39
How to Get Shit Done A TALK ON TIME MANAGEMENT, EMAIL, NETWORKING AND GENERAL LIFE HACKS ROSS GARLICK 01/29/2014

How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

This LifeHacking guide is a compilation of the tools and techniques I use to effortlessly improve my life in 3 specific areas - Time Management, Emails and Networking - and some general LifeHacks. If you find this useful, please share! www.rossgarlick.com

Citation preview

Page 1: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

How to Get Shit DoneA TALK ON TIME MANAGEMENT, EMAIL, NETWORKING AND GENERAL L IFE HACKS

ROSS GARLICK

01/29/2014

Page 2: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Who am I to tell you how to be more productive?

@rossyg92 www.rossgarlick.com

But first…

Page 3: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

• Consult & Work with Startups

• Blog every 2 weeks• Learn to Code• Watch The West Wing• Read 5 books • Beer Hall Loyalty Reward

• School• Internship Applications• Compass• Concourse Fund• Tutoring• Varsity Squash

@rossyg92

Obligations and Commitments

Desirable Goals and projects

In Fall ‘13 I had a number of obligations, commitments I wanted to accomplish. I became stressed and anxious. I decided to address

this by hacking my life.

www.rossgarlick.com

That’s me!

Page 4: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

life·hackNoun: informal

1. a strategy or technique adopted in order to manage one's time and daily activities in a more efficient way.

@rossyg92 www.rossgarlick.com

So what is a LifeHack?

Page 5: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Why LifeHack?

Page 6: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Substantive Work

Personal Learning & Growth

Leisure

The Ideal Life

@rossyg92

Most people’s ideal life calls for a work hard, play hard lifestyle, with room for personal growth.

www.rossgarlick.com

Page 7: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Substantive Work

Pointless Work

Making Ends Meet

Procrastination

Learning & Growth

Leisure

Real Life

@rossyg92

This ideal life is a pipedream for most people. Hacking our lives brings us closer to the ideal with minimal effort.

www.rossgarlick.com

Page 8: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

@rossyg92

Furthermore, people’s perceptions of you matter. Perceptions matter almost as much as the truth about who you are. Hacking your life

can help improve people’s perceptions of you, effortlessly.

www.rossgarlick.com

Page 9: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Time Management

@rossyg92

Hacking Strategy #1

Page 10: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

The Productive Day

Problems with the To-Do List:

1.

2.

There is no sense of prioritization or categorization

We overestimate what we can accomplish in a given day

www.rossgarlick.com@rossyg92

Page 11: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

The Productive Day

One Big Goal

Three Medium Goals

Five Small Goals

@rossyg92

• Structuring your to-do list in a pyramid manner (right) helps to realize a productive day without overestimating what can be accomplished.

• Start the day with the big goal. You will be less productive if you start with your smaller goals as you anticipate tackling the big goal later in the day.

www.rossgarlick.com

Page 12: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

The Productive Day - Tools

www.getpocket.com - The easiest way to save articles, webpages and videos to view later. Integrated as a Chrome extension and with hundreds of apps.

www.rescuetime.com - Free online software which tracks your web activity and breaks it down into “productive”, “neutral” and “counter-productive”. Sends you an email once a week breaking down your results.

@rossyg92

I read my Pocket articles on the Subway

Page 13: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Working Effectively

@rossyg92

• Put simply, a “Pomodoro” is a 30 minute period where you work for 25 minutes, take a 5 minute break.

• The value of the Pomodoro Technique is that it challenges the users to work within time constraints e.g. “I will work on this essay for 6 Pomodoros”

• Working within time constraints forces you to be more productive.

www.rossgarlick.com

Page 14: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Working Effectively- Tools

www.selfcontrolapp.com – Block the webpages that distract you for a defined period of time.

www.teamviz.com – Track and measure your productivity using the Pomodoro Technique using this free software.

@rossyg92 www.rossgarlick.com

Page 15: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

@rossyg92

The 2 Minute Rule

www.rossgarlick.com

Only applicable when you are deciding what to put on your to-do list… not when you are mid-task

Page 16: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Email HacksHacking Strategy #2

Page 17: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

EMAIL BEST PRACTICE

TECHNIQUES

Page 18: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

#1. EFFECTIVE SUBJECT LINE

3 tips for a great Subject Line:• Less than 50 characters• Some specificity – e.g. rather than “Follow Up”, say

“Follow up from Google Info session 01/23/2014”• Use words such as “Reconnecting” or “Response

Needed” to incentivize subject to open email. Avoid Keywords that could be perceived as spam, such as “Please Support”

Page 19: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

#2. EMAIL PURPOSE

Many people wait until the 2nd or 3rd paragraph of an email to get to its purpose. While this can seem reasonable to the writer, it is frustrating for the reader.

Always start the email off with its purpose. I like to embolden that sentence to emphasize the point.

