects, so let the tasks inside the projects do that for you. Just archive the project when all the tasks are done.
Tasks
Tasks are the building block of any productivity-type system, and with Asana this is no different. Tasks are basically “to dos” and you can attach a wide variety of things to them to make them more information-laden. Notes and comments are fantastic aspects of Asana, in that comments allow for teammates to communicate with one another on a task outside of email, and notes let you put hyperlinks and much more in side of a task so that you can provide all anyone will ever need for a task within Asana.
You can view tasks by project, tag or person, using the tabs in the left-hand pane. You can ensure that you see only the tasks assigned to you by opening “Your Tasks,” which you’ll also find located in the left-hand pane. While in your own task list, click the dot to the left of a task name (or use the icons in the the task details – located in the right-hand pane) to organize your tasks by “intention” – as in, when you’re going to work on them. When you’ve completed a task, click the “Archive” dropdown at the top of a project to hide it from view.
Something you need to keep in mind when creating tasks is that any you add within Your Tasks (or within a private project) are private by default. But as soon as you add public tags or add the task to a public project, you will make the task public – and viewable by all the members of the Workspace. I add an “x” to tags that are meant for private use (like “xwriting” vs “writing”) so that I don’t accidentally share something that’s meant to stay under wraps. Make sure you put the “x” at the front of the tag so that you don’t auto-complete to a public tag by mistake.
To add a due date to a task, simply click into the task details field (or use “Tab +D” on your keyboard). You can set the task to repeat regularly – or set it to a pretty cool interval known as “periodically”. That bascially allows you to assign a given number of days after it is marked complete to repeat once more. If you need to keep tabs on others, just check the status of a task in an assignee’s workflow by looking at the icon to the right of their name in the task details.
Tip: When you make a list of tasks (for me, it is with Simplenote on my iPhone – although you can use any text editor that syncs back to your computer) and drag it to Asana, it creates a separate task for each item. And if you have a space between each list – using bullet points for example with a heading, it makes the non-bulleted point a Priority Heading. While this doesn’t work in the iPhone app, it does allow you to make simple lists with a text editor and then bring them over to Asana for processing when you’re ready.
Tags
I look at tags as if they are contexts in the GTD sense. Here’s what Asana says about tags:
“Tags provide an additional level of categorization to tasks – they identify important characteristics that tasks share in common.”
I use locations (or activities, like “Writing”) as tags. But unlike contexts in GTD apps like OmniFocus, I can assign multiple tags to a task by looking at them this way. This is a great feature, especially when you consider that you can change a tag to a project if you ever feel the need to do so. I haven’t done this yet, but if I end up using “twitter” as a tag for several tasks to the point where it has gone beyond its usefulness as such, I can change it into a project and then attack it from that vantage point. That allows me to duplicate it over and over again, should I need to spend a lot of time on Twitter (or it becomes a bigger aspect of my Workspace than what a tag would indicate).
Tip: This comes straight from Asana: For tasks that are necessary to the completion of more than one project, you can indicate this by clicking the “plus” button to the right of Projects in the task details, or by typing “Tab + P,” and typing the name of the relevant project.
The Inbox
Here’s how Asana defines its Inbox, which is somewhat different then what most people would traditionally think:
(Asana’s) Inbox shows all of the tasks that have been assigned to you by someone else, or from another context. You can accept tasks from the New Tasks section by clicking the inbox icon and choosing an option.
The best thing you can do with these is to follow simple GTD practices of Do, Delegate, Defer or Delete. I generally go through each Workspace Inbox every morning and attach tasks to various projects (if that hasn’t already been done by the assignee). Then I attach due dates, tags, etc. to them accordingly. That gets me out of the Inbox and one step further into my Workspaces – which is exactly where I need to be.
The great thing about Asana is that the Inbox is only there to hold tasks, it is not a viable place to keep them. In fact, keeping them there in Asana is far more transparent than if you were to do that in a regular email inbox. Since notes and comments are updated by team members once a task leaves the Inbox is great for those who just can’t wrap their head around getting things out of email and into a task manager. Asana eliminates the bad inboxes by introducing better ones. That’s why it works so well for non-GTDers – and why it’s counter-intuitive for some to move to it after being in something like OmniFocus, for example, which treats inboxes completely differently.
