I work in IT and spend a lot of my time on the Internet. I love gadgets. I love new technology. The question is, does all this technology help us or is it really holding us back? Spending a lot of time messing about with technology and not really achieving anything – sound familiar? I do often have to take a step back and wonder if what I am doing is a productive use of my time. By productive use of my time I mean that I am questioning whether I am using my precious time in the best way to reach my ultimate goals (the end game)?

Whilst obviously it is essential to spend time on your interests (what’s the point of living if you aren’t doing what you want to do), it is important to review and make sure that we aren’t doing things just for the sake of doing them, and more to the point not kidding ourselves that messing around with our ‘systems’ ‘workflows’ and ‘lists’ is actually productive use of time. I have found that the more technology and systems available to me, the more information overload I have. I can’t get enough information sometimes and I often find that I don’t want to discard a piece of information until I have got the most out of it. This could be reading it, committing it to memory, filing it for possible later use or sharing it with other people who might find the information useful.

For example, at the moment I am spending quite a lot of time redeveloping my system for holding, organising, using and storing the mountain of information I come across on any given day. I’d say that over 90% of this information comes from being connected. It could be a new blog, a search that I have done on a particular topic and found 10 links I want to follow up on or something that a fellow twitterer has suggested. Whilst systems (such as GTD) are great for organising and storing information, without a execution plan (the actual doing rather than just collecting) your pile (albeit digital) of information to digest just continues to grow. 18 months ago I don’t think that I had this mountain of information to deal with. I wasn’t aware of as much about social media, blogs and productivity. I probably did have a similar amount of information to deal with but just didn’t realise that I did or wasn’t so worried about it as I wasn’t clued up on ‘being productive’.

Tim Ferriss suggests going on a low information diet. This is a brilliant Idea and I have applied that principle (at least in part) by cutting down my RSS feeds, and only going on the internet to look for information when I need it. The problem I have is that I am interested in a lot of things, as always Google and the answer to my endless questions is only a click away.

I do enjoy learning something new every day and being knowledgeable on a given topic, but sometimes I need to take a step back, not gather any new information and process the information I have.

At the moment I am trying to simplify my system to serve two main purposes therefore:

1. Efficient capture, storage and relevance of information.
2. Efficient execution of action with the information relevant to my goals and progression.

So my system is a work in progress. I don’t think I’ll ever stop tweaking it, but for now it’s back to organising the wealth of information I have whilst being ruthless with the deletes and taking action against those things that are going to make a difference.

Is productivity making you unproductive? Have you any tips to share? Let me know in the comments below!

Image by Will Lion on Flickr via Creative Commons

“Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” Harvey MacKay

*Please note that I use the British English spelling of Maximise as I am in the UK!

Time is a finite resource. Like all resources in this world we really need to accept that they are finite, seek to make the best use of them and not waste them.

I have long argued that time is your most precious resource. Time is what enables you to follow your dreams. Sure you might need money, luck or skills along the way but all of these factors rely ultimately on time.

What is time?

Time is a concept. Einstein once said that if he was to travel on the tram in his local town at the speed-of-light whilst looking at the town clock then time would stand still. This illustrated that time is only a concept. Have you ever noticed that sometimes time drags whilst other times it flys by? I honestly can’t remember the last time that time went slowly for me. I always have more that enough to do, and not enough time to do it.

Use your time wisely:

1. Work effectively.
I won’t repeat my own productivity tips here, but to maximise your time your really need to work effectively. If you can complete a job is less time, it gives you more of your time currency back.

2. Use your time in the right context.
You know your routine, your plans and your motivations. You should be able to understand how to use your time wisely. For example whilst waiting for a train or plane you can catch up on reading, but whilst driving it might be a good time to make calls or catch an audio-book. Also you might be more effective at writing in the morning, or going running in the afternoon. You know yourself better than anyone, use this to be the best manager of your own time you can be.

3. Don’t let other people steal your time.
If you take away only one thing from this post let it be this. Guard your time as if it was money.

4. Don’t steal time from yourself.
Do procrastinate, waste time or kid yourself that watching daytime TV is a productive use of your time.

5. Understand what value time has to yourself and other people.
The saying goes that time is money. Understand that time is just as valuable to other people as it is to yourself. Don’t waste people’s time, and they won’t waste yours.

6. Use your time wisely.
Eliminate the meaningless, focus on the rewarding. Make sure that your actions are the right ones to take you to where you want to be.

