The Productivity Habit thread

A big obstacle seems to be getting distracted in the first half of the day (which, for me, is 9 AM to around two or three - waking up earlier isn't an option, because of my poor health). I waste these hours on stupid things, talking to people on IRC, reading articles, and so on. I haven't even read any webcomics in days, and yet I'm still wasting so much time. If only I could trim that idiocy, I know I could double my productivity.

After I exchanged messages with FekketCantenel, she agreed that we could broaden the scope of this thread a little to include all of the folks who are aiming to increase their productivity in December. Now, the daily check-in threads already exist to keep us accountable, but it seems that this could be a good place to discuss what is working, what isn't working, and to give and receive encouragement from people going through the same process as the rest of us. To that end, post away!

I'm going to respond to my own message and just detail what I'm doing and how it's going.

Goal: To practice the ZTD habits of collection and processing.

Method: As soon as something comes at me I capture it with one of my tools and then several times a day I put that information somewhere that it will be useful to me (i.e. calendar, to-do list, contact list).

Tools:

[list:9a5c4aaf2c]Pocketmod- I created a blank template for this in word which I keep on my keydrive. On it, I've placed a calendar covering this and the next three weeks. I keep events in the calendar, but mostly just use the blank pages for jotting down notes, to-dos and anything that I commit to do or to remember.
Cell phone + Jott- Oh, how I love Jott. When I'm driving in my car and can't safely write, I just call jott and email myself whatever it was that came to mind.
Airset: My online calendar. My wife has one too so we can see what's going on with one another and avoid conflicts.
Zebra F-301 Compact- It's a tiny pen that extends to become a full-sized pen. A lot cheaper than the Space Pen and, for my taste, writes better. (Note: I like a very fine line.)
[/list:u:9a5c4aaf2c]


So that's what I'm up to. So far, it has gone really well and my productivity has dramatically increased despite my not being anywhere near the habit "do". I highly suggest the ZTD book and look forward to reading about other peoples' experiences with the system.

Ooh, I'm looking forward to posts on this thread...I'm always curious to hear how people set up their productivity systems and what tools they use.

Like PlatoFunFactory, I too am focusing on ZTD habits 1 and 2: Collection and Processing. Here's what I'm using:

For Portable Capture: a 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" Moleskine. I've read so many raves on different blogs, I just had to see what all the fuss was about. After just a few days with it, I now understand. The thing rocks. The bookmark ribbon, elastic closing band and smooth-as-silk pages make it worth the extra $$$.

For Capture and Management While at My Desk (applies to Work and Home desks): I hate to say it, but I'm finding very good success with Microsoft products - Outlook (2003 at the office, 2007 at home) and OneNote 2007. I use OneNote to store all of my projects, using a template I made that lists my Next Actions, Future Actions and Waiting For items on the left side of the page, and project notes on the right. OneNote integrates with Outlook tasks, so I make all of my Next Actions tasks in Outlook where I can manage them with my calendar (i.e. block out calendar time, assign tasks to specific days, etc.). The two apps sync, so when I mark a task as Complete in one app, the other is updated. If I think of at-home projects/tasks while at the office, I'll either jot them in my Moleskine or email my home address w/ the items, which I then process into my home system in the evening. The whole system sounds a lot scarier than it is - it's actually surprisingly easy and useful.

Re. writing utensil, I don't have anything specific, just whatever's around...though do love a good pen, so I'm always open to recommendations.

I've been meaning to ask: how do people manage at-home projects/tasks vs. at-work projects/tasks? Do you have two separate systems? One integrated system? Just curious.

And PlatoFunFactory, I totally agree with you - just focusing on Collecting and Processing has really gotten me to whip my whole system into shape.

Argh, I'm having so much trouble latching onto the first half of my day. It's bad enough that I wake up so late, but then I habitually waste hours messing around with the guys on IRC, reading articles, and having fun. It's almost like my day is upside-down (work is for morning and afternoon, play is for evening, or so I'd probably think if I hadn't been homeschooled by idiots).