A Seemingly Seamless Connection
As long as people “buy into” Asana, your workflows will improve dramatically. I’ve had one teammate who has jumped in and is playing along with me – and we’re ahead of the game as a result. I’ve had others who just can’t get into it, forget to follow a task or email me back rather than updating through Asana, which creates redundancy. But since I’m using it religiously, I’m able to keep myself on track and am slowly converting the previously unconvertible.
Those unconvertible include those using other team task management solutions, those using individual task managers…and those using none at all. That’s because any changes I make under the Projects, Tags and People tabs will push to everyone else in the Workspace. That kind of connection is hard to keep consistent via email.
That is just one of the things that makes Asana’s barrier to entry exceedingly low (at least by productivity solution standards), and that can only bode well for the company.
The Asana Wish List
If you’ve been using Asana already, you know that’s in active (and steadily active at that) development. Still, there are some things that I was curious about when it comes to features that may or may not be coming to Asana. So I asked Kenny Van Zant of Asana to address them:
Me: Can you convert tasks into projects?
Kenny: We’ve actually been iterating on the design for subtasks/hierarchy for a long time. There are a lot of interesting nuances, and we don’t think any of the existing services get it quite right. At this point we’ve been through a number of designs and prototypes in search of the perfect balance of power and ease-of-use/difficulty-of-hanging-yourself, and we’re really excited about the solution to which we’re converging.
Me: Exporting of data for offline access – thoughts on that?
Kenny: We do plan to support that sort of export, beyond the existing Print and multiselect-and-copy capabilities. But more excitingly, we plan to support offline access, and ultimately even editing, right in the browser through HTML5’s offline support. Our technology stack makes us really well suited to provide this, as nearly all of Asana’s functionality runs inside the browser. (Even today, if you disconnect from the Internet while using Asana, you can continue to make changes, leave comments, etc., and your changes will get saved whenever you reconnect.)
Me: Considering the recent rash of posts on the importance of Start Dates vs Due Dates (mainly with OmniFocus), does Asana have any plans for implementation on that front?
Kenny: Our plan around calendaring/timeline is one of the most exciting parts of our product vision. I don’t want to reveal too much yet, but we’ll be giving individuals and teams a shared understanding of time and a confidence in their ability to forecast their projects’ futures at a level that was previously impossible without an onerous and detailed project management process – well beyond just due dates vs. start dates.
Me: Time of day…why isn’t it there?
Kenny: We actually don’t see too many requests for due-times, but agree it’s a missing feature, and it will be addressed by the aforementioned calendaring/timeline work.
Me: What is down the road for Asana in terms of iPad, iPhone, Android…?
Kenny: The current mobile app is primarily a companion to Asana on your desktop, so you can access your tasks wherever you go. But that was only version 1: we’re going to build an experience on iOS and Android that’s as responsive and featureful as the desktop app is today. We’re very committed to providing a great experience on mobile and tablet.
In Conclusion
I am really digging Asana. It has the ubiquity, cohesiveness and adaptability I’ve been looking for in a task management solution. It scales up or down, allowing for team and individual task management – and it is lightning fast in both syncing and connectivity (it takes a page from Google Wave and allows you to see when someone else is typing). And it lets those who want to manage tasks via email do just that without hindering progress for those that don’t because of the integration put in place.
While my 30 Days with Asana are done, my days with Asana are just beginning. I strongly recommend you give Asana a look. It’s a real game-changer.
Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". Read more of his writing and learn more about him at MikeVardy.com, and you can also follow him on Twitter.
7 Time Management Tips for Road Warriors
Feb 19th
Traveling for business purposes often takes up a lot of time and it can really kill your productivity. It is easy to drop your habits, slack on work and to slip up on activities that could unnecessarily waste your time.
Whether you’re new to being a “road warrior” or you’re a veteran – here are seven time management tips to help you make your business trips more efficient.
1. Smart Packing
Don’t leave packing till the last minute. Your chances of forgetting important documents, chargers and miscellaneous things are very high if you are in a hurry. Give yourself at least 24 hours.
This might seem obvious but I will state it anyways – do not bring more than you need. Some of the essentials you need to bring include:
- Laptop, tablet, phone and their respective chargers.
