Stress Free Productivity – #2 in a Series

Guest post by @terryeva, a solutions architect for AOL and a social media enthusiast

Ted Leonsis, Dr. Stephen Covey, and David Allen share the belief that goals drive everything in business, one’s personal life, and family life. Ted speaks about his 101 list in his latest book The Business of Happiness.  Dr. Stephen Covey’s, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, teaches concepts such as “begin with the end in mind.” David Allen in Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity discusses the 50,000 foot view and how all “goals, visions, objectives, projects, and actions derive from this and lead toward it.”

Everyone reading this post is familiar with goals. Goals must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound. Everyone is familiar with how to break down goals into smaller modules or actions. One does not run a marathon, for example, without a little training. Where we all differ is our technique in completing the goals.

In the first blog post, I asserted one cannot manage time. When I spoke to Mayra about a productivity series she wanted to know if I was one of those people who lived by his calendar. Very tricky question! Of course the answer is no! A calendar is a tool and cannot be used to dictate one’s life. When putting an item on a calendar, we must consider this a contract. All items on the calendar must be completed on the day they appear.

There are really only two types of calendar entries: point in time (e.g. Johnny has a dentist appointment at 3:00) and items that can be completed anytime during the day (e.g. write a blog post for Mayra). The “free time” remaining on the calendar can be spent productively completing tasks that are not time bound.

Creating lists is a great way to keep track of actions. One must consider a few rules when writing lists. Rule 1: Write an item only once. If the item is not complete do not waste precious time rewriting the item on a new list. Rather write an item per sheet of paper or use technology to track what must be done. Rule 2: Context matters! Some of the actions one must complete during the day can only be completed at work, home, waiting for someone else, or calling someone.  Setting priorities does not make sense if one is at work but the most important item has to be done at home! Rule 3: Save all actions that must be completed in a safe place. Ideas must be stored when they appear.

Properly using calendar and creating lists are powerful ideas. Think about them. Do you see how some simple changes can make you more productive? The next blog post will examine these ideas a little more and the final blog post will pull everything together with a demo of the tools I use. What are some of your ideas for simplifying your life while staying productive?

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