About 3 months ago I was really looking forward to upgrading my iBook to a MacBook Pro. I was really feeling the sluggishness of my old computer and was really getting frustrated with it. I was spending a lot of my time on photo edits and photoshop is not the lightest program out there.
The only thing that stopped me from running out and buying one was the rumor mill keeps whispering about a new update to the apple laptops coming this fall. I decided to wait.
But then my laptop died. I took it to the apple store and got a quote for around $325 to fix it. I had the money, but if I was soon to get a new one, why not wait? So I spent 2 weeks without a computer. I got by with borrowing a friends from time to time, but that soon got frustrating. Especially since I was beginning to learn Objective C and Cocoa. I needed my own computer. I decided to borrow my mom’s iMac.
It has been ages since I have had a desktop so I wasn’t used to being stuck in one place. So this began my desktop experiment.
It has been over 2 months since I get the iMac and I have found that having a desktop is not that bad. They are more powerful out of the box then a laptop and they are relatively less expencive. And I didn’t even mind being stuck at home. Well, at least at first. But now I’m getting antsy. I miss the freedom the laptop gave me. I miss taking it to coffeeshops to work. I still spend time at coffeeshops, but that means my computer work is beginning to pile up and I’m running out if non-computer work.
So I’m beginning to think about a laptop again. I will, of course, wait till Apple releases the new ones in the fall, but I may break down and get my laptop fixed in the mean time.
And when I do get a new laptop, I will have a decision to make:
- do I get a MacBook Pro or get an air?
The air is much less powerful but is a whole lot lighter and easier to carry around. I have learned over the past month that I can gain access to a powerful computer when I need one. And I’m also hoping to keep the iMac. So do I really need the portable power?I’m not sure I do.
What my laptop needs to do:
- run Xcode and all related development programs.
- surf the web
- run keynote presentations.
All other things are much lighter in resource use, so if can do those things, It can do everything I need it to.
Now if only the iPhone would do those things.
In my last Slow Progress post, we looked at how a task you don’t like can be a road block to productivity. In this post (#2 of the series), we will look at how planning effects productivity and discuss planning in relation to the EP planner.
If you don’t have any sort of plan, you will get somewhere very slowly because you are not directed and driven.
In order to effectively accomplish something, you will need to plan out each goal that you have.
What’s In Your Plan (And What Isn’t)
To plan out a goal, start by imagining the goal completed. What does it consist of? If it is a physical or digital object, what parts does it have? If it is more of an action or skill, what will doing it or having it consist of?
Brainstorm This
Work on your brainstormer material down into a list, grouping similar things if there are any. Number this list. If you can, try to make your list have less than 10 groups or items on it. This will help you to reduce the project to its core components and give you direction on where your next actions are leading.
You now may be tempted to write out due dates for each part, but refrain from doing it. Although it is helpful to answer this set of questions:
- When would I like this goal to be completed?
- About how much total work do I have on this project?
- How much would I then need to do per week to get done?
Use this number when thinking of your next actions for this goal, but don’t hold your self fast to this or you may get overwhelmed by the amount. The goal is being productive, not putting ourselves on deadlines.
So don’t set deadlines or put your goals on your calendar. (You can schedule work time, but not for a specific goal.)
Using Your Plan
So now you have a list of what your goal will ultimately consist of. You can now use this as your plan.
Start by reordering your list in a logical order for you to work towards. Then when working on that goal work only towards the first item on the list until it’s completed.
This kind of plan gives you both a destination and a road map to get there. Use these plans when determining your next action.
There are a whole lot pf people in this world who are addicted to caffeine. Even though caffeine has not been directly shown to be life threatening, all this caffeine can’t be good for us! I know someone who regularly has 6 espresso shots and a bottomless cup of coffee everyday!
If you are one of those people who drink too much and want to reduce or stop your consumption, here are five ways to get yourself off caffeine:
- Drink decaf. - It is harder to stop drinking coffee or soda completely all at once, so start by switching to a decaf version.
- Faze your coffee out. - If you drink 5 cups a day, try drinking 4, then when that is norm, go to 3.
- Drink lots of water. - If you commit to 8 glasses of water a day, you won’t have time to drink coffee.
- Get a good nights sleep. - Lots of people use coffee to wake up in the morning after 4 hours of sleep. You are sleep depriving yourself, which is worse for you than the coffee.
- Reward yourself. - Commit to not having any caffeine for 2 weeks (or whatever time you want). When you accomplish this goal, reward yourself with something you’ve really wanted.