- Clothes.
- Passport, ID and any visas.
For frequent travelers, I would recommend to make yourself a checklist for your bare minimums so your packing process will become more efficient.
2. Cloud Syncing
It is worthwhile investing some time into having your files and documents synced up through “the cloud”. This will ensure you will always have access to the latest versions of your documents across all computers. Nothing is more painful than to realize while on the road that the important document you had to print is only available on your desktop computer at home.
A simple solution is Dropbox – it allows you to store files in the cloud and it supports multiple platforms. And best of all: it’s free.
3. Combat Jetlag
Jetlag can be a huge waste of time. If you are crossing multiple time zones you might have to combat jetlag. Fortunately, it’s quite easy to adjust to new time zones – just switch time zones the day before or on the day of of your travel.
This might mean that you have to stay up longer or go to bed earlier, but it will help you adjust more effectively once you arrive at your destination.
4. Internet Access
Before you head out, make sure you have figured out how you will have Internet access. This will make your trip a lot more comfortable. Don’t rely on WiFi networks; purchase a USB dongle with credit so you can have worldwide access. For domestic trips, your data plan on your phone will be good enough (especially if you can tether it to your laptop/tablet).
In today’s world there is no reason for you to be disconnected unless you’re in a remote part of the world.
5. Napping
When you’re on the road it can challenging at times to get enough sleep and it gets worse if you have jetlag. Napping is your best friend when it comes to staying energized while you’re traveling; a 20-30 minute nap can make a big difference to how you feel.
I highly recommend that you get an eye mask. It will help you fall asleep faster since it blocks light from your eyes (which will trick your brain in producing melatonin – the hormone that helps you fall asleep) and earplugs to block noise.
6. Uninterrupted Time
You get the most work done when you have no interruptions. However, uninterrupted time becomes a scarce commodity when you’re traveling. When you see a window of opportunity to have uninterrupted time – take it as if you life depended on it. You will be surprised how many of those little sessions you can grab if you are really looking for them.
A lot of work can be done in those little time slots (think of how effective the Pomodoro Technique is — which is just 25 minutes).
7. Maintain Your Habits
Just because you are traveling doesn’t mean you can start slacking on your routines. I highly advise you to treat transit time as normal working hours and to keep working the same amount of hours you normally would — especially if you are on a plane. Air travel is a great opportunity to get work done and to catch up on stuff.
Also make an effort to stick to your exercise schedule and to maintain your eating habits as much as possible (which is one of the biggest challenges for travelers). Planning ahead will make it a lot easier to stick to your habits. Figure out if there is a gym at or near your hotel and research if there are any (healthy) restaurants that match your eating habits. This will save you a lot of time, you’ll be more prepared and your chances of keeping up your habits are a lot higher.
Do you have any other time management tips for business traveling the you’ve used? If so, please share them in the comments.
(Photo credit: Businessman Carrying a Briefcase via Shutterstock)
+Thanh Pham is an obsessed productivity geek, systems thinker, blogger, avid reader and a world traveler. He specializes in time management for organizations and personal productivity for executives. Read more about him over at Asian Efficiency.
How to Start Napping…and Why You Should
Feb 17th
Before you read the title and get angry, touting the same ol’ “I’m too busy!” argument, hear me out:
You can save time, energy, and get way more done by taking naps.
I know you’re in denial, but it’s true. I’ve used these techniques myself in the midst of a full-time marketing job, a part-time church job, trying to write a book, run two websites, and get married–and sometimes napping was the only way I would have been able to stay as productive as I was.
But take it from actual research: Jurgen Aschoff was a German physician, biologist, and behavioral physiologist, and he ran a remarkable experiment in the first half of last century. Aschoff placed men and women, individually, into converted World-War II bunkers that blocked out all daylight. The subjects were placed in these isolation rooms for days at a time, without access to any time-keeping devices.
After a 48-hour adjustment period, Aschoff found that all of the subjects had one strange, miraculous thing in common: they each became biphasic, meaning they slept for about six or seven hours at a time, then had a period of wakefulness, then went back to sleep for another “nap,” this time shorter than the first.
They were falling back into the natural state of biphasic sleep cycles, adhered to by much of the animal kingdom.
