Can Delegating Help You Get More Done?

Can Delegating Help You Get More Done?

delegating, productivity, GTD, organizedThis is Week 46 of a Year of Living Productively

This week (and weeks prior) I tested whether delegating tasks to my family could help me get more done. Scroll to the bottom of last week’s post for more on the concept.

How Delegating Saved My Sanity This Week

  • Allowed me to really rest. I am still stunned that my children did all of the clean-up after our Thanksgiving dinner last month. I was really able to sit and relax after a busy day of cooking. No, that’s never happened before! My son who has his driver’s license ran to the grocery store for me. My second oldest put together my daughter’s new bookcase. My husband did more cooking and errands for me than he has, too. I had the kids doing a lot of Christmas tasks I normally handle myself. It was great timing, because as I mentioned last week, I’ve been a little burned out.
  • Allowed me to let things go. When I saw that the world didn’t come to an end when I delegated, I also realized that there were some things I planned on doing that just didn’t need to be done or at least not now.

How Delegating Made Me Crazy This Week

  • Made me confront my anxiety. In allowing my children to do more, I realized how uptight I get about the silliest little things. I am just sure that the kids are going to knock the glass bowl off the counter when they’re mixing ingredients or will burn themselves on the oven. I’m not sure where this is coming from, but this is a productivity series of posts, not psychoanalysis. 🙂
  • Demonstrated the need to plan ahead. If you save tasks for the last minute, you can’t afford to teach a child how to do them or even have a husband pick up the wrong things from the store. Even though I have taught my kids to do a lot, I realized that this is why I haven’t taught them to do everything I could.

Did Delegating Help Me Get More Done?

Yes.  And I received no complaints. On the contrary, everyone seemed happy to help. I think it’s possible that I am this tornado whizzing by and when I stopped long enough to teach, share responsibilities, and explain what I needed, everyone was relieved. My intention is to continue delegating because it prepares my kids for adulthood, while at the same time giving me some downtime.

**UPDATE**

Delegating is still helping me get more done. I aspire to do more in this area, because I know it’s such a powerful strategy.

The Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for the Rest of the Year

This month I’ll be testing whether I can write an ebook in 21 days. I will be using the schedule in Steve Scott’s book, How to Write a Nonfiction eBook in 21 Days.

The concept. Many of us dream of writing a book, but we struggle to find the time. I have seen and read a number of these formulaic write-a-book-in-x-days books, but I’ve never actually tested them out. Because I want to summarize my findings over the past year in a Kindle ebook, I thought this would be a perfect test to round out the year.

I have so enjoyed writing this series, but I have more to say than the post format allows. For example, I have had a change of heart about many of the various approaches I’ve tried and also have some ideas about how to bring the best ideas together in a way that works for me. When I am back in February, I hope to have a book on Amazon for you that will share that information. The book will be free in the short-term as a thank you to my readers who have made this such a rewarding year.

If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Buy and read How to Read a Nonfiction eBook in 21 Days (It’s just $2.99 on Kindle). Do the tasks according to the schedule. I would love to hear if you have a book in February! 

To see how writing a nonfiction book in 21 Days went, click here.

Be sure to check here each week in January for a fantastic guest post. I’m very excited about the writers who have agreed to share on topics I haven’t been able to delve into.

To read the January guest posts, click here:

