Time Management Hacks To Improve Your Productivity
HI!
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
Let’s talk about…
LACK OF FOCUSWould ‘e’ ever have equalled ‘mc2’?
Have you ever…
HAD A GREAT IDEA?Only to lose it a short time later.
Economic, technological and cultural progress leads to time savings... right?
“Our grandchildren”, reckoned John Maynard Keynes in 1930, would work around “three hours a day”—and probably only by choice.
The Economist, 2014.
NEVER BEEN BUSIER?
Use your brain for thinking & decision making. Not for storage.
• Appointments, events, emails, notes, ToDo’s, ideas
• Looping thoughts create a busy brain.
• Breaking the pattern, through a system you can trust.
SHORT TERM MEMORY CAN ONLY STORE AROUND 7 THINGS
THE DESIRED STATE
Why?
• Better quality thinking. • Make better decisions. • Feel less overwhelmed. • Be more present & reliable.• Get more done with less time.
A CLEARER HEAD
OUR GOAL TODAY
For you to implement 3 things.
Questions
INPUT
IDEA, APPT, EVENT, NOTE, TASK, EMAIL,
BROWSER TAB.
DELETE IT. DO IT.
DELEGATE IT. SCHEDULE IT.
SAVE IT.
OUTPUT
THINKING
Comes in randomly. Unpredictable timing. Varying importance.
Put it in the system.
1. You forget about entirely. You lose it. 2. It loops through your short term memory until it is actioned.
What is this ‘system’ you speak of…
• You can have the best tools in the world, but…
• You have to be able to trust the system, or your brain won’t let go.
• Move things that can be stored, into the system.
• Do what you can. Improve YOUR system over time.
ITS NOT ALL ABOUT THE TOOLS
YOUR INBOX IS NOT YOUR SYSTEM• Inputs are random. The system needs to
be able to deal with inputs beyond emails.
• Emails often blur into tasks.• An email comes in, you read it, do some
amount of thinking, but don’t action it.• Unless you action it when you read it,
you’re wasting time.• You don’t have a system you can trust.
Achieving a zero inbox.
INPUT
OUTPUT
Comes in randomly. Unpredictable timing. Varying importance.
Put it in the system.
DELETE IT.DO IT.
DELEGATE
SCHEDULE
- Email forward (Boomerang)- Create a task (Asana)
- Delegate to future self (Followupthen/Boomerang/In App)
- Create a task (Asana)
BOOMERANGProblem: You send an email to someone and want to know you received a reply, but don’t want to have to
create a task to ‘follow up with X on Y’.www.boomerangapp.com
FOLLOWUPTHENProblem: You want an email to come back to you at a certain day/time. Works for personal reminders too.
www.followupthen.com
ASANAProblem: Convert emails into tasks to get them out of
your inbox. www.asana.com
IN APP | QUICK KEYSGet things done faster.
OTHER TOOLS
The tools depend on context…• Home• Work• Out And About
That’s emails… but what about all other ‘inputs’.
• Email• Followupthen• Boomerang• Asana
• Tasks• Asana
• Ideas• Evernote• ToDoist
• Passwords• Safe In Cloud• Last Pass
• Internet (Chrome)• Opening tabs (settings)• Session Buddy• Screen Capture• Down Album• Loom• Grammarly
At Work
• Voice Assistant• Todoist
Out And About
• Google Home /Alexa etc. • IFTTT
• For Connecting Tools• Other Functions e.g.
Screenshots
At Home
Beyond ‘the system’.
• Product Hunt• Free Images • Google Search• Using the right tool for the job (e.g.
image editing) • Buzz Sumo (e.g. blog article
headings)
DON’T TRY TO REINVENT THE WHEEL
FINAL WORD"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." - Lao Tzu