7. Learn how to estimate your time correctly.
Most people are very poor time estimators. Don’t be one of these people. You are less likely to let yourself down if you understand how much you can realistically do in a certain time period rather than overestimating the amount of tasks you can do and being constantly disappointed, or feeling unproductive.

8. Know your own biological clock.
Some times are better than other to work on certain tasks as your body rhythms change throughout the day. For example I find it easier to write in the morning but work out in the late afternoon. By knowing when you work best on what types of tasks you can be the most productive with your time at all times.

9. Time to relax.
Understand that you need time to relax. Schedule it in if you need to, but sometimes the best thing that you can do with your time is nothing…it’s your time – make conscious decisions to use it how you want to.

10. Time to think.
The more free time you are able to provide yourself with, the more time you will have to think. Thinking time is important, it allows you to process information correctly to make the most productive use of it in the future.

Time Saving Summary:
I’ll reiterate these two main points: Guard your time, remember it is your most pressure asset. You are the manager of your time. Manage it wisely and manage it to you own personal greatest benefit.

How do you maximise your time? And what tips to you have for managing time and guarding your time?

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Bits & Bobs:

• Really please with the debate sparked by my last post. Have you left a comment to add to the discussion?
• I’m planning a series of competitions on my blog starting very soon. Make sure you are subscribed for more updates.

Image Credit: by laffy4k on Flickr via Creative Commons

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Time for Three:
Reading around the web:

• http://www.lifemadegreat.com/Blog.aspx?BlogID=25
• http://zenhabits.net/2008/12/the-essential-time-saving-guide-for-busy-people/
• http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2008/12/08/keys-to-success-the-dip/

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Thanks for reading.

I hope you enjoyed my post. I’d love to hear your comments below or get a Digg or Stumble!

“We shall never have more time. We have, and always had, all the time there is. No object is served in waiting until next week or even until tomorrow. Keep going… Concentrate on something useful.” Arnold Bennett

There has been a trend recently of understanding what Productivity is and isn’t, and the realisation by many (myself included) that tweaking your productivity system doesn’t necessarily make you a better worker, person or anything else.

In the last week I have seen two posts that show this trend:

1. Jonathan Mead, regular contributor at Zen Habits helping us in a tongue in cheek way to understand that we make be productivity junkies.

2. The excellent Lateral Action highlights a post by Merlin Mann on the changing route of his 43folders blog (perhaps a blog that can be ‘blamed’ in part for the productivity movement’s overkill).

I  have been there, done that and got the moleskine notebooks with the over-the-top productivity systems. I proposed a 12 Step Programme for overcoming your Productivity Addiction several weeks ago. The thing is this, productivity is not about how your work out what you have to do and organise it, productivity is about using your time in the most efficient way to create more time for yourself. I have always been more of a fan of the world efficiency over productivity. Efficiency conjures up images of doing something well and doing something in a way that doesn’t waste time or resources. Productivity makes me think of car production where you want to increase your productivity which essentially means making more units per hour. In this way productivity is about creating more things in the time you have, efficiency (the true core of productivity) is creating more time to do more things (that you want to).

This is key to the principle of my blog. Just check out my about me page (which I will be massively updating soon as it hasn’t changed since I started blogging back in April). Essentially I want to create more time to do to do the things that I want to do, and pursue my Lifestyle Projects.

What are you thoughts on the productivity movement? Do you have any examples of productivity overkill? Let me know in the comments below!

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Bits & Bobs:

• Don’t forget you can follow me in real-time on Twitter.
• I’m planning a series of competitions on my blog starting very soon. Make sure you are subscribed for more updates.
• I’ve also been reading about keeping things simple and concise so I thought I’d try a shorter post. Got another post coming your way this week.
  

Image Credit: by Spankmeeehard on Flickr via Creative Commons

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Time for Three:
Reading around the web:

• http://jayfrawley.com/2008/12/02/are-you-making-a-dying-instead-of-a-living-here-are-7-clues-you-might-be/
  
• http://www.willitchangeyou.com/so-you%E2%80%99ve-heard-it-all-before-part-4-what-next/
• http://motivatethyself.com/2008/12/05/let-us-give-your-blog-a-boost/

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Thanks for reading.

I hope you enjoyed my post. I’d love to hear your comments below or get a Digg or Stumble!

I’ve been ill with a stomach bug for the last few days and this has reminded me of the importance of rest and slowing down. When you are interested in productivity and achieving your goals it is easy to become too focused on always doing something, and neglect the fact that sometimes doing nothing is equally as important. Allowing your body and mind to rest and recuperate is an important part of healthy living.

It is no lie that in order to achieve your goals you need to make productive use of your time and really make sure that you are taking the right actions to get you to where you want to be; let’s not forget that it is all very well complaining that we don’t like our current job, situation etc. but if you don’t take action and you just lie on the sofa watching TV night after night then you are in a position of your own making. Like many things in life, rest and work are areas where you need to strike the right balance to enable you to be efficient in what you do, and get where you want to, without burning out.

Here are some tips on slowing down, but still remaining productive towards your long term aspirations.

1. Recognise the signs
You need to learn to recognise when you are working too hard or approaching burn out. By learning the symptoms and causes you can take the necessary actions to make sure that you avoid getting into a fatigue situation early.

2. Allow yourself to stop
So you recognise the signs that you are doing too much, but heres the hard part; persuading yourself to stop and rest for a while. I often find that I feel the need to always be productive and if I am not doing something constructive then I feel like I am selling myself short. There is always a time for hard work, but there is also a need for rest.

3. Plan your rest
I always make sure that I have something to look forward too such as a holiday, weekend away or something new and exciting to do. This is a great technique because then, when you are facing a difficult challenge or a situation that requires extra focus, you can always look forward to something that you have planned coming up soon.

4. Have a day off
Another great tip is to have a day off, at least one per week. You need a day to rest and do nothing. This allows you mind to recoup and process the copious amount of information you have to deal with on a daily basis.

5. Use your time wisely (be productive)
You are less likely to feel guilty about resting or taking time off if you are productive when you are working towards your goals. Make sure that you use your time in the most productive way you can and don’t procrastinate. If you strive to get the action habit then you will achieve what you want whilst still having the time to relax.

I know that many people are working hard in their Lifestyle Project to have more time off! Work hard, but don’t deny yourself the rest that your body and mind deserves along the way to achieving your goals.

How do you relax? Do you feel that you can’t relax because you always need to be ‘productive’? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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Bits & Bobs:

So the new site design is up, what do you think? I’ve still got a few tweaks I would like to do but I like the design very much. I’m planning to do a post on moving from wordpress.com to your own hosted blog soon – if you have any questions regarding this please do let me know lifestyle [dot] project [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Image Credit: by *Micky on Flickr via Creative Commons

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Reading around the web (some actually relevant to this post!):

http://lateralaction.com/articles/getting-nothing-done/

http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com/get_a_life_blog/2008/11/who-says-follow.html

http://zenhabits.net/2008/11/the-lazy-mans-guide-to-getting-things-done/

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Thanks for reading.

I hope you enjoyed my post. I’d love to hear your comments below or get a Digg or Stumble!

Image by Chim Chim on Flickr via Creative Commons

The more I read about productivity, the less productive I become.

It seems that no matter how much I try to simplify my productivity system, I am constantly revisiting it. I do know that in the grand scheme of things it is not going to help me, but I enjoy it. I am a productivity hobbyist. And it’s killing my productivity.

Here are just some of the signs that you might be a productivity addict

1. You spend copious amounts of time reading blogs about GTD implementations.
2. You search for Microsoft Outlook GTD hacks.
3. You get excited when someone mentions GTD in a blog post title.
4. You own a moleskine notebook (and probably several for different lists).
5. You spent money on a posh inbox.
6. You miss your weekly review because you are still processing your inbox in to a million sub-folders.
7. You think about your GTD implementation on a daily basis.

I know these signs, because I have done all of the above and more. Now I am trying to just take action. If you want to achieve you goals, you need to stop thinking and start doing.

What it means to be a Productivity Addict

Being a productivity addict means that you know when you are wasting time therefore you worry about it more. Before you discovered the productivity sub-culture you used to waste less time surfing the internet, and when you did you didn’t worry about it. Now you worry about it. You try and work out more ways to be more productive to overcome this and the cycle continues. The time to stop is now.

