Notes About Productivity

I’ve been considering writing notes about productivity for quite some time. I’ve read numerous books and articles on the subject and have attempted to implement a variety of their suggested strategies, with some degree of success. I aim to document what I’ve learned and the methods I’m utilizing to boost my productivity. You may recognize some of these strategies, as they originate from popular books and articles, but overall, it’s a unique blend of them.

Before I begin, I’d like to explain what productivity means to me. To me, productivity is the capacity to accomplish more tasks in less time by not pushing yourself hard and sacrificing your well-being. Instead, it’s about carrying out tasks in the most efficient way possible, thereby enabling you to achieve more in less time. Moreover, productivity is about making your tasks feel less like a burden. It’s about building confidence in your ability to complete these tasks efficiently. This mindset will allow you to handle your tasks with a sense of calm and ease, removing any stress or anxiety associated with them.

I categorize productivity into three main parts: finding out things to do, choosing which task to do and how to do a task. I will explain each part in detail.

Finding out things to do

Our brains haven’t evolved to handle the amount of information we’re exposed to on a daily basis. We’re constantly bombarded with information from a variety of sources, including social media, news, and our friends and family. As a result of intense incoming data, new thoughts and ideas are constantly popping into our heads. We need to find a way to organize these thoughts and ideas so that they do not distract us from our current tasks or occupy space in our minds. David Allen’s Getting Things Done framework is a great way to do this.

Collect

First, we need to gather all of our tasks in a single location. This can be a notebook, a to-do app, or even a piece of paper - it doesn’t really matter. The key is to have all our tasks consolidated in a single, unsorted list. Personally, I find Apple’s Reminders app to be the most convenient option due to its simplicity, availability across all my devices, and the fact that it comes with a default “Inbox” list for storing tasks.

During the collection phase, it is crucial to write down as much as possible about any task that comes to mind, regardless of its size. To ensure consistent productivity, there are a few strategies we can employ. One option is to utilize Siri, which can make the collection phase more convenient by allowing us to dictate your thoughts. Another approach is to add homepage widgets that enable us to capture ideas and tasks in a more streamlined manner.

At the beginning and on a regular basis, such as weekly, we need to perform a “mind sweep.” A mind sweep is a technique that involves reflecting on everything that occupies our mind and writing down any associated tasks. A helpful resource for conducting a comprehensive mind sweep is the “Incompletion Trigger List,” which can be accessed here. By utilizing this list, we can ensure that we think about everything and capture all relevant tasks during our mind sweep sessions.

Process & Organize

In regular basis, we need to process and organize the tasks that in our Inbox list. Our aim is to capture everything possible and regularly empty out what we collected.

When the time comes, we need to select the next available task from our inbox and determine its actionability by asking an essential question “What is the Next Action?”. The ‘Next Action’ represents the immediate physical next step that you need to undertake. For example, the next action for “Plan a surprise birthday party for Sarah” could be to create a guest list, decide on a party theme, or start researching potential venues or party activities.

If you can’t find the next action, it means there are no further things to do with it and we need to decide its fate, so we can:

• delete it, eg. old meeting notes that are no longer relevant
• place it in a ‘maybe’ list, eg. Learn a new language
• add it to a reference list. eg. Top books on leadership

Once we have identified the next action, we can consider its context. The context refers to the specific location or situation where the task should be carried out. For example, we can use tags such as “home,” “work,” or “computer” to indicate the appropriate setting for completing the task.

If completing a task does not result in the desired outcome, we can consider it a project and we should keep track of it accordingly. In order to achieve this within the Apple Reminders ecosystem, I store such tasks as sub-tasks of the main project task, which is labeled with the tag “Project” to maintain organization. For example, if we come across a task like “Decide on blog’s theme” in our Inbox, we can immediately recognize that deciding on the blog’s theme is not our ultimate goal, which is likely “Create a blog,” and it is one of the sub-tasks. If the task “Create a blog” does not already exist, we need to create it and add the “Project” tag to the task. Finally, we place the task “Decide on blog’s theme” under the newly created task.

When we are processing, and organizing tasks; we might encounter a task that takes less than 2 minutes to complete, it is best to do it immediately. If it takes more than 2 minutes, you should delegate it if appropriate, or defer it to a later time. By meaning of deferring, if and only if the task is time sensitive, you should set a reminder and add it to your calendar. If it is not time sensitive, you should add it to your do it as soon as possible list aka “next actions” list. By not adding specific date to the task that is not time sensitive, you will clear your calendar and easily see the important time sensitive tasks. Also, giving deadlines to non time sensitive tasks will make you feel stressed and you will not be able to do your tasks in most efficient way.