The one interesting comfort I have is that I'm a writer. Like the 'free-thinking scientists' in 'Cat's Cradle', my job is to think whatever I please, and therefore my occupations can seem like play (but might in fact be stroking my brain for material).

Take this morning. I did a bunch of reading-up on Scientology (of which I'm an amateur scholar and critic), mostly for fun and to fuel the discussions going on in IRC. However, I'm already thinking that a large organization in my second book (they were mentioned in the prologue on NaNoWriMo: the Ausian Historical Society, or AHS) are going to be loosely-based on and lampoon Scientology. Therefore, it was just more material.

But that time doesn't feel productive, which is the goal of this habit. If I could manage it somehow, make it feel more useful...

Unrelated: I've already decided what my January goal will be (read some of the Bible every morning), but I think my February one will be to establish some Zen Habits (I'll just need to grab a copy of the book first).

Chef,

Your computer setup sounds awesome. I played around a little with Microsoft OneNote and really liked what it did. My setup is obviously way lower-tech, but I did forget to mention that I keep a stickynote open on the right side of my monitor at home and work (both are widescreen) with the things I'm planning on doing that day. At the end of the day at work, I either copy the undone tasks onto my pocketmod (the Moleskine for you) or else email them to myself. Then, anything that gets added during the evening either gets emailed to myself at the end of the day or gets copied onto the stickynote on my work computer in the morning.

So yeah, to simplify: Stickynote --> Pocketmod --> Stickynote --> etc...

Looking back over your post, though, I realize that's not really the question. Basically, since I'm a teacher, there's probably more bleed between my personal and work lives than there ought to be. While I can get some home stuff (paying bills etc..) done during my planning period with no guilt, I also spend hours at home grading papers and preparing lessons. So yeah, everything is pretty much one system. The only difference is that work (paper) files stay at work and home files stay at home. All the digital stuff goes on a single 1 gig keydrive.


Fekket,

I also have trouble starting my day. During the Summer, I can easily waste an entire day just because it takes me so long to get going. At the extreme end, you could try getting a part time job that would force you to get up in the morning. More modestly, maybe a standing coffee date with a friend at Waffle House. I intensionally plan meetings to take care of church stuff on Saturday mornings so that I'll be sure to get up and out of the house. Otherwise I'd sit drinking coffee and reading until at least noon. You could always just start a morning routine that got you dressed and going. One tip from Flylady: first thing in the morning, get dressed all the way: makeup, clothes and especially shoes. Read more about that on Flylady.com. She's awesome.

I can't exactly arrange physical meetings with people, since I live with my parents, fifteen miles from the nearest town (and thirty from the nearest city). As for getting a job, that'll come when I move out (and worked great when I was working from here and getting rides from neighbors).

I've recently begun suspecting that I have diabetes, and am going to get a glucose test at the RediClinic soon. A friend also mentioned that diabetics have to wake up early and eat something, or they can't get out of bed at all. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

As for the goal: I had to suspend it yesterday because I was over at a neighbor's house. I think I might suspend it today, too; my room is a disaster area and desperately needs to be cleaned.

See you on Monday.

Fekket,

Suspend your goal because your room needs cleaning? May I suggest you revise your definition of task?

For example:
1) Straighten desk
2) Make bed
3) Collect dirty laundry
4) Reorganize books (usually about 50% of my bedroom floor mess)
5) Vacuum
6) Take out trash

There you go. You've just cleaned my room by completing a series of six discreet tasks. How does your room break down?

ROFL, you got me. The same idea (defining all my goals as cleaning-oriented) actually occurred to me, but I really just wanted to take a lazy day off and clean as I felt like it.

Actually, it's been four hours or so since I wrote that post, and I haven't gotten out of my computer chair except to get tea and piss. I've been too busy reading Tae Kim's blog (two articles left!).

