It’s a simple GTD idea that borrows the idea that any progress on a task is a big step to completion. After finishing a job, just before you head off on your break, why not just start the next one? As I finished up my previous task and prepared for a break, I logged into the WordPress and pulled up the “Write” page. That way, when I came back from the computer, I knew the first thing that had to be done was to write this post. Glen at LifeDev mentions that... More »
17 Shares Let’s assume for a moment that you work too much and you’re not that happy with that arrangement. You’d like to work as little as possible, maximize the time you do work, and make time for the stuff that really matters for you — your loved ones, your passions, exercise, hobbies, fun. It’s possible. It’s not easy, and it takes some sacrifices, but if you really work at it, you can cut your work week in half. It will require you to step back and re-design your work life. It will require... More »
Toyota has become the world’s largest automobile manufacturing company this year, overtaking General Motors which reigned supreme since the 1930s. Before then, Ford was the global leader. Toyota’s market capitalization is more than five times that of Ford and General Motors combined. Toyota must have been doing something right these past 20 years since it has become the most productive manufacturer in the world. The company owns the newly created market in hybrids. Toyota’s example offers an excellent insights and a guide toward improving personal productivity. The two main pillars of Toyota’s... More »
If you are truly lazy at heart you may have already had this argument, but just because I want to do something the easy way doesn’t mean I’m lazy. Being lazy is intuitively seeking out the more efficient way of doing things. Well, at least sometimes. Scott H Young has a formula: Laziness + Drive = Productivity. So is laziness a resourceful character trait? What did the ‘busy’ person have to gain from spending so much time on something pointless? Scott talks about a few questions lazy people ask themselves that ‘busy’... More »
180 Shares Technology can definitely make life easier. E-mail, rapid communication, RSS and the internet create vast opportunities for new information. But technology isn’t perfect. Adopting new technologies can have a sharp learning curve and many programs have unseen bugs and usability problems. Even more prevalent is this boost in information can cause overload, zapping your time in endless e-mails and feeds to read. Breaking your paradigm of technology as a cure-all to every problem can open you up to other avenues for solving problems. Technology may be innovative and wonderful, but learning when... More »
12 Shares If you are a frequent visitor of Lifehack.org, then it is probably safe to say that you thrive on productivity tips, lifehacks, the latest tech tools, and all things GTD. However, how do you know when you’ve crossed over to becoming a productivity junkie? This article will point out some of the warning signs to look for. 1. You have a shortcut created for every program on your computer. 2. You try out a new productivity tool at least once a week. 3. LifeHack.org has become your second home. 4. You get... More »
8.6K Shares When we measure the creativity of young children, virtually all of them will record as being ‘highly creative’. However, only a small percentage of adults register as being ‘highly creative’. What happened? Schools have crushed creativity. We were told to color within the lines. We were taught to follow instructions. The goal in school is to get the “right” answer. Unfortunately, if you’re afraid to be wrong, you’ll never be creative or original. The job of education is to produce employees who follow instructions. And to this endeavor, they are doing a... More »
10.3K Shares These days our lives are busier than ever. We work more than ever. We are more stressed and exhausted than ever before. And yet we get less done and are not as happy. It doesn’t have to be that way. The problem is that we are overloaded with information and tasks, and we try to get everything done instead of just the most essential things. Solution: focus on only the essential, eliminate the rest, and allow yourself to get into that beautiful state known as “flow”. And although it can be hard... More »
In productivity blogosphere, there are countless arguments between two camps: paper vs digital. Along with the evolution of my productivity system, I agree what Glen Stansberry at LifeDev describes in this article – we can use both together as they can co-exist and work well together: Well, I can answer that question in one word: Both. You see, both have the features that are great for different things. Both have limitations that the other tries to fix. However, there is a way to create a system based around both forms of productivity.... More »
My title comes from Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu, which concerns the effort to recover the past by reexperiencing it in memory and recording it in writing. I’m applying Proust’s words (in translation) in a modest and specific way, to ask where the time of a semester goes. As my students always tell me, it goes quickly. I agree. Semesters seem to be made not of months or weeks or even days but of the hours, or almost-hours, of class meetings. At my university, a semester’s classes add up... More »
Craft time again! This time PileOfIndexCards has a handy printable template to create a desktop accordion-style card organizer. Like the one in your filing cabinet, only smaller. Those GTDers using index cards to keep things out of mind and in order will find this useful. I’m also assuming some kind of Tickler file could be substituted. OrigamiPod - [PileOfIndexCards]
Copycat is a simple Windows utility that syncs your Clipboard contents to other computers of your choice. A very handy function for anyone working across a few computers. Copycat by R2Studios
This piece of Mac software instantly catches my interest with a simple idea I’ve yet to see in other ToDo list managers. Not only does DoIt [formerly ToDo] categorize your tasks, set with priorities and deadlines; it also associates each todo with a URL, address book contact or file on your computer. Compatible with Applescripts, Quicksilver and iCal, DoIt also adds a sync function across multiple computers using .Mac – got all bases covered. DoIt by Jim Mcgowan
74 Shares You know what it feels like to be completely engaged in a task. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined the term flow to describe this state. Flow is crucial to performing any intellectual task. But how do you achieve it? Hack Your Tasks You won’t get flow with the carrot or the stick. External pressures are unlikely to really engage you with your task. If you want to get into a state of flow you should modify the tasks themselves. Making your tasks more engaging may seem to make them slightly less efficient, but the... More »
301 Shares In our lives we have all kinds of information that we need to keep track of — to-do lists, gift ideas, books we want to read, exercise or food logs, a budget, phone numbers, a weekly schedule, our goals — the list is endless. The problem is finding a good place to keep all of that information — the usual mode is to have these lists and logs and schedules scattered all over the place, but that is chaos. If you want to be organized, put all you’re life’s info in one... More »