Why CEOs and College Students Manage Time the Same Way

How to Set Goals That Work

The Real Cure for Time Management Anxiety

How to Get Things Done Regardless of Your App or System

Roles & Goals: Lessons in Productivity from the 7 Habits

Previous Week’s Tests

A Year of Living Productively

Week 1: Paper To-Do List

Week 2: Covey’s Quadrants

Week 3: Routines

Week 4: Paper Planner

Week 5: SMEMA

Week 6: Guilt Hour

Week 7: Envision Ideal Day

Week 8: Do it Tomorrow

Week 9: Pomodoro

Week 10: Time Warrior

Week 11: Scheduling

Week 12: The Repeat Test

Week 13: Personal Kanban

Week 14: Eat That Frog

Week 15: Vacation

Week 16: David Seah’s7:15AM Ritual

Week 17: Another Simple and Effective Method

Week 18: Daily/Weekly/Monthly To-Do List

Week 19: Ultimate Time Management System

Week 20: Getting Things Done

Week 21: Time Blocking

Week 22: Morning Ritual

Week 23: Beat the Week

Week 24: Productivity Ritual

Week 25: Make it Happen in 10 Minutes

Week 26: Focus & Relief List

Week 27: Accountability Chart

Week 28: Limiting Choices

Week 29: Zen to Done

Week 30: Heatmapping

Week 31: Gamification

Week 32: The 12 Week Year

Week 33: David Seah’s Ten for Ten

Week 34: David Seah’s Emergent Task Planner

Week 35: Steve Kamb’s Do It Now

Week 36: Rising Early

Week 37: Computer Shortcuts

Week 38: Interrupter’s Log

Week 39: Project Management

Week 40: Little and Often

Week 41: Problem Solving Approach

Week 42: Inbox Zero

Week 43: Resistance List

Week 44: Time Tracking

Week 45: No To-Do List

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Can Working Without a To-Do List Help You Get More Done?

Can Working Without a To-Do List Help You Get More Done?

GTD, to do lists, productivityThis is Week 45 of a Year of Living Productively

This week I tested whether going without a list for all but the tasks that I would otherwise forget, which were added to Google Calendar, could help me get more done. Scroll to the bottom of last week’s post for more on the concept.

How Working Without a To-Do List Saved My Sanity This Week

  • Gave me true free time. Because I didn’t even really know what I was supposed to be doing (besides the obvious), I felt free to play games with my kids. Even my oldest asked me to play video games with him and shockingly enough, I said yes. I think they saw me wandering aimlessly and didn’t want to miss an opportunity.
  • Helped me realize how few things are crucial. I didn’t do many of the things I fully intended to do (make homemade gifts and goodies, for example). I’m astonished to report that the world didn’t come to an end.
  • I took care of more things in the moment. There was no option to “do it later,” so much of the time if I thought about doing something, I just did it.

How Working Without a To-Do List Made Me Crazy This Week

  • I felt depressed. I was suffering from burnout last week, but having a discreet list of things to do was helpful in that regard. This week, I noticed I had no interest in recreational activities. Perhaps the feeling was coincidental with the weather, my health, and other circumstances, however.
  • I felt lost. I wasn’t interested in processing my email because I knew I couldn’t add any of them to a task list. When I thought of something I wanted or needed to do, it drove me nuts not to add it to my ToDoist list.
  • I didn’t get much done. Because I wasn’t working from a to-do list, I seemed to shift into vacation mode. I thought it was funny when I caught myself thinking, “I’ll do this next week when I can be done with this silly no-list experiment.” I got the critical things done and spent some enjoyable down time with my kids, but that was really about it.

Did Working Without a To-Do List Help Me Get More Done?

No.  And I’m really surprised. Years ago when I did this, my conclusion was just the opposite. Breaking free of a traditional to-do list then helped me find the want-to in my work.

One of the things that is different this time is I already have the want-to. I can’t wait to get back to my To-Doist Little and Often approach. I really prefer putting most tasks off until tomorrow so I can work them efficiently (similar tasks together). I love having a true deadline of 3 days past due to motivate me to take some action. The problem that I ran into is the approach works TOO WELL at motivating me. I found myself working longer and longer hours to move tasks along so they wouldn’t get deleted. The point of the impending deletion of tasks isn’t to expand work hours, but to eliminate tasks from your list that you either don’t have time for or are putting off. My solution from here on out will be to stop working at 9 p.m. Anything not done by then that is 3 days past due is gone. I’ll regain my evening free time and have a more realistic to-do list.

**UPDATE**

Although there was a time in my life when working without a to-do list worked beautifully for me, it no longer does. I suspect that is because so many of my to-do’s are related to email now. I could just leave them in my inbox and work with them by memory, but I have more peace of mind when I process my emails using ToDoist for Gmail.

delegating, productivity, GTD, organized

The Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for Week 46 & What to Expect

This week I’ll be testing delegating. I will finish a month-long test of delegating work by training my children to do more and asking my husband to share some of the responsibilities he is open to sharing.

