This week I tested whether David Seah’s daily ritual could improve my productivity. While David met with a friend via chat at 7:15 every morning, I connected with a friend via email sometime during the day and committed to doing a task for 15 minutes. Like David, I then reported back when the work was done. We took Sundays off. Scroll down to the bottom of last week’s post for details.
How David’s 7:15AM Ritual Saved My Sanity This Week
Got me going on tasks I’ve been avoiding because of the social pressure. One of the rules my friend and I adopted was that we would only commit to tasks that we wouldn’t otherwise do. Thus, showering and eating lunch weren’t options. I did some work on a book project, but after that worked on my project for the week. Knowing that my friend would do her work made me feel compelled to do mine.
Gave me a structure for completing less urgent work. If I hadn’t been doing the ritual, I don’t think I would have done anything on the book project, because it isn’t pressing. I think this is a huge concern in productivity as most of us are perpetually putting out fires.
Helped me see someone else’s perspective. It was interesting for me to see someone else come up with tasks and report back on how it went. While I am working on my own productivity, I would like to be helpful to others, too. My friend said she liked the ritual, but she had some issues with it.
How David’s 7:15AM Ritual Made Me Crazy This Week
Difficult to choose tasks. My friend especially found it challenging at times to decide what to do. I also felt like if I actually wanted to do something that maybe I was cheating. I’m not sure that we were being faithful to David’s intent in this, however. He didn’t say you could only do work you were resisting.
15 Minute time limit is limiting. My friend found that she often wanted to stop after 15 minutes simply because she could. She felt this could be a real problem for work like writing that would only have you in the groove by this point. I only quit after 15 minutes once. I liked the time limit because I was tired this week and it got me off the couch. Once started, I felt I wanted to keep going.
Our timing didn’t match. My friend didn’t think this would work for her if she were working a regular job (she’s off now). We might have found it more beneficial if we had committed and worked at the same time, but as it was, it worked. There were times that I committed and didn’t work until much later, but still that commitment drove me to finish the work.
Did the 7:15AM Ritual Help Me Get More Done?
Yes. It really gave me a much-needed jumpstart on my summer projects and helped me work even when I didn’t feel like it. I don’t see continuing to do it day after day, but it’s an excellent way to get unstuck. Because my friend and I are starting Body for Life, we will be checking in regularly on that. Accountability works.
**UPDATE**
While I don’t use any of the specifics of this ritual, I do have a small group of bloggers I check in with every week. Even though not all the bloggers participate regularly, the ritual of posting my goals and writing how I did on them is enormously motivating for me. Accountability is super important for my productivity.
The Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for Week 17
This week I’ll be testing Another Simple and Effective Method by Mark Forster. Yep, he’s been at it again and has created another list gamification method. The method involves creating a list of tasks of any size, choosing a task to do, doing it, and crossing it off with a line that extends across the paper. You next do a task from each section that’s been created and repeat. Tasks that are worked on and need to be continued are crossed off and added to the end of the list. Urgent tasks are just done regardless of the list.
The concept. The method seems to encourage working on tasks that would otherwise languish on the list and also divides the work into many small, more manageable lists.
If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Read Mark’s blog post on the method. Choose your means of making a list. Paper seems to make the most sense to me, so that’s my method. Make a list of tasks you’d like to complete. I may add some of my remaining backlog tasks, just to see how the method handles them. Choose a task to work on for as long as you like. Cross it off completely and re-enter if needed. Choose a task from the first section, work on it, and so on. I will use adhesive flags to help me remember where I left off. Dots and paperclips would also work.
To see how my week with Another Simple and Effective Method went, click here.
If you’ve tried David Seah’s 7:15AM ritual to increase your productivity, please vote in the poll below.
Here are the links to the productivity hacks I’ve tried so far:
Have you ever gotten to the end of a summer and been disappointed? I have, many times.
I’m a homeschooling mom who takes time off in the summer and I hope to get so much accomplished. Somehow very little of it gets done. I’m not talking about the fun activities we always manage to squeeze in (barbecues with friends, float trips, swimming, etc.). I’m talking about the projects I can’t get around to doing the other nine months of the year.
This summer I am determined to have a different outcome. I am so excited about the simple solution to my end-of-summer blues that I want to share it with you. In just three steps, you can make a satisfying summer a reality.
#1 Create a wish list.
Dream a little. What would you love to accomplish this summer? Are there any projects that you’ve procrastinated doing that would feel great to get out of the way? Are there things you could do to make life much easier the rest of the year? Or is there something you’ve always dreamed of doing that you’ve never made time for? Add all of these things to your list. At this point, don’t worry about adding too many things.
