I don’t think it’s always necessary to rely on shiny, fancy methods to ensure you get things done. It’s easy to overthink ways of being productive and get distracted from doing actual work.
So, here is what I do:
1) Every Friday, I staple together five pieces of letter-sized paper. It’s scrap paper that would otherwise be garbage. I have a whole stack of paper salvaged from the printer in a folder.
2) I write a day of the week, Monday-Friday, on each page.
3) As tasks emerge, I write them down in my packet. I put a little box beside each to-do.
4) For tasks with multiple steps or many parts, I make big project headers (such as “Biz dev follow ups”) with tasks (e.g. Acme corporation) beneath.
5) I check boxes off as I go, and recycle the sheets at the end of each day. By the end of the week, I have expunged all my sheets. Bam!
I use this method because it’s easy, takes no time, and because I never run into glitches that distract me. It also helps make a small dent in how much paper we waste. How do you do it?
Update: After I showed this post to Keith, he pointed me to the Hipster PDA, whose simple, hassle-free strategies resemble my own. I am not alone. And the Hipster PDA is definitely worth looking into.
Hi Cameron,
Yep! If I don’t get everything done, I just write a new to-do on the next day’s list. Easy as pie.
Hi Tiffani,
While I’m all for this method, what do you do if you don’t get all your tasks completed by the end of the day? Do you transfer the items over on to the next day or keep the previous days paper around?
This is a common complaint I’ve heard from people.
on the other end of the spectrum, i just picked up some beauties from blackbird: check out the Behance action accouterments. http://www.behance.com
I have a very similar system except I prefer to use a red pen to draw a line through a completed task, more satisfying by scrubbing it out then just a tick.
I really second the point about just getting it done rather than wasting time thinking about it and planning it.
@Kenneth: Absolutely. Red Pens are the way to go (green felt is also nice).
And @Gabe: I’ll definitely check out the action accoutrements.