From the February edition of In The Black. More from Dave Allen, Lifehacker and 43 Folders.
The finest organisation systems available to mankind may not involve technology at all.
Let’s face it, we are all overloaded. Too many meetings. Too many emails and phone calls. And too many distractions stop us getting things done. And I haven’t even started on the distraction of the internet.
There are self-help gurus out there dedicated to trying to help us navigate the distractions of daily life but they are seldom help in practical everyday terms.
Instead I’d like to introduce you to the life hackers. They are simply people – often geeks – who are dedicating to find simple and cool ways of doing things quicker and better so we can spend more time doing the stuff that’s really important – or we really enjoy (like golf).
Among lifehackers Dave Allen, the author of Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress-Free Productivity, is a guru. The book in 2005 was one of the most talked about on the web and has sold over 400,000 copies worldwide.
Allen has been touring the US and the UK lecturing on his techniques. He told InTheBlack that the big mistake people make is that they don’t keep track of the whole inventory of what has their attention. They maintain a large backlog of ‘unclear’ stuff. This means that when faced with change they are faced with reacting to it rather being able to embrace it and integrate it into their daily lives.
At his seminars, people ask most how can they get time to clean up, set up and implement an effective system.
Usually this would mean posting everything into to do lists using complex software solutions and PDAs. Yet life hackers, who mainly are ditching these systems for simple transportable text files.
The problem is that all the technology we use, computers, mobile phones and PDAs often get in the way. Sometimes they need to be ‘hacked’ to work in a better way.
About two years ago San Francisco-based Merlin Mann was working for a consulting firm and found and found the Getting Things Done (GTD) technique helped handling all the calls on his time. Now he specialises in helping small to medium-sized companies getting their digital houses in order, while running the cult website 43folders.com. The key to ‘getting things done’ is to transfer the spaghetti of thoughts out of the mind into a physical, easy-to-use and reliable receptacle, like the humble notebook for example. Mann is famous for ditching his PDA for a simple set of bound index cards carried in his hip pocket.
Gina Trapani is a freelance journalist and the editor of lifehacker.com. She happened across life hacking while randomly clicking through the web and procrastinating or not focusing on the task at hand. She found some notes on life hacking from a conference in 2004, which talked of the ‘secrets of over-productive alpha geeks’ and the ’embarrassing’ tricks they used to get things done.
Trapani, who had gathered a series of her own embarrassing ticks, was hooked.
Especially in the idea of automating and jumpstarting tasks using technology – or common objects in new and uncommon ways. She says: ‘I’m a sucker for efficiency techniques. And like most, I love the feeling of having a productive day – and despise the feeling that I’ve wasted time.’
Even Allen says that he would like to spend more time on reflection and creative thinking.
The proof is in the pudding. I was impressed by how quickly the lifehackers responded to emails. Merlin Mann responded within seven minutes to an enquiry – from San Francisco. ‘Wow! You do really get things done,’ I write at 10.35am. At 10:45am [Melbourne time] he replies: ‘There’s no time except ‘right this second’ – everything else is a memory or a hope. ;-). rock and roll, M’.
Ed Charles is a freelance business journalist. He uses the 43 Folders system, but has lost his copy of Getting Things Done in a pile of filing.
Simple workhacks
43 Folders A simple system to remind you to do something on a particular day. Create a rack of 43 folders. One folder is labelled for, and dedicated to, every month of the year. The other folders are numbered one to 31 for each day of the month and stored in sequential order. When a task comes in to be done, say, on 21 March it is first put into the March folder. When March arrives the tasks are distributed among the day folders and comes to the attention on the 21st.
Filing
Most of us have vast tracks of paperwork lost in files. Often a paper item may belong in one or more categories and becomes lost in the system. Some people use alphabetical listings others a container-based subject listing. Melbourne GP Dr Nick Carr used to use such a system until his mother, Dr Janet Carr a psychologist, invented a numerical based system. Now he can file anything easily and find it in an instant. Simple number each item filed from one upwards. Create a card or simple database system that records the number of the item versus its content and what category of information it is. Files can be easily cross-referenced. The article his mother wrote on the subject for the British Psychological Society Bulletin of August 1987 is now item number one in his system.