#2 Consolidate.
Look at your list and combine tasks into weekly projects or areas of focus. For example, would you like to defrost the freezer and clean out the pantry? These tasks can become Organizing or Cleaning. Each weekly project will include a number of tasks required to complete it. My consolidated weekly projects for the summer should give you the idea:
sort clothing
sort and sell books
organize
deep clean
book project #1
book project #2
school prep
video editing
blogging
scrapbooking
freezer cooking
#3 Schedule
This step is critical to making your summer satisfying. Make a list of each week this summer. Because I start school the second week of August, I have 11 weeks from 5/26 to 8/4. I have assigned each of the above projects to a week. If you will be on vacation for a week, that will be your week’s project. Assign projects to logical weeks. For example, freezer cooking is my last project because I want dinner in the freezer before I start school. Otherwise, start with top priority projects. For me, that’s sorting the kids’ clothing for the season and selling books we no longer need.
Schedule time at the beginning of each day to work on that week’s project. If your schedule doesn’t permit you working at the beginning of the day, make sure you work on these projects during the first part of your work period. Why? You’re more likely to accomplish your wish list if you work on it first.
What if you want to do something that will take more than one week? You can either assign it to more than one week or schedule it on a daily or weekly basis. I will be spending more time than a week each on blogging and book projects, but those weeks I will devote extra time to them.
What if you planned to finish a project in a week and you don’t? I don’t anticipate spending every day of the week on my planned projects. Things come up and I love being spontaneous in the summer. If I spend just one day a week on each of these projects, I will be thrilled! But if it’s really important that you finish a project before moving on to something else, you can definitely edit the schedule. If you have your projects in order by priority, you’d simply move everything back a week and the lowest priority project would be dropped from the summer schedule to be worked on another time.
I can’t wait to hear about the projects you have planned and to see if these steps make this summer a more satisfying one for you. What’s the first project on your list?
This week I tested whether taking a vacation could improve my productivity. I’ve actually been testing it for the past two weeks. Scroll to the bottom of this post to see my plans for this test.
How Taking a Vacation Saved My Sanity This Week
Focused my efforts before leaving. Getting ready to go on vacation made decisions about what to do so easy. I had a wonderful closed list of tasks to work with and I finished them all.
Restored my motivation. While on vacation, I had plenty of time to read and think about my goals for the summer and next school year. I have returned as a woman on a mission with a lot more energy to boot.
Gave me time to focus on what matters most. The time with my family gave me a better perspective on the tasks I face each week. So much of what I worry about just doesn’t matter.
How Taking a Vacation Made Me Crazy This Week
Couldn’t avoid everything. Being a blogger and a mother of six means you can never really “go dark.” I had to do some work while I was gone, but thankfully it was minimal.
Did Taking a Vacation Help Me Get More Done?
Yes! And I think I will realize the benefits of it for several weeks. One thing I did that made this an excellent vacation was plan nothing for the day after I returned. I was able to clear email, handle a few urgent tasks, do laundry, grocery shop, and more.
**UPDATE**
Vacations are still saving my sanity. I usually take a vacation with my whole family once a year and with my husband, too. Even more importantly, I take a vacation every Sunday now. The break motivates me so much for the upcoming week.
The Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for Week 16
This week I’ll be testing David Seah’s 7:15 AM Ritual. Every morning at 7:15 AM, David chats with a friend or two online and commits to a task he wants to jumpstart for 15 minutes. When the 15 minutes are up, he reports his progress and experience. I considered doing an online chat with a friend who is in a different time zone. We agreed that making an email commitment to our 15-minute task and then reporting back will work better for us. We’re afraid that a chat would become just that!
The concept. David’s ritual leverages the power of accountability, timed work, and routine. I’ve tested the power of timed work and routine and find both to be invaluable. I haven’t yet tested accountability, though I would argue that this blog series is all about it! While most people are willing to drop their commitments to themselves, few are comfortable with dropping the ball when a commitment has been made to someone else. I’m willing to bet that accountability doesn’t require face time.
If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Read David’s article. Recruit a friend who is willing to do the ritual with you. Decide when and how you will touch base each day. Daily commit to a task that you want or need to do; spend 15 minutes doing it; then report back to your accountability partner.
Click here to see how my week of David Seah’s ritual went.
If you’ve tried taking a vacation to increase your productivity, please vote in the poll below.
Here are the links to the productivity hacks I’ve tried so far:
Many of my newer readers know that I am doing a weekly post for A Year of Living Productively, but what you may not know is that I did another shorter series about irritating people who don’t seem to benefit from many traditional approaches to getting things done. Could that be you?