For those of us with “real lives,” however, we don’t have the luxury of experimentation. Rest assured, though, I’ve done the work for you! Here’s a brief outline of the best things I’ve found about adopting a napping schedule:
- Getting more done.
- Having more motivation.
- Feeling more rested.
- Being able to wake up earlier and fall asleep later.
- Feeling better all the time.
Give it a shot. Before you do, though, know that napping takes practice — it won’t just come to you immediately, but once you figure it out, you’ll be able to almost “nap on command,” allowing yourself the luxury of grabbing a quick (5 to 10 minutes) snooze while at work, at home, or in traffic (just kidding!).
So, how do you do it? How do you get to a state of zen in your daily life by using the power of the nap?
First, you’ll need to figure out when to nap. Dr. Sara Mednick, who wrote the great book Take a Nap: Change Your Life, has this to say about the different sleep cycles we partake in during our sleep hours:
- Stage 1 – This stage is least understood, and we spend the least amount of time in it. Stage 1 sleep is the first few minutes of “pseudo sleep,” where our minds aren’t really awake and our eyelids are pressuring us to give in.
- Stage 2 – Stage 2 is the foundation of sleep—it’s the stage we spend more than half of our sleep time in, and it’s the stage that helps to “reset” our brain to be more alert when we wake up.
- Stage 3 & 4 – We can lump these stages together because they represent what’s known as “slow-wave sleep,” which is the process during which our body and brain “rebuilds” and rejuvenates.
- REM (Rapid Eye Movement) – Perhaps the most popular and well-known sleep phase, REM sleep is the time of sleep that most resembles our waking state. As such, we are most likely to dream those wildly fantastical dreams during REM sleep, and it’s the stage that helps us improve our creativity as well.
The different stages of sleep are also available at different times throughout the day and night — and in differing amounts:
- REM sleep is mostly available to us very early in the day, starting at 4 am and reaching its peak around 8-10 am.
- Slow-Wave sleep depends on when we go to bed and wake up, but generally it can be reached mostly right after we go to bed, and then again a few hours before bed.
- Stage 2 sleep we can enter at any time—it’s most accessible, so it’s there for taking, whenever we fall asleep.
How to use naps to your benefit
You simply need to then piece together your preferred nap: Do you need more energy? Try a late-morning nap or early-evening. Do you want to be more focused for that big project you’ve been working on? Fit in a nap built mostly on Stage 2 sleep, pretty much anytime you want (since you’re automatically in Stage 2 sleep most of the time, anyway). And finally, do you want to boost your creativity? Then try to grab a quick nap shortly after breakfast, when you’re most likely to be able to benefit from REM sleep.
That’s it! Give it a shot, and leave a comment below with your thoughts. Once you try it you’ll realize that it’s not hard to do and you don’t need pills to do it. But it does, of course, take practice.
(Photo credit: Businessman Relaxing via Shutterstock)
Nick Thacker is a writer from Texas, and he's interested in hacking life to make it better. His posts are helpful for writers, bloggers, and pretty much anyone who wants to hack their life! Check him out on his website, www.nickthacker.com.
15 Ways To Stay Focused At Work
Feb 16th
It’s normal.
You’re bent on finishing the work at hand, and suddenly something comes up. You don’t give thought to how pressing any distraction is — you just give it attention.
Five minutes, ten minutes. Sometimes it goes to over an hour.
When you get back to work — boom — you’ve no idea where you left off or why you couldn’t get your mind and heart into it. You can’t stay focused at work anymore and are becoming less productive. There goes your valuable time and effort. There goes your momentum and peak of creativity.
Because there’s no chance of shutting out the world while you’re busy, the decision to stay focused at work is in your hands. It’s about finding the right techniques, knowing your priorities, and sticking to them.
Stuck for ideas? Well, here are 15 ways to stay focused at work:
1. Always find what you do inspiring and fun
Any meaningful task or routine takes a large part of one’s focus. Before starting anything, ask yourself why you should do it. With your answer, there will be that output you so desire — and so you value the task. Then find ways for the task to become fun, like allowing your creativity and imagination to play in the process. Don’t stick within borders of “approved” output; have your options opened for new, fun ideas.
