5 Simple Ways to Increase Your Productivity
As you see in a future post, I had to grow into my productivity. It wasn’t something that I just got suddenly. After implementing a system, it took small steps. Here are five small things you can do to increase your productivity and begin to grow into your own system.
1. List Your Goals - It all started with a list of 11 goals that I wrote for my summer. Some were big and some were pretty small, but all of them were doable. Having something to work towards made me much more productive right off the bat.
2. Keep a Journal - A journal is not only good for self-reflection, it is also good for tracking how productive you are. The first step to going anywhere is knowing where you are. I write first thing in the morning and the last thing before bed. It centers me and helps me create my day.
3. Make a Next Action List - Go through those goals and write down the very next thing you needed to do on that goal. When it is time to work you’ll just need to select something off this list.
4. Buy a Binder Planner - Get a planner that goes in a binder. I recommend Franklin Covey for inserts because their pages are wider than some of them. It doesn’t matter in what size you use (I use the compact size), just so long as your pages can move around. Buy dividers and note paper and set up a divider for each goal. Now you have a central place for goal notes and your schedule (and possibly your own journal).
5. Learn Scripting - On a Mac, learn AppleScript. Script out some normal routines you do on your computer everyday, like a morning web-checking routine. You’ll be amazed at the time saved.
This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 1:00 am and is filed under 5-item List. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
on June 27, 2008 at 3:16 pm Mark - Productivity501 wrote:
I did my first bit of AppleScript the other day and I was very impressed. I’m looking forward to getting into it more.
on June 27, 2008 at 3:28 pm Hailey wrote:
I mainly use Applescript for messing with Safari. I’ll be posting a more detailed Applescript with Safari post in the coming week, so stay tuned for that.