A Foothold

Yesterday I had a good day, my first productive day in a while.  I made a list, I used the timer for everything, and I got shit done.  I even spent six 20-minute periods working on my top-priority project, the one I’ve been avoiding for two weeks now.  And I finished it!

1. With One Good Day under my belt, I now feel like I have a foothold, a beachhead in the realm of Productivity.  I have this imaginary momentum that I want to maintain.  I feel like it will be easier to have another good day, today.

2. Why, after weeks of being at sea, did I finally have a good day?  Who knows.  Maybe it was the new approach I tried of making my list for the day: I put EVERYTHING on it: work tasks, phone calls to make, “work out,” “shower and get dressed,” and I listed my top priority project four times.  The premise was that crossing things off the list feels rewarding, so the more things on the list the better! – and I wanted to spend several 20-minute periods on my top priority that day.  I even wrote “free internet time” on my list – and allowed 20 minutes for that (better than my usual 6 hours…).  I also want to get into the habit of NOT doing anything that isn’t on the list.  Anything new that came up went on the general TO-DO list for consideration tomorrow (unless it was too urgent to wait).

I’ll be using the same list technique today.  Wish me luck.

-J

A Quick P.A. Meeting With Myself

I’ve been all over the place lately, I need to check in with the local chapter of Procrastinators Anonymous.  That’s me and you.  This meeting shall now come to order.

What have I learned?  That:

• when I stop using the timer and filling in the Unschedule, my work habits and productivity suffer precipitously.
• I procrastinate when a project hits an unexpected road block, when a difficult decision is required, or when I discover that more work than I had planned on is required.
• When “important” non-work things (like blogging about election issues) creep into my work day, they quickly become permanent additions to my routine (because they’re more fun than real work) and take up increasingly more of my time.
• When I “fall off the wagon,” I can’t expect to just snap back to the level of productivity that I had attained before, I may have to start again at the beginning and work my way back up.
• If I spend my “work” and “guilt-free play” periods all at the computer without getting up, I get lethargic and dopey and lose the will to be productive.  No matter what my guilt-free play entails, I should get up and re-invigorate myself every 30mins or so!
• Daily exercise is great for avoiding headaches and getting quality sleep.
• BEFORE I sit down at the computer, I should decide what I’m here to DO, and then start the timer (even for play).  Otherwise, I can waste hours on email, FB, newspaper sites and websurfing before I even look at my to-do list.
• Important personal projects, if I’m going to get them done, should switch between “guilt-free play” activities and “work” activities depending on my level of enthusiasm/procrastination for them.  Most personal projects start out as the former and morph into the latter before completion.

Further thoughts:

• When “important” non-work things come up and have to be done in the work day, I should treat them as either work or guilt-free play: in either case, using the timer, and taking care to balance priorities.  This will allow me to maintain those good habits, and not accidentally vasta the diem.  ;-)

-J

Me, Myself and I

One idea that has been ringing very true for me lately is that the “me” who sets my deadlines, writes my to-do list and creates my daily plans is not the same “me” who actually sits down to do the work.

I feel so empowered and optimistic when I’m planning.  I’m going to get it done early, I’m going to be so productive today, I’m going to replenish my bank account, I’m going to make my clients happy.

And then I try to get down to work.  I read the first item on my list, and the next thing I know I’m checking Facebook again.  I try to re-focus on the task at hand – and there it is waiting for me, that feeling of dread.  The optimism of a moment ago is already forgotten.  It’s like I’m two different people, the planner and the worker.

The Big Picture

I’m going to shamelessly re-post one of the comments from that article I cited in my previous post.  This respondent points out that any system will only work if it’s part of a right-thinking approach to work.

This might just be the best summary of anti-procrastination behaviour ever:

First, it is crucial to understand that [this method assumes] that you want to organize your non-committed time, that is: time which is not fixed in appointments, meetings etc.

Second, if you are a person who seeks the “best” way to organize tasks: don’t do it! You will spend most of your productive time sorting lists, finding software for your lists, choosing Moleskins and pens etc.

Ultimately, you need these things:

Use Your Intuition – Autofocus

Have you ever spent a morning initiating a fancy new task tracking system, carefully entering, prioritizing and sorting all your to-do’s and projects according to a foolproof systematic method… only to find that you don’t like the answer?  What it’s telling you to work on next just doesn’t feel like the most important thing you should be doing right now?  Yeah, me too.  And then a week later, you’re back to that cloud of reminders on sticky notes that surround your monitor.

Numerical task prioritization is for large projects.  Intuition is a powerful tool, let’s use it.

Autofocus

Mark Forster has developed an interesting new system of tracking to-do’s that takes advantage of our natural intuitive understanding of importance.  It is also designed to minimize the amount of time and brain-cycles required to use it (meta-work).  Simplicity is good.  I think it looks really promising and I’m going to give it a try.  You can read about it here:

LifeHacker: The Autofocus Productivity Method: Stop Maintaining To-Do Lists and Start Getting Stuff Done

I’ll let y’all know how it goes.  If you try it, let me know, or tell us what works for you!

-Johnny 0.

The Best Time for a FRESH START is Always: RIGHT NOW

Someone on the CBC this morning called today “the REAL start-of-the-new-year.”  So true.  The day after Labour Day, the unofficial end of summer, the first day of school.  We’ve had our first cool weather in months, suddenly there are yellow leaves on the ground, and this morning it even smells like autumn.  Today begins the sickening and deceptively short slide into December (I was disgusted to receive my first Christmas catalogue a couple of weeks ago, in mid-August.  Fuck off, retailers!!).

I REALLY treated the whole summer like a working holiday.  It’s time to re-establish a routine.  Looking back to the previous post, I see that I tried to do that in August, too.  I also REALLY want to become more efficient with my time so that I can start practicing regularly and taking music lessons again.

Here’s the plan:

• Exercise, Shower and Dress before breakfast with the kids at 7:30am (no more half-asleep-until-noon Johnny).
• one To-Do List.
• make a Daily Plan, every day.
• I can play only after my Daily Plan is complete!

Some good habits to help me achieve all this:

• schedule regular breaks – get up from the computer and do something physical.
• close email apps when I’m supposed to be working.
• keep a list of “personal stuff to do later,” instead of interrupting myself when I think of it.
• use the power of FOCUS; avoid unnecessary multi-tasking.
• going back and reading older posts in this blog is proving helpful, too.

Starting now.  Wish me luck.

-Johnny 0.