When you make something you can call your own, you’re more likely to stay focused at work.
2. Choose a great chair-and-table combo
Many people find working physically strenuous even if it’s done seated most of the time.
Don’t lose precious time and be distracted with discomfort. Get a really good chair with great back support; make sure your desk or worktable is well-structured as well. That way you can work for many hours and not find your body and eyes getting strained.
3. Get your work station organized
Too much stuff within arms’ reach or atop your desk can prove to be really distracting. To stay focused at work, only have the things you need neatly piled on your desk — put the rest away properly, like in a desk drawer or shelves. Have an area for food and drinks, your bag or purse, and other personal items.
But have them within reach so you can just grab a drink without losing focus on what you’re doing.
4. Make your computer distraction-free
This is very important for people who use PC for work: Have shortcuts for all routinely used programs.
Put in just one folder all files related to each project or task. Then ensure your PC is always virus-free to saved you the hassle of checks and repairs. Instances such as these cause stress and will wane your interest to finish the tasks.
5. Have enough water nearby
Drinking water isn’t only healthy, it refreshes you as well. Once you feel the first sign of fatigue or hunger, a glass of water can push them away. Then you can finish what you’re doing and rest at a later time. Besides, not all stomach rumblings are signs of hunger, and drinking a glass of water usually deals with it.
Just make sure you have water within arms’ reach. That way you stay focused at work instead of walking to the water station — and becoming prey to distractions!
6. Bring in the snacks
Like having water close by, the food that could settle a grumbling stomach must always be at hand. For the same reason of having 90% of your attention at work, eating within your workspace area will not expose you to unrelated activities. So make sure your snacks are within arms reach too!
7. Make a daily “to-do” list and keep it nearby
It’s always helpful when you have your list of tasks beside your PC (or at any conspicuous place in the work area). Having it in your PC or mobile phones often opens doors to checking other trivial tabs or windows, or responding to unimportant SMS messages.
So put your “to-do today” list where you can always see it, and cross out the “done” tasks. That way, you won’t be digging through your bag or finding that page where you wrote them.
8. Prioritize the tasks
The first hour at work is where most people are productive. This is because all energies are yet to be spent. So put all the taxing, difficult and challenging tasks on your agenda during the first hour. Follow these with the less pressing work, and then end with those routine tasks that you find boring.
Such methods makes you stay focused at work, without spending precious time on doing tasks you don’t like. Do this and you won’t be stressed with important projects at the end of the workday.
9. Let others know of your strict personal policies
If you’re bent on making your personal working system work, let others know it. Chances are, you’d be left alone on the hours where you’re focused on the really big, important work. When people at work know you’re on your “free time”, they will pose questions and talk during such periods. Unless there’s a very urgent matter at hand, they’ll leave you at work.
After all, they want the same.
10. Put on the headphones
In most offices, there are various sources of sounds that can prove distracting — like the floor polisher, the mail cart, workmates talking, phones ringing, and sounds of things dropped on the floor. Protect yourself with headphones so you can stay focused at work. The headphones will ward off surprising sounds — and those that get your mind wandering.
11. Be unreachable, busy, away…or “invisible”
Not all calls are about your apartment being burglarized, or a loved one being in precarious situation. So turn off your mobile phone to silent mode during hours where you really need all attention on your work. You can also opt to activate the voicemail service.
As for instant messaging, set the status to indicate you’re “busy” or stay “invisible” while you work. If you still get IMs, then just turn the program off and turn it on later when your current task isn’t as pressing.
12. Stay away from social networking sites
These sites aren’t meant to be checked all the time. So discipline yourself to log in only when you have extra minutes free.
There’s a strong tendency that you’ll stay much longer than planned because something new, interesting and perky always comes with most social networking sites. Not only will it defeat your purpose of staying focused at work, but there’s plenty of information there that could get your mind unnecessarily perturbed — like a friend’s status about her heartbreak, or someone from work getting a raise.
13. Organize your emails
Another really stressful and distracting activity is email. Let’s face it: You get a lot. Likely a heavy mix of personal and work correspondence, promos and updates from your sites, and 9undoubtedly) spam.
