• Productivity,  Time Management

    Beating “I Don’t Have Time”

    Productivity is a mental game as much as it is about doing things. One of the limiting beliefs I hear people tell themselves over and over is, "I don't have time." I used to be a chronic "I don't have time" person, but I have found that I actually do have time to do more things than I thought possible. Today we'll look at how I use those chunks of time to get more done.

  • Task Management

    Name Your Tasks Properly

    Have you ever been going over your task list and come to a screeching halt? Did you stumble over the task because your brain didn't know what to do with it? Properly naming tasks is one way to keep that from happening. I am not very good at naming tasks. Even after years of doing Getting Things Done and absorbing productivity information, all which emphasize to keep tasks do-able. So here is how - and why - you need to properly name tasks.

  • Task Management

    Limiting Tasks to Get More Done

    To get more done, you need to do more things. That's self-evident. But what if I told you the secret to getting more done was limiting your tasks? I am one of those people, who, when faced with a huge list of things to do, will shut down and do none of it. It's not uncommon. Most people, faced with a pile of work where they don't know where to begin, will not being at all. So how do you get past that? Read on.

  • Productivity

    4 Productivity Lessons From A Matching Game

    There are productivity lessons everywhere, if you just look. Here are four lessons I learned from a video game my daughter got me into, "We Bare Bears Match 3 Repairs." I like matching games, and when my daughter started playing this one (based on one of her favorite cartoons), I peeked over her shoulder. What makes this game different from most is that there is no time pressure - a round is governed by the number of moves that you make. Make less than "par", you win the round. Otherwise you need to try over. It's fun, and it made me think about the general rules I was applying to select my moves...and all can be applied to productivity.

  • Task Management

    Managing Personal Tasks

    Few people would say that work and life are the same. Yet we try to apply work task management techniques to the rest of our lives, and are frustrated when it doesn't work. I have very little problem staying on task at work. I have multiple priorities and multiple projects, and yet I consistently meet my deadlines. I began to wonder why I had problems at home, and so I started to read books on task management and to-do lists, hoping to find the answer. Instead, I had an epiphany. I figured out how to manage my personal tasks in a way that takes into account their differences.

  • Productivity

    Why Most Task Advice is Worthless

    As part of my quest for productivity, I read a lot of articles and books on the various aspects. I get frustrated from time to time, because I think a lot of the authors miss the points. For example, I have been reading a lot about building a better task list. And I’ve discovered that most task advice is worthless.

  • Email,  Productivity

    Getting A Fresh Start On Email

    If you are like most people, you have a lot of emails in your inbox, either unread or waiting for action. In fact, one study found that the average worker had 199 unread emails in their inbox. Another study found that workers receive 121 emails per day. That is a lot of email to be confronted with every time you open your inbox. The problem with this is that if you don’t empty out and process the emails (also known as “keeping up with it”), you will have to scan all those emails every time you open the program. And the longer the list, the longer the scan, and that means a whole lot of wasted time. But what can you do about it? You can clear out and get a fresh start.