Tag Archives: productivity

Getting the Most from the Tools

work

I had something of a revelation over the course of the past few days: I am NOT taking full advantage of the tools I am using to make my life easier. Somehow, I have gotten stuck at a somewhat superficial level of use: I use the tools but they don’t work for me.

My main teacher was Tim Owens. I approached him with a question about the CSS for this blog. By the end of solving that problem I had learned that I no longer had to ctrl-click to get the menu, that I could use Chrome’s Developer view to not only view but link to the problematic code, and that it was worth using the CSS file to customize my blog rather than editing the existing file. Oh, he also turned me on to 1Password.  I walked wondering what else I was missing.

Then, I checked out the posts from today’s Reddit AMA with three MIT computer scientists. There’s a lot there–for instance, they recommend Scratch as a great starting programming language–but so far, I’ve only gotten through the answers to the question about the tools they use to organize their lives. I have a little bit of a fascination with how people work.

Evernote was by far the most popular tool and I feel like I know a fair amount about using it. But I realized that knowing and doing are two different things. I am not afraid to say that I still use a pencil/paper to do list but I think it’s time to leverage Evernote to become more effective in the planning area.

Then, I saw the post on the AMA about getting a text message with reminders from Google. I don’t use Google tasks but I think this feature might convince me to start. I have been learning more about the joys of texting. I have tried to be less obsessive about checking my email, particularly on the weekend, so getting a text message to remind me to water the plants that I’ve brought in for the winter would be very helpful.

As for email, I am definitely a bit obsessive, and I sense the need to get it under control in terms of the role it plays in my daily life.  And while I don’t think it causes me stress, it does interrupt my flow and, maybe more importantly, it enables others to use email as an “emergency” communication tool. Because folks know I am almost always in email, they send emails when they really should call or text. My worry that I’m going to miss one of those emergency emails makes me even more obsessive.

I tweeted today that my first 2015 resolution was to check email three times a day. But I may start right now and then have a head start on the new year.

My other resolution is to schedule time each week to explore the tools I’m using and learn more about how to use them to support my productivity.

Musing on Work, Life and Productivity

technology, thinking out loud, work

148/365 for 2010 The Definition of GreenAs someone who works in a very non-traditional environment, I am interested in conversations about what I call the work life flow. Mitch Joel calls it the work life blend. I like the concept of the blend: you work when work needs to be done, but you don’t work all the time because there are other things to do that are important as well. But whether you call it a flow or a blend, it’s easier to achieve if you don’t have to be in an office for a set number of hours. Once you put me at a desk from 8 to 5, you separate work from life.

I’m also really interested in how other people work: what kinds of routines have they established them help them manage the flow or blend or whatever you want to call it besides balance? I had a vague idea that there were “productivity methods” out there but I am not very good at following methods. Heck, I still do paper and pencil to do lists*. Most people end up doing some kind of hybrid method and I like the Pomodoro method of working with focus and then taking breaks. It’s actually kind of how I work anyway.

I tend to be a little cynical about methods…you spend more time organizing than doing. I do practice the live frog method although I have not read the book, only seen it on airport bookshelves. And, I’m thinking about writing the “graduate student” approach to productivity that I practiced: the fact is that everything on the list has to be done by a certain deadline at the end of the semester, but there wasn’t any rule that they couldn’t be turned in early. So, when there’s work to do, I generally work on it at least a little bit every day. When I see a chunk of time, I do a chunk of work. The goal is to complete the work rather than meet the deadline. It may be that it fits with the nature of the work I do, taking on projects with finite beginnings and endings rather than a more open ended king of employment.

Right now, my big productivity challenge is to figure out a routine that includes more “quadrant two” time (OK, I’m a Covey fan) when I can read and share.

And it occurred to me that this lifehacker.com article about productivity apps has the same lesson that educators are learning; it’s not about the technology. You can buy a million productivity apps but at some point, you have to just do the work not simply plan to do it.

*I have tried hard to transfer to a digital to do list. But I like being able to “curl up” with my to do list and I have an affinity for Moleskin. It’s part of my method.