Archive for August, 2008

I was having an interesting discussion with my mentor the other day in which we got on the subject of organization.  This was the same mentor who taught me the necessity of having a good way to keep track of my to do list.  This was in no small part due to the fact that I reported directly to him at the time and he was an amazing delegator…

That being said, we were talking about keeping ourselves organized and he told me that he spends 30 minutes every night before he goes to bed organizing himself for the next day.  These 30 minutes had become so ingrained into his routine that if did not spend the time to organize, he would not sleep well.  I found this to be interesting and quite different than my approach of taking 15 minutes at the start of everyday to rewrite my task list and prioritize my to dos.

Perhaps I am simply too set in my ways or perhaps he and I just attack our work differently, but I do not see myself switching anytime soon.  However, I do see that his method offers several distinct advantages.

1. The value of the time spent.  Normally, the 15-30 minutes before I go to bed are not billable, whereas the 15 minutes at the start of my work day could be (since I always do my organization at my desk where I am in the work mode.)
2. The urgency of the workday.  There are many days when the first thing that greets me in the morning is some fire I have to put out or some client call I need to take or an email I have to answer.  This can delay my organization time by a few minutes or a few hours.  During that time, I always feel less in control of my day because I am being reactive instead proactive.   Managing my day by addressing whoever is screaming the loudest is a poor way to be ultimately successful.

Still, spending my 15 minutes organizing in the morning (or as close to it as I can) works for me.  But I would like to know, what works for you?

Sometimes productivity hints strike when you least expect them.

I was listening to a sermon today in which the preacher recounted one of the other parishoners talking about he remembered to do things.  The parishoner in question said that when he needed to do something, he wrote a note down on a piece of paper, folded it up, and put it in his left pocket with his change.  That way whenever he went to pay for something, he would have to first pull out the notes before getting to his money.  The sheer annoyance would of having to pull out those pieces of paper would mean that sooner rather than later, the gentleman in question would do whatever needed to be done.

I looked at this as a validation of the PAR System.  Instead of notes in my left pocket (which isn’t a bad idea except that I tend to pay for everything with a check card), I use my to do list which I recopy every morning.  This keeps what I need to do always top of mind and the sheer annoyance of not accomplishing things…well…it keeps me motivated.

So, how do you keep notes in your left pocket?

Another issue that arose on Sparkplugging’s topic list was when to stop working for the day, a problem that face many who work in a home office.

At first, this may seem like a strange question.  There are days when, if asked, I definitely believe work should be stopped at 8:15…and I don’t start working until 9.  However, there is the small matter of clients and clients are important because they pay.  Paying is important because it means money…  So sadly, I have to put in a solid 8-12 hour day rather than the -45 minute day I of which dream.

Also, I find that once I am in the groove, it’s hard to stop.  There is always one more thing I can do.  Herein lies the beauty and the curse of the PAR System: I have a list.  I know what needs to be done.  So if I am done with priorities 1,2, and 3… I know priorities 4,5,6,7,etc. They’re right there in my list.

Which presents two unique challenges.  Either I am motiviated to get a lot done, but need to stop in order to Reward myself for accomplishing my goals, let my batteries recharge, and spend a little time with the family or I am completely unmotivated and need to get work done so I can afford to give myself a Reward, let my batteries recharge, and feed my family.

This is where I let the PAR System be my guide.  I have my task list and each task has a priority next to it.  My goal in an average day is to finish my top priorities (this is usually priorities 1-3)  Once I am done with that, I know I can stop.  If I need the extra time to recharge, I can kick back and relax knowing that I have done what I needed to for that day.   I also know that if I am feeling motivated, that I can stop guilt free anytime after my highest priority items are accomplished.  Then I just ride the wave of motivation I am ready to stop.

Of course, this is not an absolute answer.  But it works pretty well most days.

When do you stop?  You do stop, right?  You’re not burning yourself out, are you?

So as you can see I’ve been a bit lax on posting here recently.

And there’s a good reason for that…I’ve been busy.  Really busy.

Now, I know that seems like an odd statement for someone writing a productivity blog.  Don’t I have the PAR System to help me manage things?  Sure.  Aren’t I trying to advocate higher levels of productivity?  Of course.

Frankly, I’ve looked at the last three months as research.

First, in the past three months, my planner was stolen so I went to using a spiral notebook, just like I advocate in my guidebook.  So now I can say I officially eat my own dog food.

Secondly, in that time, I also accomplished the following:

1. Established a vegan blog
2. Wrote a book
3. Edited another book
4. Created a large web app for a client
5. Released at least 7 episodes of my two podcasts
6. Put together the media blitz for both the game I wrote and the game I edited
7. Gained a new SEO client
8. Wrote 7 articles

So you get the picture. 

What fell by the way side are this blog, Blog Well Done, and my personal exercise regimine.  (I am not happy about that last part.)  Fortunately, family obligations were largely met.  I have a tendency to ignore the fam when I get busy.  This is not a Good Thing.

Anyway, what the past three months have proven to me is that productivity is a choice.  Over the past three months, I did what was important to me.  I did not do what was truly not important to me.  (I am still chapped that my personal health turned out to be unimportant.)

But it also showed me why prioritization is so important in the PAR System.  For most of my life, I have planned what I am going to do for the day.  I never just made lists.  I thought about the tasks on the list and figured out the order in which I was going to do them. Now I understand why.  I was doing what was important and taking note so that I would not forget what was not.

Of course, there is a lingering issue that I need to deal with personally…getting my judgement of what is important inline with what I want to be important.  That’s another post.