The concept. You don’t have to be into traditional productivity stuff to understand the need to delegate. The importance of delegating is preached to the office worker and homeschool mom alike. I read Tim Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Work Week years ago. Moms NEVER work 4-hour weeks. Sorry, Tim. I will admit to fantasizing about having a virtual assistant though. Having someone order my groceries that would be delivered to my door? Divine. Someone to research material for my latest book project? Fab. More recently, the idea of having a social media person is even more appealing!

But I have  never breathed a word of my fantasy to my practical husband who would have a very good laugh over it. Considering how much money I do NOT make from my extra-familial pursuits, I couldn’t justify hiring anyone. But the older my children have gotten, the more I’ve come to understand that I have a whole staff of people I can “hire” to help me. Don’t get me wrong. My children already do chores. It’s just that I don’t often think of them as an extra resource for getting things done. Why? It’s time-consuming. And that’s what makes training kids very similar to delegating work in a traditional work environment. All delegating takes time and when you’re already in a rush, it’s easy to procrastinate on delegating.

If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Decide who you could delegate to. It could be a paid helper, family member, or colleague. Get your helper to buy in. What advantages are there to your family for pitching in? Discuss those. Could you trade jobs with someone? Then every time you start doing something that you know you should delegate, either start training them or plan to train them as soon as possible. You’re unlikely to have results after just a week, so this may be a longer term proposition.

To find out how delegating worked for me, click here.

What can you expect from Psychowith6 in the coming weeks?

I will report on my results with delegating next week. I will also announce a multi-week test of something I’m very excited about. In the Christmas spirit, I won’t tell you what it is until then. 🙂 While I am devoting time to that test, I will continue to rely on delegation by having some superb bloggers guest post on some productivity topics I haven’t been able to address in this series. Thank you for making this such a rewarding process for me. You’re the best!

Here are the links to the productivity hacks I’ve tried so far:

A Year of Living Productively

Week 1: Paper To-Do List

Week 2: Covey’s Quadrants

Week 3: Routines

Week 4: Paper Planner

Week 5: SMEMA

Week 6: Guilt Hour

Week 7: Envision Ideal Day

Week 8: Do it Tomorrow

Week 9: Pomodoro

Week 10: Time Warrior

Week 11: Scheduling

Week 12: The Repeat Test

Week 13: Personal Kanban

Week 14: Eat That Frog

Week 15: Vacation

Week 16: David Seah’s

7:15AM Ritual

Week 17: Another Simple and Effective Method

Week 18: Daily/Weekly/Monthly To-Do List

Week 19: Ultimate Time Management System

Week 20: Getting Things Done

Week 21: Time Blocking

Week 22: Morning Ritual

Week 23: Beat the Week

Week 24: Productivity Ritual

Week 25: Make it Happen in 10 Minutes

Week 26: Focus & Relief List

Week 27: Accountability Chart

Week 28: Limiting Choices

Week 29: Zen to Done

Week 30: Heatmapping

Week 31: Gamification

Week 32: The 12 Week Year

Week 33: David Seah’s Ten for Ten

Week 34: David Seah’s Emergent Task Planner

Week 35: Steve Kamb’s Do It Now

Week 36: Rising Early

Week 37: Computer Shortcuts

Week 38: Interrupter’s Log

Week 39: Project Management

Week 40: Little and Often

Week 41: Problem Solving Approach

Week 42: Inbox Zero

Week 43: Resistance List

Week 44: Time Tracking

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Can Time Tracking Help You Get More Done?

Can Time Tracking Help You Get More Done?

time tracking, get organized, productivityThis is Week 44 of a Year of Living Productively

This week I tested whether time tracking could help me get more done, although I did more routine tracking than true time. Scroll to the end of last week’s post for an explanation.

How Time Tracking Saved My Sanity This Week

  • Helped me recognize I am trying to do too much. In my excitement about becoming more and more efficient, I started trying to structure more and more of my time. I wasn’t actually doing most of my planned routine, so it was too much.
  • Demonstrated how variable my days are. One of the frustrations in creating a schedule or routine is the interruptions to the usual. The past two weeks have been very unusual. If I am going to expect to “stay on schedule,” I will be nothing but frustrated. Good to know so I won’t be perfectionistic about my routine.