It might be seem like complicated but it is not. We should do it regularly and it will become a habit. Here is some most important points:

• Process tasks without order. Just select the next available task from your inbox.
• Try not to spend more than 1 minute for each task.
• Aim to empty your inbox every day.
• If you can do a task in less than 2 minutes, do it immediately.
• Delegate tasks if appropriate.
• If a task isn’t time sensitive, do not assign a date to it.
• If a task is time sensitive, add it to your calendar aka Tickler file.

Apple Reminders

As previously mentioned, I utilize Apple Reminders to compile all my tasks. I have several lists, namely “Inbox”, “Next Actions”, “Maybe”, and “Tickle”. The names of these lists are self-explanatory.

Additionally, I have smart lists such as “Home”, “Computer”, “Reading”, “Waiting”, and “Outside”. These smart lists pull tasks from the “Next Actions” list and filter them by tags. For instance, the “Home” smart list comprises all tasks tagged with “Home” from the “Next Actions” list.

Choosing which task to do

The most crucial aspect to remember is this: writing down our tasks isn’t enough – we need to complete them. There are several methods to select and prioritize tasks, but I’ll be sharing the one I personally use.

Begin by reviewing your calendar or tickler file. Time-sensitive tasks take precedence as they are the most important and we certainly don’t want to overlook them. After that, we should turn our attention to the ‘smart list’ that aligns with our current context.

If we’re at home, we should refer to the “Home” smart list. Conversely, when at work, we should consult the “Work” list. It’s vital to filter out tasks that don’t align with our current availability of time and energy. For instance, if you’re at home and feeling fatigued, it’s not wise to undertake a task that requires a significant amount of energy. The same goes for time; if you only have 30 minutes to spare, you shouldn’t embark on a task that requires an hour.

Finally, we need to select a task that holds the highest priority.

How to do a task

Every task we come across in life may not always be enjoyable or fun. There are times when we might find certain tasks monotonous or uninteresting. However, regardless of our personal feelings towards these tasks, they need to be completed. It’s part of life and work, and it’s crucial to our success in different areas. We, therefore, need effective methods or strategies to tackle them and see them through to completion.

Time-boxing

Schedule time for each task and stick to it. This helps you focus on one thing, get more done, worry less, and decide what’s important. It might be hard to divide tasks and estimate time, but you’ll improve with practice. Parkinson’s law tells why time-boxing is an important technique.

“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

C. Northcote Parkinson

Pomodoro

Divide work into intervals, typically 25 minutes in length, known as “pomodoros”. After each pomodoro, it’s recommended to take a short break. Following several pomodoros, a longer break should be taken. This method not only helps you commit to working within a set time frame, but also prevents you from over-focusing or diverting your attention elsewhere.

The Flowtime Study Technique

The Flowtime Study Technique, developed by Zoe Read-Bivens, is a modified version of the Pomodoro Technique. It aims to maximize periods of time when you are fully immersed in a task. This state of immersion, where productivity is high and the ability to stay focused and engaged comes effortlessly, is known as the flow state, or simply flow. This state typically emerges when the level of challenge and the individual’s skill level are well-matched, resulting in optimal productivity.

Here are the steps to follow:

1. First, select a single task to work on. This is known as unitasking.
2. Next, track how long it takes you to complete the task. Make note of the start time, end time, and the number of interruptions faced. This information can help you reduce interruptions and distractions in the future.
3. After completing the task, take a break! Here are some suggested break times based on the duration of work:
   1. If you’ve worked for 25 minutes or less, take a five-minute break.
   2. If you’ve worked for 25-50 minutes, opt for an eight-minute break.
   3. If your work stretched from 50-90 minutes, take a 10-minute break.
   4. If you’ve worked for more than 90 minutes, enjoy a 15-minute break.

Does the Perfect Method Exist?

The techniques we talked about earlier work well, but could there be even better ways? This question made me think of an app that could be closer to perfect in how it works and looks. Here are some main things that this perfect app should do to help users be more productive:

• The app should send reminders every X minutes if no task has been planned for certain times of the day.
• Users should be able to create tasks, which would then start the app’s timer.
• To keep users focused on their task and how much time is left, the app should send regular reminders with a bell sound.
• After a task is done, the app should suggest a break. The length of the break should be based on how long the task took. This break time should be shown on the whole screen to force users to break.