A few years ago I hit a wall of more work than time; I found myself stressed unproductive and somewhat defeated. Fortunately, I decided swallow my pride and research numerous productivity techniques. Three years later I’ve got more work than ever but without the stress and anxiety. Below is a collection of what works for me gathered from various authors, video tutorials and blog posts.
Clearing
Clearing is the act of deleting, organizing filing and calendaring my daily tasks to do at some point. I generally do this as soon as I set down with that first cup of coffee and at break points in the day. My process is simple and modified from trying different methods introduced by productivity authors like David Allen and Dave Crenshaw.
- Coffee in hand I sit down to my email client and sort through the inbox.
- Delete Spam and notifications I don’t need.
- Move non-actionable emails into an Archive folder
- Move actionable emails into a Review folder
- Quickly review auto filtered folders (all staff, notifications folders. If I find anything actionable I move it into the Review folder.)
- Delegate to co-workers if relevant and more productive to so.
- I follow the same process for printed materials, invoices, post-it notes that may have shown up on my desk.
My collection points have been limited to the following so I don’t need to scrap over a dozen possible inboxes.- Project Management Software (Basecamp, Asana, etc.)
- Pocket Notebook
- My desk’s surface for collecting printed notes, mail etc.
Calendaring
Once I’ve finished Clearing it’s time to calendar the Review items for completion. Most people I know create a to-do list and this might work for them but not for me. I am a habitual procrastinator, if I don’t schedule my time to a specific task or group of tasks it won’t get done in any particular order.
- Place the most important items on your calendar first, I display Meetings in Orange, to-dos in blue, and low priority items in green
- These most important items are not always the most complex. Like a scheduled meeting they shouldn’t move to a new time or be delayed.
- Quick items of 5-10 minutes like responding to an email or paying invoices, should be batched. On my calendar I have it listed as Processing or I wait until an open block of time shows up later in the day.
- Anything longer than 15 minutes I will schedule for up to an hour. As I complete the item I tighten up the entry to 15 or 30 minutes and move the next to-do up by 30-45 minutes.
Distractions will happen you can plan for some but not most, be flexible and move your to-do items and replace them with the cause of the distraction on your calendar.
Analog Devices
Notepads, scratch paper. It’s very low tech but when that phone rings and you can jot down key components of the conversation so it can be cleared later and calendared to do. I like to use tiny pocket sized notebooks during meetings to create a short action list. I use a scratch pad for phone messages or unplanned interruptions.
I keep a notebook along with a pen in my pocket at all times. It helps me collect information when I’m away from my desk or computer so I can decide what to do with it later when I return.
Phones
Phones are a real pain in the ass. People call interrupting your workflow and frequently to ask questions they could find by a simple Google search. My phone policy is pretty aggressive but it works.
- Never ever call anyone when an email or text will suffice.
- Never call anyone, seriously don’t do it. This leads to the habit of people calling you because they’re too lazy to email.
- If you’re actually busy and productive ignore your phone. Create a culture among the people around you that you prefer email and make them do the work of collecting their thoughts before reaching out to you.
Email is a wonderful invention but we’re all using it wrong and it’s sucking up our time. I prefer email over phones for the reasons mentioned above but constantly checking that inbox for a new arrival is a waste of time. Reasonable people don’t expect an email to be answered immediately but in most circumstances do appreciate a reply within a few hours during business hours.
- Turn off automatic notifications, it’s just an interruption from what you should be doing.
- Filter emails, Especially those that are spammy in nature like all staff emails or form submission notifications and group emails.
- Check emails at scheduled times of the day. For me that’s at the start of the workday, before lunch and about 1-2 hours before days end.
- This helps speed up the time you spend in email by batching similar tasks together.
- Reply to important or timely emails during these scheduled times.
- The sender gets a reply within 3-4 hours, and sometimes clarify their previous email(s) before your first response saving a lot of effort on your end.
- Schedule sending low priority emails to the end of day or when you’re least productive.
- Consider using an email alternative like Asana or Basecamp, for personal projects where a calendar isn’t enough. Even file folders stuffed with supporting materials can be useful.
Train your colleagues
I like to talk to my co-workers and enjoy helping others solve problems. However, being too helpful leads to others delegating their own work to you. With both becoming less reliable as a result. Delegation of tasks isn’t always a bad thing. I wouldn’t expect my boss to pay invoices or reply to low priority emails. However, co-workers are another story, If you’re better equipped to accomplish a task take it on. But, be wiling to delegate tasks to others who are better than you at accomplishing it.
- Calendar delegations along with your own duties, be open and tell them you’ll take care of it at a specific time and even if it’s tomorrow or the next day. If that’s not soon enough they may just do it or you will re-prioritize your calendar.
- Express the need for Do not disturb time. A local co-working space uses coasters to express your availability red for do not disturb and green for available.
So that’s pretty much it, I’ve narrowed down my processes and tested several others but this is what works for me. Whether I’m doing administrative work or coding doesn’t really matter I batch similar projects together and prioritize each item in similar groups and at the most productive time to do so. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
Resources
Getting Things Done by David Allen
My Productivity playlist on Lynda.com
Photo Gallery
I keep a clean and organized desk. Only the things I need at hand are on the desk. Everything else is tucked in a drawer out of sight.
Protect your to-do items by setting appointments to do the work.
A simple pocket notebook and reliable pen.