The thing about the daily tasks is that each one should take about an hour. So mine would be:

1) Inbox like mad for 60 minutes
2) Sort huge box of unwanteds into piles of 'gifts', 'to charity', and 'to family'
3) Organize harddrive and process C:\\My Documents\\My Inbox
4) Sweep, mop, and vaccuum (probably impossible, my parents are taking a nap) the house
5) Go through daily cleaning routine and then random chores
6) See if younger brother will let me clean his room for him (his room makes my OCD go INSANE)

There. Now I just have to do three of these (maybe even six, to make up for yesterday) and I can call today a win.

But first, to finish reading these articles.

Just as I finished everything I was going to do first, and was ready to start cleaning, someone on IRC told me about Bookchan. Since one of my many hobbies is collecting ebooks and jpgzipping them for C:\\My Documents\\My Library, I just had to take a look. Now, two hours later, I've finally looked at them all, and made an extensive list of threads to go back to and leech. Yes, that's two hours with an average of ten seconds per thread. That site is huge.

It's five in the afternoon now. We're all going to eat dinner soon, and then I'll just be too tired to do anything else. I'll try and get some cleaning done, but I won't make it to three tasks.

Hello FekketCantenell,

I sympathize with your productivity struggles, so much in fact that I have written a post especially for you:

http://www.nickpagan.com/blog/20/routine-high-productivity/

I think that you will find it useful.

Looking at your 'to-do' list I would say that you currently expect too much of yourself, especially if you are not getting things done. Break those tasks down further into their constituent parts and set yourself things to do that are definitely possible to do that day.

Let me know how you get on :D

Take care,
Nick

I know all about breaking tasks into smaller tasks to make them manageable. These four (I trimmed two projects, and didn't want to add more just for the sake of having more) daily ones are more like big groups of little tasks, really (I just don't bother you guys with a spamflood of the detailed list). I think I could definitely get these four done all in one day, if I dedicated four hours to doing them, but with all the distractions, it doesn't work out that way, so I go for three.

Thanks for writing the article. How do you get that 'this is XX words long and will take XX minutes to read' thing? Manually, or through a plugin? If that's not a plugin, I really want to write it, it's a good idea. However, either you get a lot of speed-readers, or you overestimate the simplicity of your posts, because it took me more like seven or eight minutes to read it, and I'm a fast reader.

The bit with choosing one highest-priority task and then a few lesser ones is a good idea. Mine have a loose hierarchy (my translation/editing project is always high in my mind, because that's a weekly deadline I have to meet). Maybe I should start picking one high-priority one a day and trying to get it done first.

And then the part about figuring out (beforehand) the obstacles of each task sounded like a really good idea. That's one thing I definitely need to practice.

So here's today's list of four hour-long tasks, with some of the specific actions, and possible obstacles.

[list:df17af9fec]Cleaning: Clean for an hour (put away the dishes, do the dishes, wipe off the counters, etc.) I might get distracted by stuff on my computer. Once I can distract myself from the computer, I'll be in the clear.

Scanslation: Translate and edit six pages (open a page, translate it, edit out all the Japanese, typeset the English, export, repeat 5x) The translation is frustrating sometimes, and then the editing is tedious, especially if I have to do redrawing, but I have to just take it one page at a time.

Revision: Revise chapter 58 and 59 of book 1 (read through carefully, deleting mercilessly, merging paragraphs, writing new material where needed) I mostly put this off because of distractions. Once I get into it, it's very easy and pleasurable work. I just need to block out the distractions, and if I get caught up in something, I need to tear myself away.

Translation: Translate twelve pages (open the chapter, read a bubble, work out the meaning, transcribe in the script, repeat) This is an even more difficult manga because the sentences are longer. I just need to keep pounding at it until I figure out all the grammar.[/list:u:df17af9fec]

Fekket,

An hour per item? You're way more motivated than I am, then. I take the flylady/43 Folders method and set a timer for 15 minutes. At the end of 15 minutes, I'm free to quit. Keeps things from being overwhelming.

----------------

In my own system, things are going well, but I've realized that I have a massive hole: receipts. I'm still not exactly sure what to do with them. I think I'm going to start entering them in my Pocketmodand then tossing them (assuming they're not for anything I'd want to return) , thus keeping my pockets free from clutter.