12 Steps to Overcome Productivity Addiction

1. Admit you have a problem (leave a comment to share this).
2. Do not talk about productivity (just be productive).
3. Realised that there is only so much that you can tweak your system before you just go back to using pen and paper anyway.
4. Next time you hear about a new productivity programme, DO NOT sign up to the beta.
5. Admit the nature of your wrong doing (tell us about your addiction in the comments).
6. Make a list of 3 things you must do today. Do not do anything else until you have done these.
7. DO NOT talk about productivity club.
8. Do absolutely nothing related to productivity at least one day per week, just go with the flow.
9. Those things you keep moving from one context, list or file to another. Just do them now, or eliminate them. Stop organising them, and start doing them.
10. Realise that being productive means doing the things that you need to do in a timely fashion. It does not mean doing more things.
11. Consume only the information you need to do the single task you are concentrating on now. No more.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, try to carry this message to productivity addicts and to practice these principles in all your affairs (modified from AA step 12)

Are you a Productivity Addict?

Image by γαλώ on Flickr via Creative Commons

How do you procrastinate?
Think about it, what do you do to procrastinate? I spend loads of time researching various topics on the internet, finding lots information which leads to more information. Then more and more. I’ll make a long list of things to do related to this, more websites to look at, and the spiral continues. This gives me a list of things to do, which is just another way to procrastinate actually doing the important things that I was looking at information about in the first place. Nuts I know.

Celebrating the new Poll feature in WordPress, I’ve set up a quick poll below. Please vote now!

[polldaddy poll=1030712]

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Thanks for reading.

I hope you enjoyed my post. I’d love to hear your comments below or get a Digg or Stumble!

Also be sure to check out my other blog Lists for Life.

This your kind of thing? Please think about subscribing via RSS or eMail (it’s free).
Thanks for taking the time to visit! Chris

Image by amchu on Flickr via Creative Commons

Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action. Benjamin Disraeli

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about taking action. I have to admit I’m the kind of person who spends hours and hours thinking about, researching, talking about and thinking about again lots and lots of ideas. What truly makes a difference however is taking action. There is only so much you can look in to any given thing, such as how to be the best blogger or how to get fit, before you become saturated with information and just have to take action. I have written before about how you should ‘Just Do It’ and that is really what makes the difference.
Too many people just sit around and do nothing. You’ll probably find these are exactly the kind of people who complain about their job, their circumstances, their weight or whatever it is that they are complaining about. Stop complaining and start doing. My mum always used to say to me “If you put as much energy in to doing something as you did in to complaining about it you would have done it by now!”.

I like to try and turn short / medium term goals in to habits. So I currently have the short term goal of making taking action my number one habit.

Stop thinking. Start doing.

Take a lot at your goals, aspirations and Lifestyle Projects. Do you have the actions in place to achieve them? Yes? Well watch are you waiting for, take action now!

There is never a “right time”
There is a lot going on in the world (mainly in the media) which would suggest that now is not the right time to do a lot of things. You know what? There is never a “right time”. There is never a time when all the conditions are perfect, everything you need is available and all the planets are aligned in some sort of amazing cosmic symmetry which will enable you to move through life seamlessly. Whilst some may argue that there is the wrong time to do things, the fact is that the right time to do what you want, achieve what you want and go for what you want is NOW!

What have you been putting off? Let me know in the comments below the actions you will take now.

Image by bourgeoisbee on Flickr via Creative Commons

“A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.” Larry Bird

In the 3 Ts (and an S) of Productivity Series, I am looking at the Tools, Techniques, Tips and Skills for being Productive.

I always want to be able to achieve the most possible, whilst doing the least possible (or spending the least time doing it). Therefore I’ve always tried to find systems or procedures to help me with my pursuit of this goal. I do however have to balance this with my, not perfectionist side, but my quality control which requires me to accept when ‘good is good enough’ and to be of a reasonable standard. These topics will be explored in later posts.

So here are the skills that I think you need to master in order to be productive. How are you getting on with these?

Objectives / Planning / End In Mind
I guess that this is a good place to start! Unless you have objectives for the task you are going to undertake and know what you want to achieve and how you plan to get there, then how can you be effective? If you are not clear on what you want or need to end up with then how can you find the best route to get there?

Know your own SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)
SWOT is a simple way of illustrating that unless you know (or at least admit) your SWOT in achievements how can you carry out tasks effectively? Know what you are good at and focus on that, delegate other stuff you are not good at. You can change or influence your SWOT but it takes work and planning. Maybe these could be linked to your goals. See my post on SWOT analysis here.

