If you’re anything like me, you lose control of your day pretty much the moment you wake up. When I get home from coaching a couple of morning classes, I step into a maelstrom of Paw Patrol-inspired chaos featuring breakfast cooking, tea making, dog walking and feeding, child dressing, teeth cleaning, dishwasher stacking, all with the ultimate aim of getting the young ‘un out of the house and up to school.
Having a daily routine helps you develop good habits and stick to your goals. If you have a hectic schedule, though, forcing certain types of work into every day can be counterproductive. Instead, build a weekly schedule.
If you're feeling stuck on a project or your workflow just isn't cutting it, it can be tough to figure out exactly what the problem is. This tool guides you through a series of questions and exercises to help pinpoint your productivity problem.
iOS: Workflows is one of those amazing apps that really shouldn't exist on iOS. With it, you can do all sorts of automation things. Over on One Tap Less, they point to a few workflows that allow you to do things you're definitely not supposed to do on iOS: download content from various apps.
Acknowledging and celebrating your victories, however small, plays an important part in keeping yourself motivated. A success board is a simple way see what you've accomplished this year, and motivate you to take on what's next.
These days it isn't "so much to do, so little time", it's "too much to do, no time". Use these techniques to improve your productivity and make sure you stay on track and don't miss important tasks.
No one wants to be in the way of others. Sometimes you might not even realise that you're causing a problem when you're busy at work, focused on your own project. But if you take special care to communicate clearly, you won't become a human bottleneck.
There's no shortage of productivity techniques to try, but optimal productivity comes in different states for everyone. Some people are morning larks and others night owls, some need silence while others need music. If you're struggling to improve your own workflow, here are three areas to start experimenting with.
A global survey into the effectiveness of open plan offices has found that most workers believe they are noisy environments that hamper productivity. Around half of respondents admitted they regularly used quiet meeting rooms or elected to work from home to avoid office racket. What do you think is the worst thing about open plan working environments?
Pondering a decision for a few extra seconds could actually be a waste of time. A team of international researchers have discovered unconscious neural activity precedes subsequent free decisions by as much as four seconds. It can even influence the outcome of your responses.
Dear Lifehacker, I'm trying to find software that could be used in conjunction with Dropbox or other features to allow people to put a signature on a document and email it back or otherwise. I'm trying to cut back on paper and hug some trees! Any suggestions? Thanks, Signing Up
Your high school science class may have you associating the word "pivot" with the wonders of basic mechanics, but in this age it's been hijacked for another purpose -- a term to describe switching up your established direction for something completely different.
Many of the physical setups and mental tactics we've recommended to banish desktop clutter and the like can be summarized by the 5S methodology. It's a Japanese system consisting of five principles to keep any work station clean, labelled, orderly, and efficient.
We asked our editors and contributors to create a blue-sky wishlist for all things productivity and software in 2009. Read on for their responses, and to contribute your own do-wants for the new year.
Flowcharts are supposed to be a combination of words and line drawings anyone can grasp, but some software solutions get far too complex with them. LucidChart, an online flowchart creator that offers a free plan with 5MB of online storage, gets back to black-ink/white-background basics. The standard process/decision/input/etc. inputs are in a left-hand toolbar, the diagram background is graph-lined paper, and it works fairly snappy on most browsers. There are custom images for certain fields, and you can upload custom images if you'd like. But for those who just want a clean and easy PDF, screengrab, or print-out, LucidChart's basic tools are best. LucidChart has a free plan that requires a sign-up. LucidChart
The New York Times' Shifting Careers column interviews Peggy Klaus, author of The Hard Truth About Soft Skills and noted proponent of the power of blogging, about the "soft skills" that everyone—especially the productivity-obsessed among us—can use occasional coaching on. Among the questions is one that any freelancer or over-scheduled office worker has probably pondered: How do you tell a boss or an important client that you can't tackle a project, whether due to deadlines, preferences, or nearly any other reason. Klaus' response.
All-nighters are usually symptoms of planning gone awry, but sometimes they're just plain unavoidable. The Cranking Widgets Blog rounds up some hard-won advice on getting all the way to sunrise while actually getting your work done. Among the most valuable tips:Map Out Objectives Before Starting Work ... If it's 8:00 p.m. and you know you'll be watching the sunrise from your desk, it's best to plot out exactly what needs to be done on a sheet of paper and check things off as you complete them. You don't want to have to count on your barely functioning brain to tell you what to do next, especially after you've been at it for several hours.I must sadly admit I can vouch for that wisdom, as it's all too easy to get sidetracked at 3 a.m. by web sites and other time holes. For more all-night advice, check out tips for pulling an all-nighter studying. Photo by patpompak. How to Work Effectively for 24 Consecutive Hours
While there's something to be said for multitasking, a serial workflow—completing one task after another in order of priority—can be much more conducive to getting your work done. Splitting your attention between several tasks at once can slow you down compared to knocking off one focused task after another on an ordered list. Today I'm going to show you how to create a serial workflow platform with just a few simple tools that you probably already use: plain text, a couple handy extensions, and browser tabs.
Constant phone interruptions can break up even the most dedicated workflow. However, you can solve this by setting aside a specific time each day to return and make your calls. Productivity blogger John Cox has more: Folks will leave you messages. Return those messages at a set time. Try to say between 10AM and 11AM in the morning and 2PM and 3PM in the afternoon is the time that I call people back. Not before, not after. I suppose there could always be exceptions to the rule due to emergencies, but to be honest with you, I haven't had to make the exception. The only reason that folks expect an immediate return call is because we train them into that behavior. I've had to do this since I started working exclusively from home, and it's cut my distractions down pretty drastically. If you've set aside a specific phone time, please share in the comments how this is working (or not working) for you.