To do lists
There are many software packages offering solutions of varying complexities. The guys on the edge of technology, such as Merlin Mann, are ditching complex systems for the simple, and laying down their PDAs. Think plain text files, which can be printed onto index cards. I use a handwritten list created every day. I then highlight each item that has to be finished that day, crossing off as each is completed. The theory is then I can relax at night with nothing on my mind.
Interruptions: If you really have to get something done put up a busy sign. Use a computer-based or even a kitchen timer to give yourself a reward for an unbroken stint concentrating on the task at hand.
Email: Email is a tempting distraction. Change the preferences to check once every hour rather than five minutes. Act now on emails rather than lose them in an overflowing inbox.
Phone: Divert to voicemail or ask the receptionist to take messages. Turn the mobile off.
Big Rocks: The theory goes that a glass full of sand can’t fit any rocks in. And a glass of rocks – big things to achieve – can fill with sand – minor distractions. The trick is at the beginning of each week and day decide on those big rocks. The sand can wait.
More ideas are available from http://wiki.43folders.com/.
Top tips from life hackers
Merlin Mann is the editor and creator of 43folders.com, a blog and site dedicated to personal productivity, life hacks, and simple ways to make your life a little better. He began using the Getting Things Done technique two years ago.
Gina Trapani is the editor of lifehacker.com, one of the coolest websites in 2005, according to Time magazine. Lifehacker recommends shortcuts that actually save time in everyday life (as well as websites and software).
Dave Allen is the author of the 1991 hit Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress-Free Productivity. He founded The David Allen Company in 1986. It specialises in professional training, coaching, and management consulting organisation, based in Ojai, California. www.davidco.com
Q. What are your three personal productivity tips?
Dave Allen:
Keep all your commitments out of your head.
Decide the outcomes and actions associated with each one.
Manage and review the total inventory of outcomes and actions consistently and appropriately to ensure trusted intuitive judgement about what you’re doing at any point in time.
Merlin Mann: Write stuff down the second it occurs to you; do it as soon as possible; repeat!
Gina Trapani:
Write it down. Get thoughts out of your head and into your system for processing later. The mind is a constantly churning machine, and the only way to focus on the task at hand is to clear your brain of worries and distracting thoughts (‘oh I have to change the oil today!’ or ‘Must call back Mum!’). The only way to do that is to write things down, get ‘em out of your head and move on.
Actively manage external distractions. Set your email client to check for new messages every hour, not every minute. Shut down your instant messenger. Close any applications that don’t apply to the task at hand. In the extreme, unplug your computer from the internet – anything you have to do to focus on a task.
Time yourself. I actually use the kitchen timer to help me dash through increments of work. I promise myself a break only after I’ve worked for a solid hour. Set the timer, put it on my desk in front of me and go. There’s something about a ticking object that tricks me into staying the course and earning playtime with solid work time. It’s amazing how productive one can be in a solid hour of true work, versus three of sort-of working while checking email, surfing blogs, and chatting with co-workers.
Q. What stops you being at your most productive?
DA: Only when I neglect reviewing my ‘total game’ and let myself just get ‘busy’.
MM: The siren’s call of the internet is always the biggest distraction. Master that, and the rest is a cake walk. I also rely heavily on timers, alarms, and very strong coffee.
GT: In a word? The internet. It’s a giant candy store of information. My work requires that I use the internet exclusively for research, but oh how hard it is to not click my way down a tangiential trail of only-vaguely related tidbits of information, and suddenly it’s three hours later and I haven’t gotten a thing done.
Ah internet, how I love and hate thee.
Q. How would you change the way you work?
DA: Spend more time on reflection and creative thinking.
MM: I wish I could write faster and for much larger sums of money.
GT: I’d like to spend more time on the tasks that will make the most impact in my life and on my clients and career and skip the rest. There are so many choices out there, that evaluating the tasks that will give you the most bang for your buck is a very difficult thing.