Keep it Simple Stupid KISS.
This is an area that I am both good and bad at. I do enjoy keeping things simple, but I also am always seeking more knowledge on the subject at hand. Whilst a thirst for knowledge is by no means a bad thing, it is only seeking and acquiring the relevant knowledge to achieve a specific ends that is the skill of being effective. Constantly seeking new systems is actually not effective, you’ll probably revert to what you already know anyway.

Know when it is ‘good enough’ is Good Enough
I’m not saying that you should compromise quality to finish a job. Knowing what level of quality is required and when ‘good enough’ is Good Enough is a skill for productivity and knowing the correct level of standards for what you want to achieve.

Single Tasking (Multi-tasking is for whimps)
In modern workplaces many people think it is good to multi-task. This is the whimps way. Single tasking is the key. Remember the times when you were allowed to concentrate on just one thing? Without the constant distractions of the phone email, IM etc. chances are that you probably achieve more in less actual and elapsed time and it was probably better output. You probably created your own distractions and procrastination activities. Focus – find your zone.

Eliminate
There are several things you need to eliminate in order to use these principles.

• Distractions
• Unnecessary work
• Unneeded work
• Manufactured Emergencies

Become a master eliminator and learn to say NO!

Simplify
Is everything you are doing necessary? Are you taking the simplest route from A to B using the simplest method? The less complex you make things for yourself the more likely you are to achieve your objectives.

Quality over Quantity
This really applies to the amount and quality of work that you do rather than the individual tasks so it is the quality (using above points) of work that you do over the quantity (less hours) that is most important. Measure your results not the time you have spent on a particular activity. Eliminate to find that correct quality. Also know what is good enough.

This post is very much about what I have understood as skills for productivity so far. There is a lot of interrelation between the points and more detail behind all of them. There may also be other ones but these are what I came up with so far in a bid to keep it simple.

My idea for this post came from trying to design (based on research) my own principles for how to be productive. These are more habits/skills for to consciously work on, whilst Covey’s 7 habits are more characteristics. i.e. you either are or aren’t proactive.

What skills do you think are needed to be productive?

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Thanks for reading.

I hope you enjoyed my post. I’d love to hear your comments below or get a Digg or Stumble!

Image by Rickydavid on Flickr via Creative Commons

“If you procrastinate when faced with a big difficult problem… break the problem into parts, and handle one part at a time.” Robert Collier

Whilst on holiday a while back I wrote quite a number of posts that either have or are yet to appear here on Lifestyle Project. What I noticed as I wrote a post or two per day for the week of my holiday was that there are clear regular themes in my thinking which define how to approach actually getting things done.

I suppose my way of thinking is ultimately a culmination of my reading on GTD, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The Four Hour Work week (By the way that is the order I read them in and I would recommend that your read them the opposite way round!).

This is a quick post that I plan to expand on with a series of posts in the future.

How to Approach Anything

When you come across a task, project or challenge, no matter how big or small you can follow this 5 step process and apply it to any situation. I believe that the process is scaleable to projects of any size. For example a really small task you will spend seconds on the first three steps, whereas for a major Project it could be several days.

1. Objectives
   1. Capture your objectives.
   2. Begin with the End in mind.
   3. What quality standard does this need to be done to really? Don’t seek perfection where it is not needed.
2. Write it Down
   1. Make your self accountable.
   2. Write down your Objectives.
   3. Plan (mind maps are good for this).
3. Review, Simplify, Eliminate
   1. Will your plan achieve your objectives?
   2. Have you made this as easy as possible?
   3. Remove steps not needed to achieve the objectives.
   4. Do you need to do all of your actions and meeting all of your objectives?
   5. Will it help in the grand scheme of things? What’s the bigger picture?
4. Take Action, Just Do It
   1. Don’t procrastinate. Just Do It!
   2. Don’t complicate once you start doing it.
5. Review, Close, Move On
   1. Have you met your objectives (step one)
   2. Is it good enough? Everything doesn’t have to be perfect; does it meet your Objectives?

If you follow this process I believe that you will have good results in anything you approach. This could be work projects, personal tasks or even when looking at your goals!

Why not try it today and let me know how you get on in the comments below. Just write each of the 5 steps as headings on a piece of paper and get going.

Have a Productive Day!