How Time Tracking Made Me Crazy This Week

  • I resisted it. As I deleted more and more of my routine because I wasn’t actually using it, I resisted even tracking my routine. I knew it would be more of the same the second week: funerals, holiday events, and weather-related schedule changes that wouldn’t be the case next week. I wondered why I should even waste my time writing it down.
  • I rebelled. I not only resisted tracking my schedule after a while, but I stopped doing routine things that actually work for me. I think I’ve reached my limit on maximizing my time. I just want to have time to do whatever I feel like doing even if it’s not “moving me forward” or making me more “productive.”

Did Time Tracking Help Me Get More Done?

Heavens no!  I finished some big, time-consuming projects, but otherwise did less than ever this week. I don’t think that means time tracking is useless. I do wonder if I really need to formally track my time. It might have worked much better to just observe when I tend to do certain activities and give myself permission to do them then. Scheduling them gave my inner rebel fits: too many rules. The other problem I have had is burnout. I have been working really hard lately. I don’t want to be told what to do constantly, even by myself. I’ve recognized for a long time that the best reward for me is a day that I am free to use as I wish. I am very structured for school because it works. But apart from that, I’d like less structure, thank you.

**UPDATE**

I still don’t like time tracking. It’s too legalistic and gets my resistance going. I know when I’m slacking. It works better for me to schedule lots of free time into my day and week.

Can working without a to-do list make you more productive?

The Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for Week 45

This week I’ll be testing No List. I will only refer to a list of tasks that are urgent that I would otherwise forget to do. All other lists will be abandoned this week.

The concept. Those of you who have known me from Mark Forster’s forum or have read my productivity posts for a while will remember that I have used this approach in the past. I had just come off a very difficult time in my life and I needed the peace of having no list. For list lovers, it sounds like anything BUT peaceful. It was what I needed at the time, however, and I’m surprised to say I feel I need it again.

I’m always pursuing excellence. That’s a good thing if at the same time I recognize that I’m excellent just as I am. Practically speaking, I tend to think more is always better. If I write a blog post that does well, I need to write more of them. If I’m doing well on Pinterest, I need to pick it up on Google+. These things can become–not just nice goals to aim for–but must-do’s. Whereas some people find themselves constantly putting out fires and never pursuing the bigger dreams, I tend to label multiple goals and the day-to-day must do’s “fires.” Thus, I experience burnout.

I want to get a balanced perspective by only looking at the true must-do’s and trusting my instincts about everything else that should be done. If you are wondering if I’ve given up on Little and Often, I haven’t at all. I’ve discovered a problem with it that I will address with you at a later date, however.

If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Read this post where I describe my use of my no list. Decide on a way of keeping track of your must-do, must-list-or-you’ll-forget tasks. I’m going to add mine to Google Calendar. Simple, simple. If you’re interested in knowing my plans for A Year of Living Productively for the end of year, be sure to read next week!

To see how working without a to-do list worked for me, click here.

Does the idea of going list-free freak you out?

Here are the links to the productivity hacks I’ve tried so far:

A Year of Living Productively

Week 1: Paper To-Do List

Week 2: Covey’s Quadrants

Week 3: Routines

Week 4: Paper Planner

Week 5: SMEMA

Week 6: Guilt Hour

Week 7: Envision Ideal Day

Week 8: Do it Tomorrow

Week 9: Pomodoro

Week 10: Time Warrior

Week 11: Scheduling

Week 12: The Repeat Test

Week 13: Personal Kanban

Week 14: Eat That Frog

Week 15: Vacation

Week 16: David Seah’s

7:15AM Ritual

Week 17: Another Simple and Effective Method

Week 18: Daily/Weekly/Monthly To-Do List

Week 19: Ultimate Time Management System

Week 20: Getting Things Done

Week 21: Time Blocking

Week 22: Morning Ritual

Week 23: Beat the Week

Week 24: Productivity Ritual

Week 25: Make it Happen in 10 Minutes

Week 26: Focus & Relief List

Week 27: Accountability Chart

Week 28: Limiting Choices

Week 29: Zen to Done

Week 30: Heatmapping

Week 31: Gamification

Week 32: The 12 Week Year

Week 33: David Seah’s Ten for Ten

Week 34: David Seah’s Emergent Task Planner

Week 35: Steve Kamb’s Do It Now

Week 36: Rising Early

Week 37: Computer Shortcuts

Week 38: Interrupter’s Log

Week 39: Project Management

Week 40: Little and Often

Week 41: Problem Solving Approach

Week 42: Inbox Zero

Week 43: Resistance List

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Can a Resistance List Help You Get More Done?