Today I have a guest post on SteveSpring.org (an excellent personal development/productivity blog) where I summarize what I learned about motivating the rebel living in me. I hope you’ll join me there, but you don’t have to. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do actually. But you already knew that.
This week I tested whether Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy could improve my productivity. I determined the most impactful task I could complete and did that first and continued to identify and “eat” the next biggest frogs throughout the day.
How Eat That Frog Saved My Sanity This Week
Relieved guilt. When I’m researching something that isn’t urgent or I’m experimenting with blog plug-ins, I feel really guilty. I know I should be doing something else. By doing the most important things first, I felt no guilt, which was wonderful for a change!
Helped me feel in control. Before this week, my tendency was to do a bunch of little tasks first–presumably because I would feel like I was on top of my to-do’s. But doing the easiest tasks first actually left me with my big, undesirable tasks that often didn’t get done and contributed to overwhelm. Finishing the big frogs first helped me feel that I was doing well, even if I were to be interrupted later in the day.
Got me thinking. I really thought about what would make the biggest impact on my day (or life). On one day, I realized that I was avoiding tasks I didn’t like (returning things) that would actually pay me to do them. Thinking of them that way got me to quit procrastinating and get them out of the way.
Resolved my desire for electronic and paper lists. This benefit isn’t really related to Eat That Frog, but Brian Tracy’s suggestion to “write everything down” had me looking for a means of doing that. I continued using IQTell to create my digital lists and then printed off the list for each day. I put a dot in front of the top 20% of tasks and then circled each dot as I identified it as the next frog to eat. I found it very rewarding to cross completed tasks off, giving me the benefits I’ve found with both list forms.
Gave me the satisfaction of working to completion. While I love working little-and-often, there is something deeply satisfying about marking a task complete and knowing you don’t have to see it again. There was a good discussion on Mark Forster’s forum about the balance between little-and-often and working to completion that may be of interest to you.
How Eat That Frog Made Me Crazy This Week
Didn’t want to do the tasks. I really had to make myself eat the frogs and had to use a goodly amount of willpower to do them at first. However, I was delighted when I did and found it got easier each day.
Burned out without breaks. At first, I completely forgot about my plan to use 50/10 Pomodoros while eating frogs. I started working my way through the frogs and was ready to scream because I wanted to do the more appealing tasks. Then I remembered I could do those appealing tasks on my breaks and all was well.
I didn’t always get to determine the frog. I had my frog identified for the day and I was ready to eat it when my husband decided we would clean out the basement instead. I find I’m unable to stop in the middle of projects like this, so the frog had to wait until the next day. Honestly, every productivity hack I try will always be at the mercy of my family and circumstances. But I bet I’m not that unusual that way.
Didn’t always want to name the frog. Some days I know what I have to do and I do it. I don’t want to waste time reviewing a list and dotting and circling the frogs. And I think that’s O.K.
Can’t eat the frog first thing. There is a sense in which I eat the frog first nearly every day. By that I mean, I have time for prayer, teaching, and exercise in the mornings. These activities make the most impact on my life. Because I have a routine that works, I can’t supplant it by eating other frogs in the first part of the day–unless they’re truly urgent. I can only eat the other frogs during the first part of my task time and that’s later in the day when a lot of my willpower has been used up.
Did Eat That Frog Help Me Get More Done?
Without question. More importantly though, I got more of the right things done. There is something about identifying tasks that will have the most impact that works for me. Throughout the week, variables like money, commitments to other people, and size of the project contributed to a to-do being identified as a frog. I found it much easier to leave the frivolous items until the end of the list, eliminate them, or do them on breaks than I have with any other approach.
I would like to continue working in this way because it’s so powerful.
**UPDATE**
I do the most important work early in the day — exercise, writing, devotions, chores, and teaching. After that, it becomes more of a challenge. But Skedpal helps me with Eat That Frog by choosing the frog for me. Usually I eat what Skedpal tells me to eat. 🙂
The Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for Week 15
This week I’ll be taking a vacation.
The concept. Research shows that vacations really do increase your productivity. We tend to come back from time off more refreshed and ready to work. I almost always return excited about a new goal or project.
The great thing is you don’t have to be going on an out-of-town trip to experience the benefits. You can work toward getting work done early so you can take time off, enjoy a special event, or have some relaxation time at home. For example, you can plan a weekend vacation at home where you have to do nothing but relax and enjoy. To do that, you’ll have to get all housework and other work done during the week and avoid everything that distracts you.
If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Read this article about vacation-inspired productivity and plan a real or imagined vacation. Work hard so you can play hard! I’m going to give you two weeks to do it with my report appearing week after next.
