Step 9 & 10. Guidance & Tricks

Step 9 - Seek Guidance and Keep Improving Your System

"My intent is not to add more to the plethora of modern theories and models about how to be successful. I have tried, on the contrary, to define the core methods that don't change with the times, and which, when applied, always work. Like gravity, when you understand the principle, you can operate a lot more effectively, no matter what you're doing. Perhaps this is the Leading Edge of Back to Basics!."

David Allen, "Getting Things Done (GTD) and the Art of Stress-free Productivity"

It's all about the basics... and the obvious

It's our eight step of the course and up until now you can see that what we've gone through so far is pretty much the obvious stuff - decide on next actions, organize stuff into projects, work in different contexts, etc... but the problem is - we don't usually do the obvious.

Rediscover the obvious - that the obvious works for you

Very often we have to be reminded of the obvious... or we have to rediscover the obvious methods, guidelines or rules that worked for us in the past and if they really did... they will work again. It's like with the Weekly Review - if you've been doing it for several weeks in the row and you remember how "in control" you felt during the entire week thanks to that - you know it works.. and if for some reason you recently skipped the weekly review - you'll most certainly would want to get back to the "good-old-habit" of reviewing your stuff once every week.

We constantly need inspiration and a call to action

When I first read the book by David Allen "Getting Things Done" I was inspired - it was my call to action - to start getting things done... and later to develop Nozbe for myself to help me achieve a productive state... and later to show it off to the world - so you can benefit from my lessons. I've read the book several times now, I've read the English version, the Polish translation, I have it as an eBook on my computer and even as an audiobook on my music player. And I still need to get back to it from time to time.

Seek guidance and improve your system

This course is just the beginning and it's a good start but in the future I encourage you to find some spare time to read some additional materials that will most probably inspire you even more and remind you about constantly improving yourself and your productivity systems... and your use of Nozbe as your productivity tool.

Read the book by David Allen: "Getting Things Done and the Art of Stress-free productivity"

I don't think I have to say more on this - this book will change your life as it has changed mine. As I mentioned earlier, I'm still getting back to it now and then and I keep re-discovering things that help me improve my productivity system. Go get it at Amazon or in your local bookstore. If you live outside of the USA, chances are the title is a little different (it's really hard to translate the phrase "getting things done" to any other language than English) but I'm sure it's been translated. I know there's German, Spanish, French, Dutch and Polish version for sure. Google "David Allen" in your own language to find out.

Go get the 2nd book by David Allen: "Ready for Anything: 52 productivity principles for Getting Things Done"

No, I'm not David Allen's salesman nor am I affiliated with him. It's just that his books are great. I'm right now finishing this one and it's a great compilation of practical tips and tricks for Getting Things Done. We'll talk about some of these in the last part of this course. You can get this book from Amazon or your local bookstore. No, I don't think this one has been localized just yet - check for yourself.

 Subscribe to GTD blogs

You won't believe me how many great Getting Things Done-oriented blogs are out there with so much great information and content on personal productivity. I've been inspired by them to create this blog as not just a blog about Nozbe and Nozbe's new features and updates, but also a place to give you some productivity tips - just like this course. However, there are other blogs I'd recommend like "What's the Next Action", "Did I get things Done" or the well known "43Folders"  - just to name the few.

Check out some other great online productivity courses

My "Simply Get Things Done Course" is just the beginning. There are other great and very practical courses out there that can help you improve your workflow. I personally love the "Inbox Zero" course by Merlin Mann of 43Folders.

Go ahead and ask me - Ask Michael

If you're a Nozbe customer - you know I'm here to help you as well. I've been going through all the stages of personal productivity. From a very unproductive state, through step-by-step creation of my productivity workflow, development of Nozbe web application to help me get things done and now I'm in the process of improving myself and trying to achieve a "black belt" in productivity. So feel free to go ahead and ask me if you have doubts, questions or concerns... or don't know if something works for you or doesn't. Click here for details.

The bottom line:

We all need constant inspiration and a call to action. This course is just the beginning and will set you on the right track but in order to improve your system and workflow, remember to read some books, subscribe to GTD-blogs or other online courses.. and most of all - don't be afraid to referring back to these information sources as you may always find  something new every time you re-read "the obvious". 

 

Step 10 - Get things done now - final tips and tricks

"Maximum Productivity is making something happen - furniture, freeways, or fun - with as little effort as possible. The fact that we have "effort" at all, though, implies that we confront resistance and impediments when we want to get anything done. Improving productivity has a lot to do with dealing more effectively with the hindrances, barriers, and distractions that show up in our way - anything that opposes or weakens our forward motion."

David Allen, "Ready for Anything - 52 Productivity Principles for Getting Things Done"

To achieve maximum productivity with as little effort as possible

We are reaching the end of this productivity course and in this last chapter let me share with you my own tips and tricks - methods that work for me and help me be more productive and more "in control" during my day-to-day activities. I've opened this lesson with a quote from the second book by David Allen - Ready for Anything... which is actually a great compilation of tips and tricks for getting things done and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Know where you are - and where you are going

Over the time I've learned several lessons and one of the most important ones is to know where I am and where I'm going. Know where you are work-wise and also in your private life... and where you want to be. This helps a lot when making decisions.

The same thing applies to your commitments - if you know your current commitments you'll have it a lot easier to choose the new ones. And your job - before you commit to something - ask yourself if this is really your job to do that - if it really fits your job description. Don't fall for the notion that you "can do anything" - of course you can - but do you have to?

Don't be a slave of your calendar

Many people become slaves of their calendars when preparing tasks for their week. They would just go "I'll do this on Monday, this on Tuesday..etc." but they it's hardly ever possible to do it like that. This is why David Allen says it's important to put time-specific information like appointments or meetings in your calendar. Nothing more. Nothing less.

For your weekly tasks - prepare list of your next actions and do whatever you feel like doing at the moment - don't put your tasks in your calendar - it's not designed for this. Trust me - I've been there and it has never worked for me. Now my calendar contains only things that need to happen at a specific time and day.

Imagine a "cranking widgets" job

When planning your tasks and you action lists and "next actions" list - always imagine one of the healthiest jobs psychologically - cranking widgets. It goes like this:

You go to your work - there is a pile of un-cranked widgets, a widget-cranking-machine and once a widget has been cranked - there is a ready product. You don't have to think what you have to do. It's dead simple. You don't have to think, just do your job of cranking widgets.

The same can apply to your daily job. Try to design your actions in such a way that they would require you to put as little thought to them as possible... and you'll be a happy person. Remember - all of your actions are just widgets to crank. Try to think of it the same way.

Checking Email - make it your decision

Again, many people are slaves of their Email program which keeps on checking emails once every few minutes so you get distracted every time new message arrives. The same applies to reading email. Have you read any single email message more than once? More than twice?

Why?

Make checking email your conscious decision - I decide to check email every 2-3 hours and then, when I read a message - I decide what to do with it - to respond, delete, delegate or defer this message. I decide if it's actionable (and add an action to my Nozbe) or not. I'm receiving many email messages per day so reading them several times is a waste of time and energy.

Put the stuff in front of the door of your mind

If you don't want to forget about taking something with you, where do you put it? In front of your door? Isn't that genius? The same applies when I remember in the evening I need to do something on my computer tomorrow first thing in the morning - I put a post-it sticker on my laptop.

This is really simple and again - your mind can forget about it. Don't put your stuff inside your mind. Put it in front of the door of your mind. Free your mind and you'll be a happy person.

Thank you for staying with me!

Thanks for reading this course. I feel so happy that my own struggle to be more productive is helping others to improve their personal productivity. It all started with Nozbe - a getting things done web application I developed for myself - it worked for me and now thousands of users from the USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France, Poland and many other countries all over the world are happy that Nozbe is helping them get things done.

I decided to share my own way of "Getting things done" in this simple, 10-step course, and hope you'll also benefit from it. Don't hesitate to write your comments and feedback - it'd be greatly appreciated. Hope with this simple course you'll discover even better how Nozbe can help you get things done.

The bottom line:

There are many simple tips and tricks that help us get things done even better. Remember to know where you are and where you want to be and decide accordingly. Don't be a slave to your calendar or email and decide when to do things and when to reply to messages. Try to prepare your actions keeping in mind that all you're doing is cranking widgets... with as little thinking-effort as possible. Put stuff in front of the door of your mind. I encourage you to try Nozbe as your cranking-widgets machine and I'm sure you'll benefit from it as much as all those thousands of active Nozbe users worldwide.