On the subject of receipts: I bought a big expanding file, and use it to keep receipts, bank notices, letters/greeting cards, important documents, and so on. Since you're an adult with a family, you'd probably need an entire one just for the receipts (say, a section for groceries, one for gifts bought for people, one for home improvements, and so on).

Back to tasks: Once I can get away from all the FREAKING DISTRACTIONS, I do pretty well at long-term work, and don't need much of a break (unless my legs start going all wonky with RLS). I think I once tried breaking things up into much smaller time chunks, but just found the interruptions annoying.

I've rediscovered the concept of ticklers today (it's always fascinated me, but I've never actually made one, physical or digital). My todo tracker is MyLifeOrganized, so I think I'm going to try making a tickler in it. I'll post screencaps if it looks as pretty as most ticklers seem to. Edit: It's functional, but far from pretty, so I won't bother with a screencap.

Fekket,

The idea for words and reading time is my own. I got fed up of starting to read posts of marginal interest not knowing how long they were or what they were really about and so I either skipped them or scanned them. I figured that if I do that then people will do it when they read my articles. I thought I'd give an idea of the length of article, time needed and the kernel of content so that I would more likely capture other people's interest and increase the likelihood of them reading the whole article. Since we are all deeply into high productivity here I thought such an idea would prove welcome.

I get the word count from MSWord. I measured a reading speed of 400-words per minute for myself, but from what you tell me it's clearly inaccurate :( Maybe I should not bother with the time estimate. :?:

I'm glad that you like the idea about figuring out the obstacles. That has helped me enormously. Barriers to progress frustrate me and I quickly turn to indulging in distractions if I don't figure out what problems I will face and how to overcome them. If you find yourself easily distracted then ask yourself "What about this task feels impossible at this very moment?" When you have the answer ask yourself "What do I need to do to make it possible?" Then either carry out the possible task or, if it's not possible for some strong reason in that moment, accept that no progress will happen and move onto the next thing on your list.

This careful thinking keeps me focused on solving moment by moment problems and hence continuously making good progress, i.e. high productivity. Making things possible in the moment is the total essence of high productivity. It also steers you out of frustration and into cheerfulness once you practice it often enough! :D

Keep up the good work!
Nick

According to Wikipedia:

Comprehension speeds have been assessed at 400 wpm for full comprehension, and research has shown that speed reading at 600 wpm can achieve about 70% comprehension

You might want to quarter those numbers for comprehension (since you write about somewhat complex topics). If anything, your 400 WPM usage should be the absolute outside estimate. Also, round up.

The formula I would use goes:
This article is (WIA) long, and will take about (WIA / 400) to (WIA / 100) minutes to read.
Example: This article is about 1000 words long, and will take about 3 to 10 minutes to read.

Also, the article you linked to is actually 700 words, counting the article and outline. So its actual summary line would look like this:
This article is about 700 words long, and will take about 2 to 7 minutes to read.

I now plan to implement this in my blog someday (if I ever resurrect it), because it's a really good idea you've had. When I do, I'll write a WordPress plugin.

As for the distractions, it's not so much that my chosen tasks are impossible, or even unpleasant. The way I function, as I've said before, is to latch onto one thing and suck it dry for activity (even repetitious and panic attack-inducing) until either it's finished, I can call it quits by hitting a milestone, or someone forcefully distracts me from it. The odds about 5:1 that this task will not be one of my chosen tasks, but 2:1 that it'll be productive (so no huge loss half the time).

Huge victory this morning! I'd heard that diabetics have to wake up early and eat something quickly, or they can't wake up at all for hours, so I left a pack of crackers next to my bed. As soon as I woke up (about 7:45 AM) I ate a few, and just decided to get dressed and make breakfast. I don't know if the food advice helped me think positively (making them a salty placebo), or if that burst of taste in my mouth actually got me moving, but I'm trying again tomorrow.

