Productivity Fortnight+1 Post Index

Over the past three weeks this blog has posted on the general subject of productivity. There have been many productivity hacks and methods discussed with quite a few links and apps shared.

Here is the index to all the posts, listing major topics and tools posted.

Week 1

Post 1 – What is Productivity?

Productivity Defined

• Introduction
• Simple attempt at a productivity definition
• Links to articles on making productivity simple.

Post 2 -Why be Productive? – Big Goals

Coming up with the big long-term goals.

• Mission and Vision Statements, Manifestos and Slogans defined.
• Books mentioned: Stephen Pressfield – War of Art, Stephen Covey –  7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
• Example links: 2 Writer’s Manifestos

Post 3 – Passionate Goals and Plans

Ensure you follow your passion, and starting to plan how to take big goals into action using a strategy or plan document.

• Passion = Motivation = Productivity  – “The Flow”
• Assignment Links: many links to writing plan articles and templates, and two Amazon creative planning books.

Post 4 – SMART Goals to Chunks

Begin to break down the strategy into smaller chunks – milestones and tasks, using SMART.

• SMART definition
• Goals, Milestones, Habits and Tasks definitions via Michael Hyatt
• Books mentioned: SJ Scott –‘S.M.A.R.T. Goals Made Simple – 10 Steps to master Your Personal and Career Goals‘

Post 5 – Eating Task Animals

A followup from Post 4, as an #52Tech post includes apps. Two methods for chunking down and prioritising tasks.

• Eat the Elephant – task chunking.
• Eat That Frog – task prioritisation.
• Books mentioned: Brian Tracy – Eat that Frog!
• Apps – ElephantBites, Eat That Frog; and task management apps – Omnifocus, Todoist, Wunderlist, Any.do and Toodledo.

Week 2

Post 6 – Attention! Focus on This!

 Two forms of focus with scientific research to back it up.

• Task Focus vs Goal Focus.
• Video: What the internet is doing to our brains
• Multitasking vs One at a Time.
• Book Mentioned:  Gary Keller – ‘The ONE Thing, Surprisingly Simple Truths behind Extraordinary Results’ 

Post 7 – Take Action

Putting high level plans into action with action plans and really small tasks.

• Action Plans
• MITs– Most Important Tasks (from GTD and Zenhabits)
• The 2 Minute Rule (from GTD)
• Tiny Habits – BJ Fogg’s habit setting methodology and course.
• Apps – links to articles listing habit tracking apps, and my own large listly list of habit tracking apps.

Post 8 – Tackling Tasks – Action and Next Action

Continuing on from Post 7, more on actioning tasks.

• Next Action (from GTD).
• Biggest First or Big Rocks First (from Zenhabits)
• The 1 Minute Trick (Gretchen Ruben)
• Zero Inbox / Inbox Zero (GTD and Merlin Mann, 43Folders)
• Book mentioned – Stephen Covey – First Things First
• Apps Listed – email services: Mailbox, Mailstrom, Boomerang, FollowUpCC.

Note – further email management tips and apps can be found in Post 15.

 Post 9 – Batching Tasks

Group tasks into work batches.

• Simple Batches
• Batch via @Context (from GTD) – discussion on different contexts.
• Work Station Popcorn – combines batched tasks with environmental movement.
• Apps – Kanban or swimlaning task apps like Trello.

Post 10 – Priorities and Decision Making

Methods and tools for deciding on tasks and prioritising them. A #52Tech tool post.

 Week 3

Post 11 – FHWW and the 3P’s

Productivity methods recommended in The Four Hour Work Week including Pareto’s Principle, Parkinson’s Law and the Pomodoro timing system.

• Book discussed – Tim Ferriss – The 4-Hour WorkWeek.
• Cornerstone principles within FHWW.
• Selective Ignorance (good for email management)
• Pareto’s Principle
• Parkinson’s Law
• Pomodoro

Post 12 – GTD and Related Concepts

Productivity methods detailed through Getting Things Done.

• Book discussed – David Allen – Getting Things Done
• Cornerstone principles from GTD, including links to previous posts where some are detailed.
• Open Loops
• Tickler Systems – including 43 Folders
• Other GTD Style Methods including book: Leo Babauta – Zen to Done.
• Apps for That – Best GTD Apps – Things, Toodledo, Todoist, ZenDone, Omnifocus

Post 13 – Time Management

Well-known principles, techniques and hacks for managing and analysing your time.

• Summary links to other time management techniques in previous posts – 2 Minute Rule, 1 Minute Trick, Pomodoro
• Timer Based Systems like Pomodoro and the Ultradian Rhythm.
• Timeboxing and The Power Hour – Gretchen Rubin
• Other timeboxing examples like wordsprints etc and
  Merlin Mann’s (10+2)*5 productivity hack
• Time Audits (some apps supporting time audits featured in Post 15)
• Books mentioned: Neil Fiore – The Now Habit

Bonus Post – 10 Tips to be a More Productive Writer using Evernote

A bonus post which sits within the #E4W or Evernote for Writers book to blog series.

• 10 + 2 bonus tips on using Evernote as a writer
• Includes a free PDF document with additional tips.

Post 14 – Lists, To-Do’s and Reviews

The fundamental tool in productive work – the list or task list, but what to do with it once completed? The answer is to review.

• Types of lists 
• Alternatives to to-do lists – Done Lists, Could-Do Lists, 1-3-5 Lists (an alternative to MITs), Bullet Journals.
• Reviews  – GTD Weekly reviews, and other cyclic review policies.
• Book mentioned: SJ Scott – ToDo List Makeover

Post 15 – Productivity Roundup with Apps

Random associated concepts with apps for that. A #52Tech post.

• Email Zero-ing – followup from Post 8 – Zero Inbox, with further email management tips –5 sentence responses or 4 sentence responses. Email speed dating  or 50 mails in 50 minutes or Tim Ferriss FHWW preference to open emails during certain times. (links to originator articles)
• Apps for That – Email Management apps detailed –Email Game, Unroll.me, Mailbox, Dispatch, Mailstrom, Boomerang, Followup.cc
• Timing Tasks – followup from Post 13 Time Management, with further apps for task timing and time audits.
• Apps detailed – e.ggtimer.com, 30/30 ipad time audit app, Now Then iOS time audit app, RescueTime and Klok
• Random Productivity links and resources including – Accountability Partners, Energy Management and a list of Top Productivity Blogs.

Post 16 – Writing Productively

A summary post with the productivity tools discussed in this post series applied and implemented through a typical big writing goal, linking to appropriate posts for more information.

Post 17 – This Index Post