My mother had a saying: “Out of sight, out of mind.” In spite of her being a supremely organized person, her belief in out of sight out of mind led to piles of paper on her kitchen counter, desk and other places in her house. I also have a tendency to pile things in order to keep them on the front of my mind. This indicates a breakdown of my systems. And on the flip side, once things are in my trusted system, I have a tendency to ignore them if they are not right in front of my face. . In today’s podcast, Episode 82, I will address both sides of this concept.
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What do frogs have to do with productivity? Mark Twain helps with getting those big things out of the way first thing. But what about the rest?
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I struggle with procrastination, especially if the list of items seems overwhelming. But Mark Forster really hit a home run by bringing relative difficulty into it.
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Next actions are defined as "the very next physical action required to move the situation forward" according to Getting Things Done. But this all depends on your definition of "forward".
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The systems that help our weaknesses are really the only ones we have to try for. We have to recognize our weaknesses and find tools to help us past them. And it doesn’t matter if it is due to neurodivergence, or if it is something brought on by stress, overwhelm and overextension.
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I love the idea of a reusable notebook. I love the RocketBook companion app as well. But not so much the RocketBook products. So I came up with some RocketBook hacks.
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As often happens when I realize I have overloaded myself again, I recently began to think about things I could say no to in my life. Saying NO is essential if I want to keep going on the things I want to say YES to. I need to be very clear on what I want and be able to keep all else out.
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I'm going through a rough patch in my life right now, and I know that I can't keep up with everything. Unlike the past when this has happened, I am asking for help, offloading what I can, and letting some projects go dormant. So how do you know what to let go of, even temporarily?
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Our brains, the Ziegarnik effect reminds us, focus on the open loops that have yet to be completed. Physical clutter can often hide open loops. Today we look at how to figure out if your clutter is hiding open loops and what to do about it.
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One of the hardest things to do to get to peak productivity is to choose not just the tools, but how to set them up. Today I will show you my task setup, along with how I get things into my task system from various sources. The main issue with choosing tools is that too many people pick the software before they know how it will be used. Previously I have talked about systems of record, the need for fluidity and the advantages and disadvantages of cloud-based systems. Today I will show you how I apply those concepts to my own task management system.
