tasks you need to accomplish in a system other than your memory. Include tasks to be worked now and in the future. Include both work and personal tasks. Consult your lists often so you'll make wise decisions about the very next task on which to work.
the morning with a pile of widgets to crank, and you leave work with a pile of nicely cranked widgets. It’s a mindless job, but there’s not much stress, and it’s satisfying, and it’s simple. And you know if you’re being productive because you are really cranking those widgets. Leo Babauta, Zen Habits
the very next physical action that needs to be done to move your project forward. Physical action means something you can do in the physical world: things like call, email, write, list, read, decide, talk to, brainstorm, buy. Things that can’t be done in one action are multiple actions, widgets that can’t be cranked (“Redesign website” or “Research market trends”).
you have, select one next-action. — Take a look at your to-do lists and make sure that all items are crankable widgets. — List the widgets by the type of crank used. — Just crank.
Don’t check email first thing in the morning, or have it constantly on. — When you check your email, dispose of each one, one at a time, right away. - Is it junk or some forwarded email? - Is it a long email that you just need to read for information? - If the email requires action, make a note of the action on your to-do or GTD lists. - If you can respond to it in a minute or two, do so immediately. - If you need to follow up on the email later, or are waiting for a response, note it on a Waiting For list. — I have only one folder: Archive.
matter what else you do today, these are the things you want to be sure of doing. So, the MIT is the first thing you do each day, right after you have a glass of water to wake you up. It’s very simple: your MIT is the task you most want or need to get done today. Leo Babauta, Zen Habits
a Post-It, it won't fit in your day. Because the day is a limited size, it makes sense to limit the size of your to-do list. Unless something is seriously urgent and important then you never add anything to today's list. Mark McGuinness
a task to be accomplished. —Set the Pomodoro to 25 minutes. —Work on the task until the Pomodoro rings, then put a check on your sheet of paper. —Take a 5 minute break. —Every 4 Pomodoros take a longer break. Francesco Cirillo
— Clean desktop — Clean folders — Set up email rules — Email sound off — iPhone email notifications off — Growl off — Chats off — Facebook group notifications off — Facebook email notifications off — iPhone Facebook email notifications off
the Overworked Creative Time is finite, but we act as if it were otherwise, assuming that longer hours always lead to increased productivity. But in reality our bodies are designed to pulse and pause - to expend energy and then renew it.
like you were going on holiday on the Friday, then you can get all of your work done in 4 days rather than 5. Ryan Carson It takes concentration, dedication and a zero tolerance approach to distractions. The reward is an extra 52 days off a year. Is that worth it to you?
is not to finish but to get other things done. Bre Pettis & Kio Stark So action is the highest virtue. If there is any action you could be taking right now but you aren't, you're doing it wrong.
1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion. 2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done. 3. There is no editing stage. 4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it. 5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done. 7. Once you're done you can throw it away. 8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done. 9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right. 10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes. 11. Destruction is a variant of done. 12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done. 13. Done is the engine of more.
products for Creative Thinkers, always in sync. —Capture and manage Action Steps. —Delegate Action Steps to anyone, and track their progress. —Manage and coordinate deadlines. —Organize projects.
Later bookmarklet. When you find something you want to read, but you don't have time, click Read Later. Come back when you have time, or read your articles on the go.
application which blocks access to incoming and/or outgoing mail servers and websites for a predetermined period of time. Once started, it can not be undone by the application, by deleting the application, or by restarting the computer – you must wait for the timer to run out.
and customize actions to run every time you concentrate. Possible actions: Launch Apps, Quit Apps, Open Sites, Block Sites, Open Docs, Play Messages, Play Sounds, Run Scripts, Growl, Set Chat Status.
your status bar. You can only start/ stop it or make interruptions and resume. You can use the keyboard to manage your pomodoro effectively, without touching the mouse. Add a meaningful description, press Ok and pomodoro starts.
a digital writing tool that makes sure that all your thoughts go into the text instead of the program. One of our goals was to create a writing app without settings. 1. Auto Markdown 2. Focus Mode 3. Professional Typography 4. Disappearing Bar 5. Reading Time 6. Words & Character Count Syncs via iCloud!
to recapture what technology has snatched away from us today: our capacity to concentrate. OmmWriter is a beautiful writing environment that has the necessary tools you need to write and manage files, without the distracting elements that you normally find in conventional writing applications. OmmWriter opens in fullscreen mode, and has a number of backgrounds and audio tracks to increase your concentration, and to create an open space where your creativity can roam freely.
to-read pressure behind and restore some enjoyment to reading? The primary design principle of CalmReader is that users should feel empowered to go with the flow, not to fight the tide. Don’t try to read everything, but do read something. CalmReader has no unread count. Unread counts suck the joy out of life, and the trivial pride of reaching zero is quickly crushed by inevitable new tasks. Unread counts are tolerable within to task-orientated environments like email, but within a reading application they reinforce the undesirable mentality of Keeping On Top Of Stuff, rather than enjoyment.