When I started working at Blue Flavor, one of the first things I noticed was how much people talked about productivity. I was surprised that in 2008, six years after David Allen’s Getting Things Done was published, everyone was still obsessed with GTD. Slowly and surely, though, it started to hit me: It’s really hard to GTD when you’re in front of a computer all day!
By my second month of work I’d fully realized just how important a GTD strategy is when you’re bombarded by RSS, tweets, chat, email, phone calls, inter-office interruptions, flickr and other forms of (gasp) actual work during the day — all while recording every minute in backpack and harvest. Working on the web, I thought, is like trying to reign in a freed ADD monster sucking down Lik-m-aid and Lucky Charms on a roller coaster made of Red Bull. Or something. You might say I’d begun to identify with my oppressors (Chaos and The Cult of Productivity). I had to get smart.
And yet
I’ve never been a huge self-help buff (okay, I dabble), but after careful consideration I opened the book and forced myself into GTD mode. I also read up on the self management blogs, and even tried out a few good tools like Things. But I have to say, I can’t see how the ROI on these shiny, productivity golden boys is any more impressive than just bearing down and (in order of priority), destroying a napkin sketched to-do list, bird by juicy-looking bird.
Keep in mind that I’m not saying you don’t need a good, solid organizational system. At Blue Flavor (like Keith mentioned recently), we use Backpack, Basecamp, Harvest, and host of other handy tools to keep our files and hearts still. (There’s a good point to be made here: If you have solid organization-wide systems in place, great self management will be much easier to attain.)
Happy Minimalism, the Trick
If you ask me (and I’m sorry because I know you haven’t), the trick is to exercise basic self discipline. And I’m not talking neurotic drill sergeant, cross-country running, fanatical mom self discipline. I’m talking about smart, old-fashioned, kindergarten discipline: Set attainable goals and stick to them, put limits to your free time, take breaks when you experience mind melt, and — really importantly — put some boundaries around your work, so you feel refreshed when you start the day. Nobody likes that sloppy, bleary-eyed, I’m-overworked-but-not-really-because-I’m-just-smooshing around-all-over-the-internet-right-now feeling.
Aside from intelligently designed discipline, standard to-do lists, folders for really important stuff, and keeping track of your time go a long way toward keeping the ball rolling. And that’s the thing: In order to be productive, you need to keep the ball rolling. Even when you’ve got so much to do you can’t think straight (or when you’ve got nothing to do and can’t think straight), just do something. Anything.
I think what I’m referring to here is happy minimalism. And focusing on the tasks, rather than tweeking about the tools. But of course, I welcome suggestions. Now (I know you’ve been waiting for this), get out there and git r done!
You make it sound so easy! I agree though, that the various tools and glitzy software packages are about as good as napkins (though they cause less clutter).
Personally, I vary my system depending on my workload. If it’s light, I don’t really need a system at all. On busy days, I’ll use tadalist.com for daily to-dos and just leave my list open in a browser tab. Good thing about tada is, that they have a mobile interface as well. I do like the lists, to track progress and for the satisfaction of ticking things off as I go.
My lack of a system might not work so well for anyone running a more-than-one-person business, though. :)
Hi Rasmus,
I’ve heard that tada list is awesome (most everyone I know uses it). There is nothing better than destroying a boxed to-do list.
I always figure: just stick with one or two tools, and you’re good.
Thanks for your comments. Tiffani
Hey, Have become more & more interested in how to up productivity, and somehow bumped into your blog post. Been reading about GTD and have agree with you that all the shiny tools (downloaded the trial version of Things two months ago, but it was jut too much hassle) are just that, shiny tools.
In the end it’s about setting yourself down, getting down to it, and leaving the world be.
A handy trick someone once taught me is to set your e-mail programme to only receive mail once an hour. In a hectic world like hours, that seems like an eternity. But at least you can keep on GTD while you then have another hour to GTD in the next pile of e-mails!