Click here to see if taking a vacation helped my productivity.
If you’ve tried Eat That Frog to increase your productivity, please vote in the poll below.
Here are the links to the productivity hacks I’ve tried so far:
This week I tested whether Personal Kanban could improve my productivity. I used the traditional method of Post-It notes and a dry erase board. Scroll to the end of last week’s post for more details.
How Personal Kanban Saved My Sanity This Week
Helped me visualize my work. I’ve learned that I benefit from having an offline picture of my work in as big a format as possible. I decided to use my large vanity mirror for my Backlog color-coded notes. I could scan them and choose the ones I wanted to work on by category. I also discovered that I have a LOT of blog-related tasks.
Gave me a reward for completing tasks. It’s a good feeling to move those sticky notes across the board and into the Done column. I was motivated to remove as many sticky notes from my mirror as possible (my teenage son thought I was really weird).
Was portable. No, I did not put my dry erase board in my purse. But when I knew I would be at the dentist’s office with my laptop for three hours, I quickly pulled the sticky notes I knew I could work on, added them to a piece of paper, and popped them into my laptop bag.
How Personal Kanban Made Me Crazy This Week
Sticky notes not so sticky. I did have to restick them quite often when they fell off the board. It wasn’t a deal breaker. I did read about people who used magnetic cards instead. I would have to have dozens and dozens of magnets!
Didn’t limit my work. One of the main reasons I was excited about Kanban (besides visualizing my work) was to force me to limit the amount of work I took on. The problem is there aren’t any limits on the work being fed into the system, only on the tasks being worked concurrently. I’ve discovered that isn’t an issue for me. I don’t tend to flit from thing to thing when I’m actually working on them.
Work is never complete. Routines, Do it Tomorrow, and Scheduling tasks all gave me a sense of completion at the end of the day. With Kanban there is a never-ending stream of work coming into the system through Backlog. I started to feel hopeless. Then again, maybe it’s the winter that refuses to end!
Did Personal Kanban Help Me Get More Done?
Yes. For the better part of the week, I was motivated to complete as many tasks as possible. It was when I realized I would never finish them all, that the approach broke down for me.
While I don’t want to continue using Personal Kanban, I see a lot of value in having a visual representation of work. Using it to track projects could be very beneficial. I’ve created forms I use for blogging that use checklists for every phase of a post that remind me of Kanban.
A friend sent me a picture of her Kanban board and thanked me for the idea. In no way would I want to discourage anyone from using an approach that works for them. That’s the point of this series! I’m finding what works for me and hopefully you are, too.
**UPDATE**
Although I do not use Personal Kanban for all my tasks, I use it for writing curriculum. I have a large dry erase board at my desk. I have columns of tasks that have to be completed for each lesson (some of which others on my team have to do). I find it motivates me, organizes me, and gives me great peace of mind. Highly recommended for work that goes through a process.
The Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for Week 14
This week I’ll be using Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy.
The concept. Brian Tracy argues that having a written list of tasks to do the next day will increase productivity by 25%. Furthermore, choosing the top 20% of tasks that make the most difference in your day, work, or life allows you to get the most results for your efforts. Brian says that most people do easy tasks to try and “warm up” to the day, in essence wasting valuable time.
Eating a live frog first thing in the morning is the analogy for choosing to do the worst task first. The work may be repulsive to you because it’s a big, time-consuming task or is just something you don’t want to do. But to be a “frog,” it must be the most important thing you could do that day. Once that frog is “eaten,” you can continue to work your list by identifying the next most important task. This way of working is not only supposed to improve your self-control, but will increase productivity by 50%.
I’m one who has really resisted eating the frog first thing. I read this Pick the Brain article by Tom Casano (who also sang the praises of doing the worst first) and realized that I could probably get myself to do this now that I use a 50/10 Pomodoro. If I know I can take a break after 50 minutes to do some fun tasks for 10, I might be able to stomach a frog or two.
If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Read about the basic philosophy of Eat the Frog and watch the short video. Make a list of the next day’s tasks. I’m going to make an electronic list which I then print, but you can use any method you like. I think you could choose your most important tasks the night before, but I prefer to do that in the morning. It’s amazing how different things look overnight! Then eat that frog. I’m going to try and eat the frogs in successive order of importance, but my main goal will be the top frog.
Click here to read how my week of Eat That Frog went.
If you’ve tried Personal Kanban to increase your productivity, please vote in the poll below.
Here are the links to the productivity hacks I’ve tried so far:
I’m a Christian psychologist turned homeschooling mother of six. My life can be a little crazy, so I look for sanity-saving ideas to use and share. I hope you’ll read my About page to learn more.