Image by OrangeAcid on Flickr via Creative Commons

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. Albert Einstein

I thought I’d put a post up about implementing David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD). I won’t use this post to explain what GTD is as it is explained all over the place, but for a good explanation please look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done

I’ve been using GTD for over a year now and I have put together this list for people as a refresher (let’s face it we all fall off the GTD wagon), or for those starting out on the GTD path to productivity. Remember if you can are more organised then (theoretically) you’ll have more time to do what you want (and pursue your Lifestyle Project). So here are my top 10 ways to implement GTD simply:

1. Put everything you need to sort in one place first

Clear your desk, move all your files on your desktop to one folder, move your thousand emails in your inbox in to one folder. You will immediately feel less overwhelmed with a clear desk and inbox (even if the reality is that you have just shifted stuff from one place to another).

2. Use paper for your lists – don’t use outlook, fancy online tools etc.

Lists and the use of lists are central to the GTD methodology. I have experimented with literally hundreds of online to do management systems, excel spreadsheet designs, outlook categories etc. What have I learned from this? Paper is the absolute best place to keep your lists. It is non-linear. Sure it is fun to play around with the latest system but there is bound to be something that it doesn’t do that will mean you just look for another system.

3. Get an physical Inbox and use it from now on

This doesn’t actually need to be an inbox; it just needs to be a designated place where you put all of your ‘stuff’.

4. Make “Do it, Defer it, Delegate it” your mantra

Write it on a Post-it note and stick it on your monitor and your inbox. Make it your mantra. Whenever you designate time to processing, say it for everything that you pick up to deal with.

5. The Waiting for list is very powerful.

This is especially true if you are delegating as much as possible. You want to do less don’t you? Then you should delegate as much as possible. The unfortunate nature of human beings is that they don’t always do what you ask them to. Keep a waiting for list so you can keep on top of everything you are expecting someone else to do. Simply initials of delegate, date delegated and task are the only things you need to record. Cross it off when it is done. I find that keeping the date delegated is useful when chasing people up.

6. Set up your filing system before you start and keep it simple.

For online filing just use an archive dump folder as search tools are good enough. For physical filing David Allen suggests a simple A-Z system. Personally I find myself filing physical stuff less and less so my existing system for papers works just fine. For my electronic documents search tools make just archiving everything the easiest thing to do by a mile.

7. Resist the temptation to read too much and try out every single new to-do list application etc. for your system.

That’s part of the reason this list is about keeping things simple. You can spend weeks of your life reading up how to ‘Sharpen your Saw’ and get your system as perfect as possible. The reality is that once you know the principles the best thing you can do is simple to apply them and start getting things done.

8. Simplify your email folders

Establish a filing system for your emails and keep it simple. That way when you have an email you will quickly be able to put it where it needs to go. Base it on the mantra, and remember if your system is simple and easy to use, then you are more likely to use it.

a) Do It – once you’ve done with the email archive it. Have just one or few archive folder for your emails rather than loads of folders for different things. You can use the wide variety of search tool to find emails in the future quite easily.

b) Defer it – pop it in a ‘Follow up’ folder and make a note of it on your next actions list – easy!

c) Delegate it – pop it into a ‘Hold’ or ‘Waiting for’ folder. You could of course set up some fancy rules to do this for you when you delegate someone something by email.

d) Delete it – If something is for information only or of no relevance then delete it. Or you could actually just archive it just in case. Either way if it no longer serves any purpose then get it out of your inbox and move on. Remember every time you re-read an email you waste time.

9. Process your email in batches at set times rather than keep checking throughout the day.

You’ll find that if you set aside a time to go through all of your emails in one go then you are more likely to stick to your GTD mantra and whizz through them. I actually rather sadly enjoy seeing how quickly I can get my inbox to zero (and get out of there!). If you spend your whole time with one eye on your inbox then you’ll be constantly distracted and unproductive. Switch off email popups etc and focus.

10. Make sure you do the weekly review.

I’ll admit it; this is by far the weakest part of my implementation. Setting aside structured time to do my weekly review is sadly lacking. This is stupid of me as I know how valuable it can be. I do find that I ‘can’t be bothered’ as much on a Friday so often now find that I do an ‘informal’ weekly review on a Monday as I set out my tasks for the week. The fact is when you do a weekly review and go through everything and eliminate as much as possible you have a much better grasp of what you have to do and how you’ll get it done.

Let me know how you get on or if I’ve missed anything in the comments below! Do you use GTD? How simple is your implementation?

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