Alarms and Interruptions

June 22, 2008 @ 4:52 pm

I’ve wanted to write about this for months. I wish I could remember where I read about this; it’s been a great productivity booster for me.

In the past, I have written and advised that one should not put priorities on tasks. Instead, one * might * considered putting a due date on a task. A great example of this comes from the best tip I picked up out of Jack Welch’s book - that you have to follow-up with (on) people in order to be effective. To accomplish this, I create a task on a project and put a Due Date on it so it will pop up in the Projects Widget on the right day and remind me to do the follow up.

In the past, I would have to pull down the calendar and look forward a week or two to assign the due date. Not only did I have to go through the physical motion of pulling down the calendar, but the mental motion of thinking about looking forward on the calendar for two weeks out. But, not anymore!

In the Due Date field (or any date field in Outlook for the most part), just type what you want. i.e.,

1 week
2 weeks
Thu (or any day of the week)
1 month

Outlook will automatically replace it with the correct date (once you move off the field). Quick, easy and effective!

“Sharpening the Saw”

@ 4:17 pm

(Alternate Title: Wishy-Washy Post, 2008)

I recently was offered and accepted a position creating a consulting division for a company. It’s and incredible opportunity; something I’ve always wanted to do and something I’m excited about. With the opportunity comes a lot of work added onto an already crowded physical To Do list, as well as the virtual mental one. The latter has been a little bit on overload lately, so I’ve been pausing here and there to do a little “sharpening of the saw.”

Funny; it’s apparently been about a year since I’ve done this (looking back at my post called “Wishy-Washy Post”).

Here’s what I’ve looked at that has helped me. I wanted to pass it along in case you are in the same boat:

My own prose on this blog.
Seth Godin – I’ve fallen behind in my blog reading. I had a few spare moments and decided to look at Seth’s. I found this great gem.
Church – My Pastor today talked about how if you truly love something, you will make a commitment to it and want to do it every day.

This has been a good self reflection and I’m ready to tackle things for another year.

Productivity P@rn

April 2, 2008 @ 5:24 pm

Heather writes:

“Yesterday I was actually DOING my work rather than ‘organizing’ it. That might be a good blog post for you - how many of us procrastinate ‘getting things done’ by shoving our tasks around in our organizer of choice and consuming what has been called ‘productivity p@rn’ (aka lifehacker & 43 folders blog posts, David Allen articles, etc.) “

Productivity and Foresight: Tips and Tricks

March 11, 2008 @ 3:35 pm

As I have said, focus is critical to success – on any project, or goal, or venture. With that in mind, I’m going to apply some focus to my blog, at least for awhile, and focus on how Foresight helps me be productive, even with many projects on my plate - as well as interruptions during my day.

I have high hopes that even if you do not use Foresight, you can still pick up a tip or two out of these posts.

If you navigated to this post from a link promoting “Foresight Productivity Tips,” then I just wanted to let you know that this post, as the posts above it, are those tips (that is, when you are looking at only posts in the Foresight - Tips category). I hope you find this information helpful. As always, if you are looking for a productivity tip or trick in particular (Foresight or not), please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Project Interruptus – Part X – Flat Tires

March 5, 2008 @ 8:57 pm

In the last few days, it has been really hard to ride my ten-speed bike. Actually, it’s been no fun at all and I have been dreading it! I’ve been falling way behind going up the hills, actually having to walk up a couple. It seemed like a constant struggle to just keep momentum on the straight-a-ways.

I do a spot check (squeeze the tires, brakes, chain) every time before I go out, so, it seemed like the bike was okay. At that point, the “stinking thinking” (as my girlfriend calls it) sets in:

The bike’s 20 years old - maybe it’s seen its last days and I’m going to have to spend the dollars on a new bike.
Maybe I’m ill and won’t be able to ride like I used to.
Maybe I am too old like my young daughters keep telling me.

Then, after checking my girlfriend’s tires with a tire gauge and adding air, I decided to check mine.

They were flat!

I have racing tires that take very little air, but very high pressure. So, even though they “seemed” full - they were not.

The change, both physically and mentally, is simply amazing! I can blow up the hills again; the bike glides on level ground. Riding is fun again! The bike, nor I, are too old — or sick. I can’t wait to go riding again.

This made me think about projects and personal productivity:

Does your project seem like it has enough “air” in it, yet, it is dragging?
Do you have, or have you used the right tools, to make sure your project is on the right track?
Is there doubt about the project, or even yourself, that you need to really analyze, find the non-truth’s in and straighten out?
Do you need to “put some air” in yourself or your project?

Think about all of this and see if you need to air things back up. I think you will be glad that you did!

Five for Three

February 18, 2008 @ 4:44 am

(Alternate Title – Effective Publishing)

In about an hour this morning when I couldn’t sleep, I published an e-book:

Five for Three - A quick five minute read about three things you can do to increase your personal productivity today.

I did this via Lulu.com. What a neat service! Check it, and my e-book out – I think you will like them both.

50 Tricks to Get Things Done Faster, Better, and More Easily

February 13, 2008 @ 1:17 pm

Lifehack.org has a great article with tricks and tips on personal productivity. It’s a great read if you are looking for a little boost to deal with the “alarms and interruptions” of life.

Subscription Guarantee

February 6, 2008 @ 10:12 pm

More great feedback today from The David Allen Company – Getting Things Done Public Forum.

A member posted a concern. What if we go out of business and / or discontinue Foresight? Won’t they be locked out of Foresight?

Problem solved! Posted today on our About Us page:

We guarantee that we will release an unlocked version of Foresight to all registered users should the product ever be discontinued. This guarantee is written into our License Agreement and backed by our integrity and longevity.

Foresight Subscription Model

February 4, 2008 @ 8:52 pm

I received more excellent feedback today on The David Allen Company – Getting Things Done Public Forum.

In response to one question, I added some content to the Foresight Web Site about why we sell Foresight under a subscription model as opposed to a “buy it once” model. Check it out by clicking here. I strongly believe in this. I strongly believe this is a true win / win model for both the consumer and for us. I also believe that this is the answer to why “buy it once” software modeled companies have a hard time surviving and keeping their products growing.

Comparing Foresight

February 1, 2008 @ 4:41 pm

Today on the David Allen Company - Getting Things Done Forum, someone posted a great question.

“How does [Foresight] compare to the official GTD Netcentrics Add-on?”

This is a great question; I appreciate the user asking it.

If you need to process a lot of emails, and you want to do it exactly in the GTD way, then they have a great product.

If you want to be focused, project oriented and manage all interruptions (not just email), then Foresight is what you are looking for. Let me show you…

Project Focus

I loaded and created a quick project in their product. As I often do, I create a project and brainstorm out the first few steps. As brainstorming goes, I think about different tasks that belong to different parts of the project. This is what I ended up with: