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Getting Things Done
Apr 23 2006
Productivity is a hot topic these days, so I thought I'd contribute to the ever-growing mountain of hints and tips with a few things you can do to Get Things Done:
1. Make a to-do list
  
  Write down a list of all the things you have to do. When you figure out more things to do, just add them to the list. I just use notepad for my list.
2. Prioritise your list
  
  You don't actually have to write down the priorities somewhere. It's probably pretty obvious, so you just need to keep it in mind. The key is to do higher priority things first. For example: Finish the project your boss keeps asking about - high priority. Catch up on 2035 unread blog posts - low priority.
3. Go do the things on your list
  
  Seriously. Right now. Go do them. Don't even read the rest of this article. Go. Now. Do the dishes, or go back to work, or write that blog post or whatever it is you have to do. I'm not kidding. Close your browser.
4. Try not to spend 3 hours a day reading productivity tips
  
  Think of all the things you could get done with the time you spend trying to figure out how to get all these things done. Actually, nevermind, don't think about it.
I hope these tips are useful to you. Actually, if you're reading this far they obviously haven't been. So, seriously, either go back to work or just give up on being productive altogether. Whichever one is fine with me.

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Comments

1. The Ultimate Groupie at 5:36am on April 24, 2006

I work 2 full-time jobs, and run a handful of online sites, so being productive is a major part of my line. While I would not recommend my method of becoming more productive, perhaps readers can learn something from it.

I often compare productivity to automatic bank withdraws. So, I setup my day so that I have to get things done because the client on the other end is waiting. For example, with the groupie site, I decided to send out schedules to customers, because they will expect the articles from me. So, I have to do them.

When I was younger, I made pretty to-do lists. Then, I spent more time making them prettier, or buy better agenda books to put them in. In the end, I had about three of four duplicate copies of do-to lists, and I didn't really end up doing most of them.

Point 3 is VERY important. It's just a matter of doing them. My method is to do them as they come up, and if I can't keep up, then I prioritize them. So far, that has worked. I love Point 4, because I used to do that all the time. In hoping to be more productive, I actually felt that I was productive just by reading productivity articles. Needless to say, that was a complete waste of time. While I could quote everything all the authors said, I had no clue how to get them done. So, yes, the key is definitely to just DO THEM!

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