Today I want to take a side of the VA vs NVA debate and give reasons to get a non-virtual assistant. This post was inspired by Productivity 501’s post that mentioned his own non-virtual assistant. That post convinced me to put an ad on Craigslist to hire one myself.
1. They can save you time - Like a VA, NVAs can save you time by doing less important tasks for you. You can focus on more important things.
2. They can run errands for you - Unlike a VA, your assistant can take a list and go to Wal-mart.
3. They can type - I write a lot by hand and I can take my notebook to my assistant and she types it. Or she can clean up the text from a Jott. For a VA to do this, you’d have to send them your notebook. That’s not happening!
4. They are usually cheaper - Although not always (Indian VAs can go as low as $4) but a $7/hour college student is cheaper than the higher end VAs you can get in India. They are much cheaper than American VAs, which go fr $20-60/hour.
5. You can easily show them how to do things - Training them is easy. You sit down with them and show them how to do something. Like how to write a blog entry and link all the websites needed correctly. If your VA needs training, you have to do it by phone or email.
As I mentioned, I recently hired a personal assitant and I am really enjoying the freedom it gives me. I can focus on important things, like composing.
Do you have a VA or NVA? I’d love to hear about your experiences!
One thing I love about my Mac is the tremendous amount of freeware out there for it. There is a free app to accomplish almost any task.
Here is a list of my most used essential freeware applications:
- Quicksilver - This app is much more than a launcher, you can also run scripts on the items you search for, and much more. The more you read on Quicksilver, the more it will do.
- Orator - Got a webpage that you have to read for work, research, or school, but would rather lie down and close your eyes? Get this program. This programs takes any text and converts it to a .mp3 file so that you can listen to your webpage instead of read it. Sweet.
- Smultron - Weird Name, Great Notepad. This little program is a replacement for Notepad. It can be used just to compose (it wraps text), or for programming with keyword coloring. I used to use Textwrangler, but this program works so much better. It does the same stuff and more. And oh yeah, it has Tabs like any good program should.
- Writeroom - True Full screen writing. You can set the color, font, size, screen widgth, and more to create the writeroom that works best for you. Mine is Black with Green writing. It look Matrixy. This is a feature that I used to only be able to find in programs like MacJournal, which I had to buy. This little program is great.
- Evernote -This little program is a piece of the Evernote application set, which includes a mac app, a windows app, a web app, a windows mobile app, and, coming very soon, an iPhone app. It is a program that lets you write notes, store webpages, images and pdfs, sort them all in to groups, which can be made public. The best thing of all… all of the Evernote apps sync with each other effortlessly. Snap a photo on your iPhone and it can instantly be on your mac.
July 5th, 2008
1:00 am
Links
Here are 5 of the best articles that I have read in the past week:
1. The Unsurpassable Productivity List: A Handy Guide to Getting Important Things Done (Zen Habits) - This is a post by Zen Habits introducing newcomers to their blog. It is a great summary post with links to many great tips.
2. 30 Articles that Will Help You Simplify Your Life (Mark and Angel Hack Life) - Similar to the previous one, this post has links to many articles on simplifying your life. There is a TON of info in this article. It’s well worth checking out.
3. 7 Steps to Completing Your Projects on Time (Dumb Little Man) - This is a good article for anyone with multiple projects to deal with. These tips will definitely help me with my projects.
4. Top Tips for Working at Home (Home Office Warrior) - This article is the result of the author asking all of his contacts for tips on working at home. This list is very detailed.
5. How To Visualize Your Success (Pick The Brain) - A good article on visualization and using that to gain success. This is an idea that I personally believe to be very effective. If you haven’t tried it before, read this article and give it a try.
This is a follow up to my Elementary Productivity Planner post.
If you put the Elementary Productivity Planner in place, you may still find that you’re having trouble accomplishing the tasks because you don’t have them well defined. That is where the Elementary Productivity Planner part 2 come in.
A Look At What We Have
Using the EP Planner we have set up a work schedule that allows us to work towards all of our goals and dreams on a regular basis. The result looks like this. 
Enter “Getting Things Done”
If you haven’t read David Allen’s book, I highly recommend going out and getting a copy. One essential point in GTD is the idea of the “Next Action.” When you make a to-do list, do you put general tasks on it, like “work on business plan”? Allen suggests that instead of doing that, we should instead think through each item until you get it down to the very next thing you can do on that task. For the Business Plan example, your next action might be “write a description of the physical property.” This is a manageable task, which makes me much more likely to do something than just “work on plan.” This next action list will make your Elementary Productivity Planner much more useful.