Can a Resistance List Help You Get More Done?

productivity, GTD, to do list, get organizedThis is Week 43 of a Year of Living Productively

This week I tested whether a Resistance List could help me make better use of my time when I didn’t feel like working. I used Laza Lists to track tasks. Scroll to the bottom of last week’s post for a full explanation. 

How a Resistance List Saved My Sanity This Week

  • Made me feel like less obvious tasks would get done. I enjoyed thinking of tasks to add to this list, beyond reading and internet stuff. I imagined that I would actually do them once they were written done, and I felt great about that.

 

How a Resistance List Made Me Crazy This Week

  • I didn’t use it. And that isn’t because I didn’t experience resistance. I had a LOT of it this week. It’s just that when I’m resistant, I resist lists, period. I gravitated toward all the activities I had intentionally not put on my resistance list: reading and internet stuff and chatting.
  • I didn’t need it. I realized that I already have a resistance list built into my ToDoist list. For example, a friend suggested I check out a website today. I added that to tomorrow’s list. When I resist doing important tasks, I will naturally seek to check that task off. It will be easy, quick, and fun, yet will keep me working in my to-do list.

Did a Resistance List Help Me Get More Done?

Not at all.  I think even the idea that I needed it threw me off course. The comments I received to last week’s post suggested this would happen. At least I know that my low-resistance tasks have to be a part of my main list.

**UPDATE**

I’ve never even considered using this again.

time tracking, get organized, productivityThe Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for Week 44

This week I’ll be testing time tracking. I have used a number of different apps to meticulously track my time over the years with marginal benefit. If you’ve never tracked your time, it’s a good place to start. This week I’ll be moving on to tracking time in terms of routine using the HomeRoutines app. But scroll down for some other great options.

The concept. Even though I know better, I tend to try to make numerous habit changes at once. Despite FLYLady‘s warning to me years ago to start with just one habit at a time (shining your sink), I tried to perform her whole evening routine. I wasn’t even content to get that down before I tried to take on her morning and weekly routines, too.

Research suggests that one reason we fail to create multiple new habits at once is that we run out of willpower. If I don’t have the habit of getting up early, for example, and think I will also start working out first thing and skipping soda in the afternoon, I’m very likely to fail and forget about all three habits because I just don’t have the will to carry through. Much better to establish one new habit such that it requires no willpower at all.

Since it makes sense to take on one new habit at a time, it also makes sense to see what I’m actually doing now. Tracking my time minute by minute honestly drove me nuts. I invariably forgot to switch activities and I would end up with a timer showing that I’d been in the bathroom for ten hours. Even when I did a reasonable job of tracking my time, I didn’t know what to make of the results. Was I really spending too much time online when that’s a big part of what I do as a blogger and even as a family member and friend?

The House That Cleans Itself taught me the important principle of working with what you’re already doing. So did heatmapping. I would like to know what I’m actually doing as a part of my routine, so I can make one small change at a time or simply rearrange activities to where they fit better. I decided to track for two weeks since unusual circumstances could skew my results. Next week will be my second week.

If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Watch this Quantified Self video on using Google Calendar to track time. Decide if you’ll use a digital or paper method to track your time. You could just use a notebook to write down what you do. I’m not as concerned with how much time I spend doing things as the order I do them in, but you might be. Just observe your behavior without trying to change it.

Click here to see how time tracking worked for me.

I look forward to hearing what you learn about how you’re spending time.

