by Gary Mintchell | Sep 10, 2015 | Productivity
Summer vacation is over and it’s “Back To Work” time. What does that mean for most of us? Rushing from task to meeting to email to meeting to task? Do we try “multi-tasking” only to get lost in missing details and focus? Do we try concentrating on two or three things at a time?
I’m trying to keep two blogs current with almost daily thoughts and news. I’ve invested in a coffee cafe and am doing some marketing for it. (Need to get a return on my investment.) After a request from a pastor, I took on a staff role leading missions for my church. August and September are extremely busy months for assigning referees to soccer matches.
On top of it all, I pay my bills by doing research and analysis within the manufacturing technology market along with management and marketing consulting. A big job came my way. Its start was delayed. Its end date wasn’t. It needed to be done in August and September.
What I need is a focus on personal productivity.
More than ToDo List
The key to personal productivity survival lies in the ability to focus on one thing at a time. I write everything down I need to do. I’ve mentioned before I use an app called Nozbe (affiliate account, by the way). That way I don’t worry about forgetting something. But looking at the entire list is overwhelming.
Nozbe helps me follow the Getting Things Done lifestyle. It begins with “a mind like water.” I don’t force it to remember everything. I try to write down things I must remember to do or to follow up on. Then it enters into Nozbe.
Then I remember that old joke–how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
So, everyday, I scan my list. Every week I study and plan the week. Every month I take stock of what I’m doing versus what I want to become. That puts my list in perspective.
Daily, I just tackle one thing. Concentrate on only that. Usually 25 minutes then take a short break. That’s called the Pomodoro technique. Sometimes, like this analysis project, I dive into research so deeply that an hour or two pass without my even noticing the passage of time.
Then it’s time for a break. Then focus on the next task.
Find your life’s rhythm
I think I’m in good company. Many famous and successful people work that way. Focus, work, break (refreshment/meditation). Focus, work, break.
There is a refreshing rhythm to that pace. Sometimes the break can be 5 minutes of the Pomodoro technique. Sometimes maybe for a day or two.
Find your daily rhythm. Read. Meditate. Work. Play. Rest.
Accomplish more. Stress less. Focus on the important things.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 30, 2014 | Automation, News, Operations Management
This is just a quick post to call out some recent apps (I have them on iPhone/iPad, not sure about Google Play).
Profibus/PI North America has an app that is news centric. You are greeted with blocks of news content relative to Profibus and Profinet technologies and applications.
ISA has a new magazine app named Intech Plus. I really like the interface. That reminds me of the interface of Productive magazine (which I highly recommend–that’s personal productivity, not production) which is easy to navigate and read. The interactivity embedded in the magazine is excellent.
Automation.Com known basically as a Web Portal for automation news (and also loosely affiliated with Intech) released Pulse, its iPhone (and I presume Android) app, as its venture into the world of online publishing. Once again, the interface is outstanding–not just the old “flip book” replica of a print magazine, but an attempt to make a truly digital product.
Check them out and let me know in the comments what you think. Do you like reading in that format for a “magazine”? Would you pitch print for that format? Or, do you like both? Or still just print?
While I’m asking questions–what do you think about subscription models? This blog is free. My friend Walt Boyes bought the Industrial Automation + Process Control Insider which is pretty much subscription-based. Anything that does go on the Web is posted after the newsletter goes out. What do you think?
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 28, 2013 | Leadership
My introduction to To-Do Lists for personal productivity came probably 30 years ago while listening to Earl Nightengale. He told a story of the consultant who was hired by the CEO of a huge steel company many years ago to help him be more effective and get things done.
The consultant told the CEO to make a list of important tasks that must be done. Choose the most important one and work on it until it was completed. Cross it off the list and work on the next one.
One of the key practices of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” is lists.
I use Nozbe to record all the ideas I have that will require a task to get done. It then generates lists. My challenge right now is to pick the 4-5 most important ones and make a daily list. Looking over a list of 63 items can be quite disheartening.
Recently, David Allen posted a blog about the Amazing History of To-Do Lists. Ben Franklin to Johnny Cash. Interesting reading.
Lists have an ancient and honorable past. Umberto Eco, one of my favorite writers, even has written a book on lists–The Infinity of Lists.
We are approaching New Year’s Day and I’m sure all of you will be making a list of your New Year’s Resolutions (actually, I hope not). But if you are thinking about having a more effective 2014 than 2013, then consider how you use lists.
