One of the regular topics on this site is productivity, so in the spirit of Darren Rowse’s group writing project calling for year-end reviews, I thought it would be useful to do a roundup of tips and strategies that I actually put into practice during 2006. I’ve tried to separate the wheat from the chaff and present the most valuable ones, the ones that actually helped me accomplish more during the year. Chances are a few of these might do the same for you.
1. Contingency management – My post last summer on overcoming procrastination using contingency management is by far the most popular post on this blog, and it’s still the killer productivity hack in my book. The premise is ridiculously simple and can be applied to so many different situations. Basically, you choose a daily task that you value (e.g., checking your email, working out, showering) and make it contingent on working for a period of, say, 30 minutes. This isn’t foolproof, but depending on how seriously you approach it, it can be really powerful.
2. Use a timer – Whether you’re doing a procrastination dash, maintaining an unschedule (see below), or just plugging away, there’s something magical about using a timer while you work. I’ve found that having a countdown, even for increments as short as a few minutes, gives my day some much needed structure. Instead of a wide-open afternoon that looks endless at noon, but feels really short when squandered by five, I only concern myself with the current 30-minute chunk of time. This not only helps break up the day for those with really flexible hours, but it tells your mind not to stress out because there’s a definite end in sight (e.g., a coffee break, email, etc. when time is up). You might need to repeat the countdown some 20 times a day to finish the project you’re working on, but I’ve found it’s far more productive to say, “Ok, let me work for the next thirty minutes,” than to say, “I have to work all day otherwise this won’t get done.” The latter is a setup for disappointment.
If you’re looking for a good timer for your computer, I love the simplicity of Minuteur for the Mac, and Lifehacker has written favorably about AleJenJes for Windows.
3. Unschedule – Neil Fiore’s book The Now Habit contains a productivity gem called the unschedule. The basic idea is to fill in your weekly schedule with all your non-work items first and then do as many 30-minute blocks of productive work as you can in the remaining time. You don’t schedule work in advance and you only mark down that you’ve worked after the fact. Here are instructions on how to use an unschedule, and here is an example of how Fiore filled his out.
4. Two-folder email management – I wrote about setting up my email system using just two folders back in August, and so far I’ve been really happy with the results. My old system of having a folder for every conceivable category of correspondence worked all right, but it involved way too many decisions and wasted lots of time. For each email that I wanted to file, I had to find the right folder out of 200+ or create a new one on the fly, which occasionally resulted in duplicates because I’d overlook nested folders. All this when, in practice, if I wanted to get something out of my archive I would usually enter a few words in the search field and get the results I wanted. Using just two folders allows you to do the same thing but it streamlines email processing immensely.
5. Mindfulness meditation - Any perfectionists out there? Anyone get hung up on fixate on stress out about obsess over getting the words just right? If there’s One Big Thing that slows down productivity, it would have to be perfectionism. One way to get out of a perfectionist trance is to become aware that you’re in one, and I’ve found meditation (and mindfulness more generally) to be a great tool for this.
My school offered a stress management program last spring that focused on meditation, and I decided to participate. We explored a variety of strategies, but the most powerful idea for me was mindfulness, “the practice whereby a person is intentionally aware of his or her thoughts and actions in the present moment, non-judgmentally” (Wikipedia). Whether you’re searching for the perfect apostrophe or anxious about the quality of your work, becoming aware of the present moment — your self-defeating thoughts, rabbit trail-chasing, etc. — can be the first step toward greater productivity.
Coincidentally, as I was attending this program last spring, Merlin Mann was writing about mindfulness at 43Folders. He has a good selection of quotes that provide an overview of the topic with links to a lot of great resources. Definitely worth checking out.
Thanks!
While I’ve tweaked these tips and strategies so they work for me, none of them are original. I owe a big Thank You to folks like Steve Pavlina, David Allen, Merlin Mann, and the editors and contributors at Lifehacker for their insights and inspiration.
35 comments ↓
[...] Top 5 productivity tips of 2006 by Jim [...]
[...] Top 5 productivity tips of 2006 by Jim [...]
[...] Top 5 productivity tips of 2006 by Jim [...]
Your two folder email system looks so simple. I love it. I use gmail and it has a terrific search so those folders are probably enough. Thanks for the idea.
Thanks for the comment, Beth. I hope it turns out to be useful.
Btw, your website looks really rich, with lots of helpful resources. I hope others check it out.
I have 2 of my own: 1- Stop spending time blogging. 2- Stop spending time READING blogs.