One good way to avoid this is to have a separate email address for work and one for your personal email. Have them both powered to filter all emails. Once you have free time on hand, check emails again and unsubscribe from senders who you could live without. Then, organize the emails you’d attend to later. Delete the rest.
Finally, check your emails only when you’re done with the most important task of the day. Make sure you limit your email time as well.
14. Redesign your phone use
Phones are meant for important concerns, chats about the previous night’s date are meant for long lunch breaks. Observing such rule would help you stay focused at work. You could also request your workmates to inform your callers you’d get back to them at a later time instead of always tapping your back or shouting out that you’ve got a call at any time. Once you’re done with work, call back the earlier callers and explain your situation briefly. In the next two minutes, ask about their concern, note it down and tell them you’d call them back for their needed action. Prepare and write all their needed details, bearing in mind their possible follow-up thoughts on the matter. Then call them back and always limit the phone conversation to less than three minutes.
15. Choose suitable music
The point of having music in the background while you’re working is to provide ease and inspiration. For some, listening to music pumps up their adrenaline so they can work with greater energy.
But not all kinds of music are pleasant for everyone — and some are not suited for one’s mood. So organize your music library accordingly. Apart from helping you stay focused at work, no distractions should take place. There’s nothing more jarring than suddenly hearing loud, heavy metal screaming after some relaxing jazz music.
Final Thoughts
Just remember — you are surrounded by events and people at work that could cut off your momentum. You can help keep these at bay and stay focused at work with any of the 15 great ways mentioned above.
Do you have any other ways you stay focused at work? Share them in the comments below.
(Photo credit: Low-key portrait via Shutterstock)
Arina is a goal setting expert and an author of Real Goal Getting book. She blogs at http://www.arinanikitina.com.
AwayFind Makes Your Email Management Even More Productive with New Features
Feb 16th
We’ve mentioned AwayFind here before at Lifehack, which is one of the best tools you can use to “lifehack” your email. Today the service amped up its lifehacking skills with the arrival of AwayFind Recommendations — and they’ve also unveiled a way for you have the best of the service…for free.
For those of you unfamiliar with AwayFind, here’s what the service does for you and your ever-expanding email inbox:
AwayFind is a web application that finds and delivers timely email messages. When a timely message arrives in your inbox, AwayFind will send an SMS, “push” notify you on your iPhone/Android, or even call, IM, or DM (Twitter). You can also use AwayFind to route messages to your co-workers.
AwayFind Recommendations
With the latest addition to the AwayFind service, users have a recommendation engine in their toolbox that bases priorities on both history and current response rate. Essentially, you can filter through all of your emails and discover who matters to you most — and you can do it right away.
Why is this so critical to productivity and email management? Considering that the most frequent people you correspond with amounts to less than 2% of the emails you receive, it’s counter-productive to have that small percentage keep you on “inbox alert” all day long. AwayFind Recommendations frees you even further from your inbox with just one click.
In the image below, you’ll see that an “Add” button appears next to those who you commonly receive emails from. Just click on that button and you’ll get an alert via text or our app when that person emails you. Because AwayFind is able to tell you just how frequent — and how recent — these people have emailed you. Figuring who to pay attention to immediately has never been easier.
Additionally, at any point you can change your list with AwayFind’s iPhone & Android apps or Chrome/Firefox & Google Apps extensions. The recommendation engine will also send you updated recommendations when those who are important to you has changed, generally every few weeks or months.
The Best of AwayFind…for Free
Secondly, AwayFind has now implemented a feature that lets you level up the service even if you’re not at a point where you can upgrade to one of their premium plans.
Now when you invite your important contacts (like those recommended through AwayFind Recommendations, for example) and if they sign up for AwayFind you receive instant, unlimited alerts between each other. Even better, when they sign up, your contacts get unlimited alerts from you as well, allowing you to help them become more productive with their email. It’s a real win-win.
What’s Stopping You?
AwayFind has helped numerous people get through their day without being tied to their email — in fact, I’m one of them. Being able to get an important email from my wife or from a client without having to sift through my inbox or check email more than twice per day has been something that has not only improved my productivity, but has helped me get the important work done. With these latest features, AwayFind gives you even more reasons to give the service a try to see if it can do the same for you.
AwayFind has powered up my productivity well beyond the inbox. Why not let it do the same for you?
Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". Read more of his writing and learn more about him at MikeVardy.com, and you can also follow him on Twitter.
Why To-Do Lists Don’t Work and Done Lists Do
Feb 16th
If you’re only using a to-do list, there’s a good chance you’re making yourself less productive. It’s something that took me quite a while to understand. There’s a simple but breathtakingly powerful fix to your to-do list — keep a done list.
By changing from listing the things that you are going to do, to writing down the things that you have done, my life has become a lot easier. Done lists give perspective to your to-dos and it motivates you to keep making progress, every day, until it’s Done.
How come to-do lists don’t work?
The checklist format doesn’t work for projects and tasks that are open-ended. Plus, items and tasks can evolve or become obsolete by the time you hit lunchtime, and by the end of the day, your to-do list can look a totally foreign being compared to what actually needs to get done.
It’s too easy to get that smaller thing crossed off first. There are no commitment devices to firmly turn your resolve to the most important tasks rather than the simple ones. When smaller things are too easy to get done, smaller, less important things are all you will get done.
To-do lists also lead you away from motivation and control. The very pressure that can have such a positive impact in keeping you from the deep-end of lost time can just as much feel like nagging, leading to feelings of guilt and frustration rather than motivation and inspiration. Sometimes it feels like the list controls you, you don’t control the list.
Get to done with a done list
The answer isn’t to get rid of to-do lists altogether but to remember that a to-do list is the beginning of the journey through Doing to Done. How do you get to done? Use a Done List, the yang to the yin of the to-do list.
The to-do list can motivate you by directing you to just put one foot in front of the other. The done list motivates you to keep walking in the first place because you’ve got all that “how-feet-work” business down. The done list’s surprisingly strong motivational powers come from the simple fact that you got stuff done. These aren’t intangible goals or wishful thinking but real results, results that bring all sorts of positive feelings and energy because you’ve achieved something and you want to keep going.
The done list also gives you the gift of perspective, something that is much more difficult and unrealistic at the to-do stage. It allows you to review your day, gives you a chance to celebrate your accomplishments, and helps you plan more effectively.
Balancing act
While the to-do list is about the plan and the possibility of any day, the done list is about execution and evaluation. Together, they provide a balanced meal of productivity planning. With a routine of to-do and done, you’ll also be able to notice patterns and puzzle out what sorts of tasks aren’t making the journey from to-do to done and why. The done list’s balancing effect helps connect the dots between your expectations and your results, and to make better to-do lists to start your next day.
5 Great Done List Tools
The beauty of the done list is that there’s more freedom and individuality around the process. It’s not beholden to check-boxes or simple itemization. It comes down to whatever works best for you. Here are four methods for you to try out.
iDoneThis: iDoneThis is the done list that comes to you. It’s a simple tool that emails you every day prompting you to reply with what you’ve got done. It collects your dones into a handy calendar (which you can sync with Google Calendar or iCal). The e-mail notification method nudges you to keep up your done list so you don’t forget and the easy calendar-viewing option gives you a great way to review your dones!
Use what you have: Fold in your new done list along with your to-do list method if it is flexible enough. That way it’ll be easy to compare your to-do list items with your dones. At the end of the day, flip over your to-do list and write down everything you got done.
Take notes: Jot down your daily dones in a note-taking program like OneNote or Evernote. As soon as you start jotting things down, they automatically turn to into a done list. You can get over it later and see the tasks you were able to complete.
Journals: Incorporating your dones into a journaling gives you room for reflection around your days and accomplishments. Even if you’re keeping a relatively short-format practice, journaling programs are a handy way to keep track of your dones. They provide a calendar-based system, syncing options, and enough of a blank slate so that you’re not bound up in the list format of many task management applications. Give RedNotebook or the Day One app a whirl and see how this works for you.
Conclusion
Have you ever tried swapping over to a “done” list? I hope there are some interesting ideas in here to give your productivity a natural boost. Let me know your thoughts on what helps you get the most work done.
(Photo credit: To do list via Shutterstock)
Leo Widrich is the co-founder of Buffer, a new way to Tweet and share Facebook posts more intelligently. He also blogs Twitter tips at http://blog.bufferapp.com. You can follow Leo on Twitter at @LeoWid.