I acquired an ebook of The Zombie Survival Guide (<unsarcastic>something I actually consider useful, since I believe an undead uprising is possible</unsarcastic>) and, three hours later, am halfway through it. It's amazingly good, but I'll have to bookmark my spot and get some work done soon.

I already did an hour and a half of Bible study with Dahn this morning, which was one of my four tasks. After reading some more of this book, I plan to do my cleaning routine, and revise a chapter of my book.

Ever feel like this?

I saw that today in my RSS feeds while doing my four-hour RSS check, after taking three hours to do a one-hour Bible study, but before getting started on a two-hour paperclip-sorting session. I don't really think the situation in the strip could happen IRL.

Off-topic: Nick, I finally got around to writing that plugin, and I'm rather proud of the result. I've submitted an addition request to the WordPress plugins repository, but in the meantime, here's the code:

time-to-read.php

[code:1:1dabeac969]
<?php

/*
Plugin Name: Time To Read
Description: Returns the number of words in the post, and the approximate time it'll take to read it. To implement, add <?php time_to_read(); ?> to your template.
Version: 1.0
Author: FekketCantenel
Author URI: http://homework.never-ends.net/
Licensed under the The GNU General Public License 2.0 (GPL) http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
*/

function time_to_read() {
$wia = round(str_word_count(get_the_content()), -2); //Establishes the wordcount of the post, rounded to the nearest hundred (if anybody can tell me how to round to the nearest fifty, I'd be grateful!).
$minutes_low = ceil($wia / 200); //Figures out the lowest minute-count (for the fastest readers). Mess with the '200' to experiment, if you want to customize it.
$minutes_high = ceil($wia / 100); //Figures out the highest minute-count (for slow readers). Ditto for above. If you have very simple content, double these numbers. If you have very complicated content (lists, scientific information, complex advice), halve them. 200/100 is about average.
echo 'This article is about ' . $wia . ' words long, and will take about ' . $minutes_low . ' to ' . $minutes_high . ' minutes to read.';
//Example output: "This article is about 900 words long, and will take about 5 to 9 minutes to read."
}

?>
[/code:1:1dabeac969]

On-topic: I made a checklist (in MyLifeOrganized) of how to prepare for working on an hour-task, mostly using bits and pieces from articles here and there, as well as my own ideas.

[code:1:1dabeac969]How To Concentrate
Turn off distractions, isolate self
Turn off tips/sounds in IRC
Close Opera if possible
Close door
Prioritize
Order projects by priority and choose the highest
Choose which projects will be dropped or delegated in a crunch
Know the expected result
What should the final result look like
What is the penalty for finishing badly/not at all/late
How long should it take
Plan when to stop (milestone, time)
Plan to reward yourself
Have the next project chosen and ready to start afterward
Define the specific actions involved
How long will each specific action take
Find shortcuts
Where can detail/quality/quantity be skimped on if pressed
Set deadlines
Short term, but with the long term in mind
Plan for obstacles
Be fit
Eat/prepare food beforehand if hungry
Have a drink at hand
Stretch regularly
Be patient
If there's a problem, work through it
Don't give up/get bored
Take short breaks to let your mind rest
Begin immediately
[/code:1:1dabeac969]

Hopefully, this list will help me concentrate. I'm going to test it on my next project, but today is a sort of off-day, because we're going to town for groceries and my brother's Magic: The Gathering tournament.

Wow! You wrote a plug-in based on an idea of mine! That's great! I feel very honored!

Now, then, where should I insert the code?

I like your list. Batching work and making sure that distractions and interruptions have a low likelihood of occurrence is very important for cracking on with the work once you have your attitude sorted and the preparation work is largely done. Take care over your time estimates. That's a very difficult thing to do with precision because the unexpected keeps rearing its head just to blow things off-course again. A rough idea can help but I find that if I attempt accurate predictions I'm usually wrong and then I get annoyed with myself (and end up indulging in distractions). A minor point, I know, but it's amazing how quickly my mind gets put-off by little things like that...