Nothing personal, but it is my BIGGEST time sink. Sometimes I think I should take the internet connection off my work machines….otherwise I get pulled in.
Ah, that was my number one tip of 2005! Back when I was studying for my general exams I had to seclude myself in a room of the library that had a broken ethernet jack. My laptop didn’t have wireless, so it was a nice internet-free haven. All the things I mentiond in this post have a much better chance of working in that kind of environment. Which reminds me, I should probably head over to the library…
[...] Top 5 productivity tips of 2006 by Jim [...]
I love this post. I am self-employed and can be a procrastinator — not a great combination per se but I do a bit of contigency management myself. The unschedule is a great idea and one I will try out, some day
Beth’s comment is also valuable. I try and work before starting to read my daily blogs and certainly before I start to write a blog. Thanks for the great post.
[...] Top 5 productivity tips of 2006 by Jim [...]
Thanks, Ellen. You know, based on the comments here, I think I’m going to expand my basic contingency management routine…a half hour before email AND a half hour before blogs. Can’t hurt, right?
Good luck with that unschedule.
[...] Top 5 productivity tips of 2006 by Jim [...]
[...] Top 5 productivity tips of 2006 by Jim [...]
[...] Top 5 productivity tips of 2006 by Jim [...]
[...] Top 5 productivity tips of 2006 by Jim [...]
Like the emal management thing.Its cool.
I also got entry in darrens project.
http://technospot.net/blogs/in.....insideout/
And i am feeding your blog.There wont be another chance to meet so many bloggers
Merry Christmas
[...] Top 5 productivity tips of 2006 by Jim [...]
[...] Top 5 productivity tips of 2006 by Jim [...]
Thanks, Ashish!
[...] Top 5 productivity tips of 2006 by Jim [...]
[...] Top 5 productivity tips of 2006 by Jim [...]
i’m vey inspired by this post – especially the contingency management tip and the unschedule. are you actually using the unschedule? what kind of tasks actually show up on yours? okay if i link to your blog?
Hi JT,
By all means link to my blog…
Glad you liked the post. I go back and forth with actually using the unschedule. I haven’t used it very faithfully recently, but when I do, I stick to writing down the basics: sleep, meditate, eat, commute, lunch, gym, commute, TV, sleep. I also add any meetings or appointments I have scheduled and leave it pretty much at that.
If you were wondering more about what kind of work-related tasks I put down, that just depends on the week. It might be editing my dissertation proposal or it might just be “reading.” I don’t use the unschedule to mangage the tasks, so it’s not so important how I record those 30-minute blocks of uninterrupted work..the goal is just to fill up as much of the empty space with blocks of red ink (for time worked) as I can.
Btw, if you’re going to give it a shot, I think it’s best to start at the beginning of the week.
[...] I’ve noticed substantial progress over the last couple of years, due in large part to The Now Habit, a book about procrastination. A lot of it is filled with what appears to be pop psychology and typical self-help fodder, but there are a number of specific and practical techniques I’ve picked up over time. I plan to talk more in the future about how I’m dealing with it, and other suggestions are always welcome. There are other blog posts by folks like Jim Gibbons and the Time Management Blog that might be helpful, too. [...]
Awesome tips, thanks alot!
Thanks, zzap.
[...] Jim Gibbon.com » Blog Archive » Top 5 productivity tips of 2006 — Tagged as: productivity [...]
THANKS for these tips!!!
I was going to spend $38 at Amazon on books that dealt with overcoming procrastination but if I just put these few simple activities into my life I will be much, much better at “controlling myself”.
No problem, ShermanPeabody, and thanks for reminding me of one of my favorite cartoons of all time!
[...] some tasks? Time yourself, track your best time on repeated tasks, then try to best your score by completing non-essential tasks in two minutes. But do them now instead of setting them aside. For email, the GTD Inbox Firefox extension (above) [...]
[...] and on Jim Gibbon’s blog in a great post on the Top 5 Productivity Tips of 2006. [...]
[...] and on Jim Gibbon’s blog in a great post on the Top 5 Productivity Tips of 2006. [...]
This is a great post with some great points to think over.
I have just started using a timer again, and I wish Outlook provided an automatic count-down timer, and some way to allow for different kinds of alarms.
WRT mindfulness, I have been using The Work by Byron Katie and found it to be simple and effective (thework.org.)
Thanks, Francis. I hadn’t heard of The Work before; I’ll take a look.
Hello,
For implementing GTD you might try out my application for time management and productivity,
http://www.gtdagenda.com
You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
Hope you like it.
Leave a Comment