Here are the links to the productivity hacks I’ve tried so far:

A Year of Living Productively

Week 1: Paper To-Do List

Week 2: Covey’s Quadrants

Week 3: Routines

Week 4: Paper Planner

Week 5: SMEMA

Week 6: Guilt Hour

Week 7: Envision Ideal Day

Week 8: Do it Tomorrow

Week 9: Pomodoro

Week 10: Time Warrior

Week 11: Scheduling

Week 12: The Repeat Test

Week 13: Personal Kanban

Week 14: Eat That Frog

Week 15: Vacation

Week 16: David Seah’s 7:15AM Ritual

Week 17: Another Simple and Effective Method

Week 18: Daily/Weekly/Monthly To-Do List

Week 19: Ultimate Time Management System

Week 20: Getting Things Done

Week 21: Time Blocking

Week 22: Morning Ritual

Week 23: Beat the Week

Week 24: Productivity Ritual

Week 25: Make it Happen in 10 Minutes

Week 26: Focus & Relief List

Week 27: Accountability Chart

Week 28: Limiting Choices

Week 29: Zen to Done

Week 30: Heatmapping

Week 31: Gamification

Week 32: The 12 Week Year

Week 33: David Seah’s Ten for Ten

Week 34: David Seah’s Emergent Task Planner

Week 35: Steve Kamb’s Do It Now

Week 36: Rising Early

Week 37: Computer Shortcuts

Week 38: Interrupter’s Log

Week 39: Project Management

Week 40: Little and Often

Week 41: Problem Solving Approach

Week 42: Inbox Zero

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Can Inbox Zero Help You Get More Done?

Can Inbox Zero Help You Get More Done?

productivity, inbox zero, GTDThis is Week 42 of a Year of Living Productively

This week I tested whether Inbox Zero (with the help of Sanebox) could help me get more done. Scroll to the bottom of last week’s post to see exactly what I did. One addition I made was to use Boxer on my iPhone which integrates with Sanebox.

How Inbox Zero Saved My Sanity This Week

  • Saved me time . Sanebox sent me an email telling me how many minutes I had saved by using their service. I honestly didn’t need the email to see that. Wow. I was amazed by the difference an empty inbox made. I did not have to filter individual emails or even bother unsubscribing for email that I didn’t care to look at. It was all in folders I could quickly scan.
  • Prevented important emails from going unread. I mentioned last week that one of the problems I have had with filtering is that I never look at the filtered emails. Sanebox’s reminder to look at my folders of various emails to see if any should be in my inbox solved that problem. Not only did I look at them, but I was able to scan them so quickly when my important emails weren’t mixed into the bunch.

How Inbox Zero Made Me Crazy This Week

  • Surprised and a little depressed. I really couldn’t believe I had that few “real” emails. I kept reloading my email and searching through the folders to be sure. When I really was sure, I was disappointed that I didn’t have more. That may be pathetic, but it’s true!
  • I didn’t need many of the options Sanebox includes. I did not use the service to snooze emails. I also found that the various folders such as “bulk” and “black hole” weren’t really necessary for me. The “Later” folder did the job as well as any. I also found that the fee for these extra folders and services was more than I would be willing to pay.

Did Inbox Zero Help Me Get More Done?

Yes!  I am delighted that I no longer have to waste my time sorting and filtering my email. So yes, I have decided to subscribe to the Sanebox Snack Plan which is $49/year. The time savings is very much worth it to me, even though I feel a bit lonelier. 😉 If you’d like a free option for doing this, consider turning on Gmail Tabs. The difference is you will have more tabs and will not be reminded to check the emails in your tabs. There is not yet an Android app for viewing tabs, though the Gmail iOS app will enable you to view email this way.

**UPDATE**

I am still using Sanebox and am saving myself tons of time. I enjoy Sanebox even more now that I’m using the @blackhole folder for things I don’t want to see again. It’s so quick and hassle-free. I highly recommend it!

You may also find this article by HubSpot on four different ways of achieving inbox zero useful.

productivity, GTD, to do list, get organizedThe Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for Week 43

This week I’ll be testing a resistance list. This article from Lifehack gave me the idea that it might be effective to have a list of tasks ready for when you don’t feel like working. I will be adding my tasks to Laza Lists, a free iTunes app.

The concept. We all have times when we just don’t feel like working. That time would be now for me. It would be great if we could still manage to get things (anything!) done during periods of resistance. Heatmapping helped me a lot with this. Getting Things Done would have us create a low energy context for such tasks. The problems I have with that is I tend not to want to even look at my main list when I’m resisting and I don’t put a lot of good low resistance tasks on my list anyway.

