Archive

For the last two weeks I tried an exacting method to help make solid daily progress, to which I added the extra spice of an accountability partner to keep me on track. The goal was to determine if the traditional productivity advice to plan each day ahead of time works better than an ad hoc "select the next action in the moment" one, as popularized by David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology, among others. This is meant to plug one of the 10 GTD "holes" I identified recently.

(Note: This week's post is a departure from my signature style - long, link-rich, in-depth, and dry :-) . Since my Big-Arse Text File is getting a bit long in the tooth - 1,800+ ideas - I'm giving a different format a go: A dozen or so short ideas/thoughts that you might like. I'm calling each post an "IdeaLab," with the first being here. And the "0505"? I'm taking a naming cue from Mark Hurst). Your thoughts and IdeaLab contributions are always welcome!

Metrics (what a researcher client of mine calls indicators) for quantifying personal productivity improvements is a topic I started tracking when I get into the field. Having some kind of measure is important if you want to determine whether your presumably improved changes have actually helped. As I quoted in What's Your Feed Reading Speed? (attributed to Peter Drucker [1]):

If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.

Since switching to Macintosh I've been trying out tools for GTD, playing with productivity tools, and generally being very pleased with the move from Windows. In addition, I decided to switch from my paper-based action management system to a digital one, and wanted to share with you results from both. I'd love to hear your Mac tips and tricks for productivity too.

Tools I switched to

In no particular order:

While I'm reading, learning, and trying to perform radical self-development (sounds nasty), I noticed I've been tagging ideas and quotes that made me say wow! One of my longer term goals with my consulting practice is to a) leave customers with a "wow, that was great" feeling, and b) eventually be a source of these myself (hey - think audacious). More generally, I want to leave myself receptive to experiencing these little revelations. It's like creating luck - put yourself in environments that facilitate exposure to it, then be observant.

In that spirit I'd like to share a few with you. If you have any favorites of your own, please share them.

Since starting my study of the field of personal productivity (first GTD-related post: August 2005 - Actually Getting Things Done With Getting Things Done!

I've mentioned Kerry many times in my writing (more about him here: [1]), and his book, The Personal Efficiency Program, has been a significant influence on the development of my own ideas around personal productivity. This thought in particular went very deep:Although most of us have been formally educated to work in our professions, few of us, especially white-collar workers, have been taught how to work efficiently and effectively. Too many white-collar professionals have no idea how to organize themselves or how best to process their work.