One of the downfalls to the Getting Things Done system is that it focuses on work. And in that focus, it loses sight of the myriad things that have to be done to support life.I've suspected for a long time that the reason so many people are able to make Getting Things Done work is because they have someone to deal with the household stuff.Today we start a series of articles on Getting Household Things Done, which will cover applying the tenets of modern productivity systems to the maintenance tasks of life.
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The 12 Week plan is a great way to get moving on the stuff that I never seem to have time for. It allows me to break things down and schedule what I am going to do to make sure I make progress. But it works best for large, complex projects with multiple steps. What about smaller projects? Was there a way to move small stalled projects forward?
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Today we're going to talk about how just putting your open loops - your unfinished objects - into a trusted system isn't good enough. We'll look at the Zeigarnik effect and how this can get in the way of focusing on what your are doing.
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If you are looking to stop wasting time in your day, block scheduling can seem like a really good idea. I tried it for a few weeks, and I have found that it has pros and cons.What is Block Scheduling?Block scheduling is when you take the free time on your calendar and fill that time with intended focus and/or tasks.As a proponent of deliberate living, this seemed like a very good thing: sit down once a week and choose what I will be doing with my non-structured time. I hoped that it would eliminate wasted time that I could be doing something productive. I also hoped that it would allow me to be more deliberate in how I was spending…
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One of the common pieces of productivity wisdom is "turn your cell phone off." I agree that smart phones can be a distraction. It all comes down to managing the usage. And I leave mine on, even when I need to concentrate. Here's why.
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A picture is worth a thousand words, or so the saying goes. In our modern lives, we focus on text: text messages, emails, web pages, books, newsletters. But sometimes a picture is a better way to capture information. And with cameras on phones, it becomes even easier.
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There are days when I am overwhelmed. I still haven’t learned to only put on my task list what I can actually do. Today we will look at how to scale back your task list. I approach my task list from the standpoint that if it is on there, I have committed to do it…today. This isn’t always feasible, though, and it can build up to the point where I need to revisit the list. I recently needed to scale back my to do list, and here are the ways I did it:
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Did you ever wish that you could have a visual indicator to tell people when you were busy at work? It's worse now that we're all working from home. Enter Luxafor flags.
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It's one thing to make deliberate choices when the choices are easy. But what can you do when there are too many to choose from and they all need to be done yesterday? What do you do when you're overwhelmed?Overwhelm is a common problem and can stop people from doing anything. After all, why even start if you can't possibly finish? I'm looking at a perfect storm of a week: meetings Tuesday through Friday, along with a full task list. Here are the steps I took to make this week do-able.
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There is only one thing you need to do to get things done, no matter what the time frame or task. It's very simple, yet profound. And still many people won't do it. Want to know this secret?Today we'll look at the secret and why most people don't do it.
