Productivity501

Perfect Tools

Mark Shead — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:30:00 +0000

One of the biggest hindrances to personal productivity is the search for perfect tools. Let’s consider an analogy.

John is a carpenter and he wants to be the most productive carpenter he can possibly be. To reach this goal, he decides he needs the best tools possible, so he sets out to find the perfect hammer.

John visits many stores and tries out different hammers. They all work fine, but he notices subtle differences. He finally settles on a wonderful hammer that he uses for a week, but then he discovers that it gives him a blister, so he sets out to find a better hammer.

John may or may not ever find the perfect hammer. However, the productivity gain between a “good” hammer and the “perfect” hammer is going to be very slight. If John is focused on finding the perfect tool, then his productivity is going to suffer. John needs to be focused on producing.

Right now, I see a lot of people doing the same thing with to-do lists. Everyone is searching for the “perfect” to-do list. There is software, specially printed paper, web applications, note cards, and a host of other tools to let you keep track of lists of things that need to be done.

While all these tools provide some nice benefits, a to-do list is still just a list of things that need to be done. The more time you spend trying to find a tool, the less time you have available to spend on completing your list.

If you search for a list tool that will save you 10 seconds per day, at the end of a year, it will have only saved you about an hour of time. If you spent 4 or 5 hours finding a tool, you’ll probably never recover the time spent locating it.

A better approach is to use the simplest tools you have at your disposal and concentrate on doing actual work. This may mean using a simple notebook for your to-do list. Focusing on your work will bring to light the tools that have room for improvement. By switching out your tools only when they are actually impeding your ability to work, it will help keep you from needlessly looking for new tools that have only a minimum impact on your productivity.

Our carpenter would be better off sticking with a good reliable hammer until he gets to the point that hammering is becoming the biggest bottleneck in his work. At that point, he needs to look for, not just a better hammer, but something that will significantly increase the amount of work he can accomplish. It might be time to get a nail-gun or hire an assistant.

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Sneaker Net Should be Extinct

Mark Shead — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:30:23 +0000

If you are still shuffling files back and forth on floppies, USB drives or CDs it is well worth your time to investigate other options. The investment in figuring out how to share files over the network in your home or office will save you a tremendous amount of time in the future. Here are two useful articles on setting up sharing. One for OS X and one for Windows.

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Windows on a Mac

Mark Shead — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:33:55 +0000

If you use a Mac, but need to run windows programs you have two options. Bootcamp (requires a reboot to change OS) and something like Fusion or Parallels (runs Windows in a box on top of OS X). I’ve been using Fusion and am very happy with it, but I’ve found that XP performs much much better than Vista in this environment. If you want to run Windows on top of OS X, I’d stick with XP for now.

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Best Productivity Blog

Mark Shead — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:34:12 +0000

What is your second favorite personal productivity site? I’m assuming the Productivity501 makes the top of your list. :) Seriously though, what site gives you the most useful practical information on getting more done? Leave the URL in the comments and a brief note about how the site helps you.

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Skype for Tech Support Calls

Mark Shead — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:37:56 +0000

When I call a tech support line, I usually use Skype. This keeps my other lines free and gives me the greatest freedom to stay on hold if necessary. I don’t have to worry about my cell phone battery going dead or tearing through hundreds of cell phone minutes that could be put to better use elsewhere. With a reasonably comfortable headset, I can continue to do other work while waiting to speak with a support representative.

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Cluttered Work Environment

Mark Shead — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:00:55 +0000

When our working environment is cluttered, our minds are cluttered.
–Len Merson

I generally consider this statement true, but wondered what you think. Do you require a clean workspace in order to have clear thought processes?

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Business Liability Webinar

Mark Shead — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:56:27 +0000

If you have or are considering starting a business, you’ll want to checkout Legal Andrew’s webinar tomorrow. He is going to talk about using business structures to protect your personal assets. The cost is $9 for the hour long webinar. With the included Q&A, the webinar is a tremendous value for business owners.

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Define and Conquer

Mark Shead — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:30:00 +0000

There was an interesting experiment done by the American Pulpwood Association when they were looking to increase the productivity of loggers. Half of the loggers were given a specific, high goal to achieve. The other half were encouraged to do their best.

The people who were assigned goals started bragging to one another as well as to family members as to their effectiveness as loggers. Productivity soared relative to those crews who were urged to do their best. Goal-setting instilled purpose, challenge, and meaning into what had been perceived previously as a tedious and physically tiresome task. A by-product of the goal intervention was that, within the week, employee attendance soared, relative to attendance in those crews who were randomly assigned to the condition where no goals were set.

(Academy of management Executive 2004, Vol. 18, No.4 pg 126)

The article lists four reasons that setting goals can help increase productivity:

People with goals will divert more effort to the achievement of those goals. They are less likely to waste time on unproductive effort when they have something concrete that can be measured to pursue.
Goals help energize people. It is more exciting to have something specific that you are trying to achieve.
People with high goals tend to be more persistent. Just having something concrete to pursue can increase your endurance. Swimmers trying to set distance records in the fog do not last as long as
swimmers who can see the land that is their goal.
People with goals are more likely to seek out knowledge that will help them obtain their goals.

All of these items can apply equally to setting goals for yourself. By defining your goals, you are creating a sort of competition where you can conquer and “win”. Just working hard and “doing your best” is good, but as humans, we respond with much more energy to a challenge–even if it is of our own making.

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Destroying Magazines

Mark Shead — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:00:31 +0000

I find that magazines are much more useful once you recognize that it is ok to tear pages out of them. Rip out the articles that you think look interesting and take them with you to read while waiting. Once you finish reading an article you can throw it away. An article that you read and toss is worth far more than one sitting on a shelf that you never have time to read.

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Deep Decluttering

Mark Shead — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:37:53 +0000

One of the most effective methods of decluttering is to move everything out and then just put back what you need. The next time you need to clean your office, the kitchen cabinets, or a closet, consider moving everything out as your first step. Get a three large boxes. One for stuff that goes back, one for stuff that gets thrown away and one for stuff that should go elsewhere. Most people find it is easier to organize when the items have already been removed. It helps keep you from leaving something that belongs elsewhere.

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