I have a hard time focusing on one task at a time. There, I said it. Truth be told I know that I’m not alone in this. The number of distractions is increasing everyday, being able to focus and accomplish tasks clogging up your to-do list is an art. I’m no master of this topic; I struggle with it, but I have found ways to improve my productivity and sanity in very tangible ways.
I won’t do you the disservice of explaining the GTD methodology, I would surely mess up the intricacies of David Allen‘s very popular and apparently effective system for Getting Things Done. There are certain pieces of the GTD philosophy that I can paraphrase.
1) You need to get ideas and tasks out of your head and into a system. Why? Tell me you’ve never had that head swirling feeling where you know that there are tons of things to get done but you can’t cut through the noise in your head to figure out what those things are or what priority they should be in.
2) Context is important. When you are at work, you should be focused on work tasks, not home chores; and when you’re at home, you should probably be focused on the things that need to get done at home.
3) Understand what needs to get done today and what is a task with no real priority. Having a to do list with everything on it can be as bad as a head full of tasks, filters are essential.
So without further ado, this is how I get things done.
From Paper to Digital
I’m not a paper guy; I don’t keep paper lists around. I know a lot of people that work this way; writing little notes on envelopes, legal pads and post-its. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this system…I just can’t do it. I lose paper. Paper gets stacked and stacks of paper are not searchable. I also want to be clear, that I LOVE legal pads. I love brainstorming on them and writing down lists, I just always transfer the content to some digital form. So even though it is often easier for me to brainstorm using paper I manage everything digitally.
I’ve used a number of task management software applications. I’ve used Google Tasks, Remember the Milk and most recently, I’ve switched to NirvanaHQ, an application I’ll be reviewing later this week. What all of these pieces of software have in common is the ability to manage tasks in one centralized location. The same task list I access on my computer, is the same one I access from my iPhone, that is the same one I access from my iPad, which is the same one I can access from a computer at an internet cafe, which is the same one….you get the point. This is simply not possible with paper. In order for ME to get things done, I needed one system that I could access from anywhere. Reconciliation of data was not an option, it left me just as scattered.
Another thing I have done since going digital is segmenting work tasks from home tasks. I did this before I’d even read about contexts in the GTD methodology. At one point I had Remember the Milk for work tasks and Google Tasks for Home chores and tasks.
My task list starts by defining an area of focus (context): Home, Work, Jersey Shore
I then have Projects within these areas focus: For work I have “New Business,” “Devine + Powers Marketing,” and lists for each client. For Home I have “Renovations,” “Media Center,” “Sell on eBay,” etc.
Within these Project lists I will Tag various tasks. For instance in New Business I might have “Call John Smith from Acme” for that tasks I would tag acme and call.
Now I can go into Work/New Business and select the “call” tag and be able to see the people I need to call for new business.
That’s how I set my focus when I’m at work.
Any time I have a new idea for something that needs to get done, I throw it right into my inbox and sort it later.
The system is never “complete” or “finished”
If you decide to implement a task management system, you need to keep using it. Maybe everyday, maybe every two-three days but you need to keep up with it. The number of projects will grow to be unmanageable; reduce and reorganize. The number of tags will grow to become unusable; reduce and reorganize. I check in on my task list, every morning, it’s essential for me. It’s the only way I get things done on a daily basis. I need the structure.
But enough about me…how do YOU get things done? Are you a paper person? Are you considering using a task management software?