Page 20: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

#3. USE OF WHITE SPACE

Email marketing studies have proven that emails with more white space communicate their message more clearly.

Use Bullet Points where possible to increase the amount of white space in your emails.

Page 21: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

#4. NEXT STEPS

Always end an email with a list of next steps for the email recipient, even if it seems obvious to you, the writer.

Asking people to retweet your tweets increases the number of retweets, and the same principle applies here.

Page 22: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

EMAIL TOOLS

Boomerang

Rapportive

WiseStamp

Page 23: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Email Effectively- Tools

www.rapportive.com – View the contact profile of anyone to whom you are sending/receiving emails, including their social networks.

www.boomeranggmail.com – Schedule an email to be sent later. Easy email reminders.

www.wisestamp.com – Free and easy email signatures for the 21st century.

@rossyg92 www.rossgarlick.com

Page 24: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Achieving Inbox Zero

@rossyg92

That “zero?” It’s not how many mes sages are in your inbox–it’s how much of your

own brain is in that inbox. Especially when you don’t want it to be. That’s it.

www.inboxzero.com

www.rossgarlick.com

Page 25: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

five.sentenc.eswww.five.sentenc.es Emails in 5 sentences without being rude

www.mailboxapp.com The easiest way to

manage email on iOS

www.unroll.me The easiest way to

unsubscribe from spam

www.tapermail.com Limit your inbox to 5

emails at a time

@rossyg92

Inbox Zero - Tools

www.rossgarlick.com

Give it a try. I love it!

Page 26: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Networking HacksHacking Strategy #3

Page 27: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

@rossyg92

Learn the technique of effective networking: http://jeffarchibald.ca/stop-networking/

There is a general misunderstanding of networking as a selfish action. “I can offer value to you.” “I would make a great business partner/employee.”

www.rossgarlick.com

Jeff’s blog is new but has a lot of good advice

Page 28: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

@rossyg92

Networking – Tools for Meeting People

www.meetup.com The beauty of Meetup events is that people who attend them actively want to

help and work with people of similar interests.

www.rossgarlick.com

Page 29: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Networking – Tools for Following Up

www.cardmunch.com (iOS)www.yolu.com (Android)Scan business cards and

automatically add them to your phone contacts

www.ifttt.com Automatically invite people to connect on LinkedIn when you add them to your iOS contacts

www.evernote.com The most powerful note-taking app can automatically record

what meeting/event a particular note was taken at.

@rossyg92 www.rossgarlick.com

Page 30: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

General LifeHacksHacking Strategy #4

Page 31: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

@rossyg92

The Value of Remembering Names• When you first meet someone, try

and repeat their name as much as possible during the natural course of conversation e.g. rather than “it’s nice to meet you”, say instead, “it’s nice to meet you, Mike.”

• Try and associate a name with a particular fact about that person.

• Don’t be embarrassed to ask someone to repeat their name on the 2nd time you meet them. They often find it endearing and serves as a nice ice-breaker.

www.rossgarlick.com

Page 32: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

@rossyg92

• When someone says “Thank you”, you are in a momentary position of power.

• Respond by saying “You’re welcome. I know you’d do the same for me.”

• This response conveys that you have the type of relationship where we can ask each other for favors and help each other without keeping score.

Capitalizing on a Position of Power

www.rossgarlick.com

Page 33: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

@rossyg92 www.rossgarlick.com

Page 34: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

A Gamified LifeAN INVITATION

Sounds fun, right?

Page 35: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

@rossyg92

A number of apps and online services have found success by “gamifying”

productivity. For me, they have been too limited in their scope.

www.rossgarlick.com

Page 36: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Sample of Ross’ Gamified Life

So I decided to gamify my own life, setting up a system to incentivize me to work towards my

substantive goals, and cut out distractions

@rossyg92 www.rossgarlick.com

Check it out!!

Page 37: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

I would like to invite you to join my self-quantified, productivity system.

Please contact me if you are interested:[email protected]

@rossyg92 www.rossgarlick.com

Page 38: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Resources – Time Management Pocket: www.getpocket.com

RescueTime: www.rescuetime.com

Self-Control: www.selfcontrolapp.com or http://parker.kuivi.la/projects/selfrestraint (PC)

Pomodoro Timer: tomato-timer.com/

TeamViz: www.teamviz.com

@rossyg92

Page 39: How to Get Sh*t Done - Tools & Techniques to Hack A Better Life

Resources – Email & Networking Boomerang: http://www.boomeranggmail.com/

Rapportive: www.rapportive.com

WiseStamp: www.wisestamp.com

Five Sentences: www.five.sentenc.es

UnrollMe: www.unroll.me

Mailbox: www.mailboxapp.com

Taper: www.tapermail.com

Mailstrom: www.mailstrom.co

Meetup: www.meetup.com

IFTTT: www.ifttt.com

Evernote: www.evernote.com

Cardmunch: www.cardmunch.com

@rossyg92