I am interested to see if I can get through my high resistance times by doing productive tasks I’ve added to a separate list. I think any kind of list could work, but I’m choosing Laza Lists because of its ability to randomly choose a task on a list. I think this introduces a gamification aspect that could help.

If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Read 12 Ways to Still Be Productive When You Don’t Feel Like Working. Choose a list approach. Spend some time adding low-resistance tasks to your list and continue adding them as you think of them. Use your list when you don’t feel like working.

To see how a resistance list worked for me, click here.

I would love it if you’d comment or share this post. It helps me get past resistance.

Here are the links to the productivity hacks I’ve tried so far:

A Year of Living Productively

Week 1: Paper To-Do List

Week 2: Covey’s Quadrants

Week 3: Routines

Week 4: Paper Planner

Week 5: SMEMA

Week 6: Guilt Hour

Week 7: Envision Ideal Day

Week 8: Do it Tomorrow

Week 9: Pomodoro

Week 10: Time Warrior

Week 11: Scheduling

Week 12: The Repeat Test

Week 13: Personal Kanban

Week 14: Eat That Frog

Week 15: Vacation

Week 16: David Seah’s 7:15AM Ritual

Week 17: Another Simple and Effective Method

Week 18: Daily/Weekly/Monthly To-Do List

Week 19: Ultimate Time Management System

Week 20: Getting Things Done

Week 21: Time Blocking

Week 22: Morning Ritual

Week 23: Beat the Week

Week 24: Productivity Ritual

Week 25: Make it Happen in 10 Minutes

Week 26: Focus & Relief List

Week 27: Accountability Chart

Week 28: Limiting Choices

Week 29: Zen to Done

Week 30: Heatmapping

Week 31: Gamification

Week 32: The 12 Week Year

Week 33: David Seah’s Ten for Ten

Week 34: David Seah’s Emergent Task Planner

Week 35: Steve Kamb’s Do It Now

Week 36: Rising Early

Week 37: Computer Shortcuts

Week 38: Interrupter’s Log

Week 39: Project Management

Week 40: Little and Often

Week 41: Problem Solving Approach

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Can a Problem Solving Approach Help You Get More Done?

Can a Problem Solving Approach Help You Get More Done?

problem solving approach, GTDThis is Week 41 of a Year of Living Productively

This week I tested whether  Scott Young’s idea of writing to solve personal problems would help me get things done. I intended just to write about them, but ended up working on and answering a series of guided questions instead. I don’t yet have this approach finalized, but when I do, I will share it with my Facebook fans and subscribers. Scroll to the end of last week’s post for details.

How a Problem Solving Approach Saved My Sanity This Week

  • Gave me perspective . One of the problems I’ve been having concerns the kids’ chores. Writing the answers to questions about this problem reminded me of my purpose: to teach my children. If they aren’t doing a good job cleaning, it isn’t because they’d like to drive me nuts, but because they need to be taught. I found my stress level was reduced after writing, which in turn enabled me to focus on my work.
  • Helped me make tough choices. Another problem I wrote about concerned my membership in a paper scrapbooking club. I love these monthly kits, but I’m not keeping up with them. I’m sad about that, but writing helped me realize that right now, ending my membership is the right decision.
  • Advice sparked my creativity. With the kids’ cleaning issue, I decided to get advice by searching online. One of the things I read resonated with me: kids desire novelty when it comes to chores. Lately my kids have complained that they have to do X chore too often, even though they’re rotated. That gave me the idea to create a system for randomly assigning chores that the kids are liking. I’ll be sharing a template with subscribers for this as well.