Setting Up Your Next Action List
You already have a list of all your projects, which you used to fill in the EPP. Now, go down that list and number each project.
Start a list for your next actions using the number of the goal to categorize an action. Be sure that your task is actionable and small enough to be an accomplishment in one sitting. If it isn’t, rework or break down the task until it is.
Also, place a context at the front of the entry (after the number) in the form @context. This will help you know quickly if you are able to perform an action at any given time.
Using the List
The next action list breaks down tasks so you have no question what to do next in a given goal. Here’s how to use the list with your EP Planner:
- Do all 2 minute tasks - Are there any next actions that will take less than two minutes? Get those done!
- Write the Next Action as soon as you complete one - This keeps your project rolling.
- If you can’t act on a goal, it’s usually because you are waiting on something - If this is the case, use @wait before the item you are waiting on and put it in your list. I usually underline the @wait, so it’s very clear.
- All goals should be represented on the Next Actions list at all times - They could either be a Next Action or an @wait item.
- Use the EP Planner’s schedule to pick a task - Start with the next action for the top item for today in the EP Planner. Once you complete that task, you can move on to next action for the second goal on the list. I always get the top item completed daily, if at all possible, as that means I am moving towards my goals.
If you missed the EP Planner post, click here to find out how to download a copy of the planner.
I am an avid blog reader, but struggle with reading them productively. Blogs can take over your life if you let them. I’ve worked hard to control my blog reading (more on this in a later post). Still, I would never give up blog reading completely. Here is a list of five blogs that I read daily.
1. Productivity 501 - A very good productivity blog that has many useful tips that I have adopted. If I could only read one productivity blog, this would be it.
2. GTD Times - This is a GTD blog that keeps you up to date on both news and techniques. If you’re a GTD follower, this blog is a must.
3. The Blog of Author Tim Ferris - This is the blog for the author of “Four Hour Work Week,” a book that has totally changed my life. This blog really makes you think and gives great advice.
4. The Growing Life - For all you productivity/life hack lovers out there, this blog gives a whole different perspective on living a productive life.
5. Savage Chickens - What’s life with out a laugh? This simple one pane cartoon brings a smile to my day. Be sure to read some of the early ones!
I am a night person. I like to stay up late and get up late, but they say that the early bird gets the worm. When I need to get up early, I use aids to help me. Here are five things that can help you rise:
1. Get a light alarm - This is an alarm that wakes you up with a light that gradually increases in brightness. It is supposed to stimulate the sun and help you wake naturally.
2. Bribe someone to call and wake you up - I have a deal with a friend that I’ll do some work for him if he will call me and wake me in the morning. Actually talking to someone helps wake you up more than a blaring alarm.
3. Put alarm (or phone) away from your bed - This means you must get up to turn off the alarm. But be sure it is loud enough.
4. Check your e-mail/read blogs - I can check my e-mails and read blogs on my phone. As I try to wake up, I make myself check my mail and read new blog entries. This gets my brain going and before I know it, I am fully awake.
5. Drink lots of water - When you wake up, your bladder will get you out of bed. With some experimentation, you’ll find a quantity that will let you last all night, but still make getting up easier.
To me, being productive is more than just cranking through a to-do list. It is connecting with your dreams and giving yourself the life you want to live. Here are five books that can help you do that:
1. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Steven Covey) - This book is essential for anyone with dreams. It shows you the habits you must have to live a truly successful and fulfilling life. If you find Covey’s book hard to read like I did, try the teen version. It presents the same material but in a more entertaining and personal way.
2. Getting Things Done (David Allen) - Although I don’t use a truly “GTD” system, many aspects of Allen’s method are musts for any system. One thing that makes this system wonderful is how versatile it is. There is a unique way of doing it for each person. Find yours.
3. One Minute Millionaire (Robert Allen and Mark Victor Hansen) - Although this book is mainly about making money, I believe the central ideas of this book are fabulous for anyone! It sure does make you think. And it has a cute story too!
4. Hope for the Flowers (Trina Paulus) - This is a children’s book with a life lesson that most adults don’t even seem to know. It is a must read! It goes very well with the next book on the list.
5. Four Hour Work Week (Tim Ferris) - If you were to read no other book in your whole life, read this one! This book details a way of living that is so outside the norm that you may find it uncomfortable at first. But the more you read, the more you will love this philosophy. And the level of detail in this book is not found in most books of this genre. Prepare to be excited.