How a Problem Solving Approach Made Me Crazy This Week

  • Takes time. I found I kept putting the writing off. When I started, I realized why. Problem solving takes time. Even though it can save time in the long run, it can feel impossible to step back from it all long enough to find solutions. Once I started the process, I became so engrossed in it that I missed my dentist appointment (even after getting my iPhone reminder!). I then found myself reluctant to return to it because it was a time suck.
  • Can be a little scary. I know one of my issues was a minor one, but I didn’t want to admit that I didn’t have time for the monthly scrapbooking kits I’m receiving. If you have bigger issues to address, I can see where it could be threatening.
  • Can be overwhelming. In my clinical practice, I would have people do a brain dump of all their worries and it was quite effective. But I discovered if you’re going to truly problem solve, addressing multiple problems is too much. After this week, I think writing down every problem can be cathartic, but really tackling more than one is ineffective. I did discover that many issues could be grouped into one, however.

Did Problem Solving Help Me Get More Done?

Yes, but peace of mind is the most important benefit I noted. I would need a longer test period to determine effectiveness of the solutions I’m testing. While asking people for advice has been very useful to me in the past, I’ve learned that the internet is chock full of advice if you’re short on time.

**UPDATE**

I still use a problem solving approach, but I still need reminders to do so. It’s so easy to just keep flailing around, trying different things or submitting to hopelessness.

productivity, inbox zero, GTDThe Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for Week 42

This week I’ll be testing Inbox Zero. The new approach I’m using to control email is Sanebox which will limit the number of emails that are in my inbox, while providing me a reminder to read the rest.

The concept. Prior to reading Getting Things Done for the first time, I was drowning in thousands of emails. I was constantly forgetting to reply to important email because it was mixed in among all the sales mail and Yahoo group emails (remember those?). I was spending gobs of time processing them, too. David Allen helped me realize that I had to get email out of my inbox into folders based on whether I needed to take action or was waiting on information, for example.

Since then, I’ve reduced my email significantly with a number of different approaches I’ve tried: Goodtodo, Active Inbox, IQTell, and most recently ToDoist (with their Gmail extension). Using Gmail, I’ve also been careful to unsubscribe from unnecessary email. I do not use Gmail’s new tabs for sorting email because I already have so many filters set up. But that’s the problem. I can’t keep up with the new senders. Either the unsub option doesn’t work or the sender cleverly changes the “send from” email to bypass my filters. The result is I spend way more time than I should managing my email.

There are other options for automatically filtering email, but I like that Sanebox will send me an email reminding me to review my filtered emails. For me, out of sight is out of mind. Once I filter something, I don’t look at it again, which isn’t good when an important email gets filtered. Sanebox is supposed to get “smarter” by remembering which emails you move from the inbox to “Later” and vice versa.

If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Decide on a method for managing your email. If you want inspiration for achieving Inbox Zero, read this. If you want some options for achieving it, read this Mashable post.   Of course, feel free to try Sanebox, too. It offers a free trial which is what I will be using.

To see how I did with Inbox Zero, click here.

I’d love to connect on the Productivity Community on Google+, but maybe don’t email me this week. 😉

Here are the links to the productivity hacks I’ve tried so far:

A Year of Living Productively

Week 1: Paper To-Do List

Week 2: Covey’s Quadrants

Week 3: Routines

Week 4: Paper Planner

Week 5: SMEMA

Week 6: Guilt Hour

Week 7: Envision Ideal Day

Week 8: Do it Tomorrow

Week 9: Pomodoro

Week 10: Time Warrior

Week 11: Scheduling

Week 12: The Repeat Test

Week 13: Personal Kanban

Week 14: Eat That Frog

Week 15: Vacation

Week 16: David Seah’s 7:15AM Ritual

Week 17: Another Simple and Effective Method

Week 18: Daily/Weekly/Monthly To-Do List

Week 19: Ultimate Time Management System

Week 20: Getting Things Done

Week 21: Time Blocking

Week 22: Morning Ritual

Week 23: Beat the Week

Week 24: Productivity Ritual

Week 25: Make it Happen in 10 Minutes

Week 26: Focus & Relief List

Week 27: Accountability Chart

Week 28: Limiting Choices

Week 29: Zen to Done

Week 30: Heatmapping

Week 31: Gamification

Week 32: The 12 Week Year

Week 33: David Seah’s Ten for Ten

Week 34: David Seah’s Emergent Task Planner

Week 35: Steve Kamb’s Do It Now

Week 36: Rising Early

Week 37: Computer Shortcuts

Week 38: Interrupter’s Log

Week 39: Project Management

Week 40: Little and Often

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