My Brand-New, Foolproof Productivity System – 4 Apps and 4 Habits

July 22, 2009  |  Get More Done

Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.

iStock_000008412799Small I posted a couple of weeks ago here about the fact that my system was broken. I had spent a solid year developing, tweaking, and perfecting a productivity system that just flat-out didn’t work for me. I found myself  not using it nearly as much as I should have, and more and for things were slipping through the cracks. My system was fun to tweak, but not productive to use.

That was something of a problem.

So I asked for your help, and got a ton of great responses from you all, making a lot of excellent points. Here’s a couple of things I kept hearing, over and over, that I imagine many of us could use to hear:


"Remember always K.I.S.S (not the band, but Keep it Simple Stupid)."

"Leave the tools set up how they are and see if your issues stem from wanting to play with the tools too much vs. actually not having the right tools."

The point was, my system may well have been too perfect. It was so complex, and involved, and overly-functional, that it simply didn’t work anymore.

So I revamped. I’ve finally got a system that, for me, simply works. It’s mobile, simple, and works beautifully. And for whatever reason, I use it more now.

Tasks: Things

Things is one of a very small number of software applications I’ve ever paid for (it costs $50). Things is a Mac-only app, and is the biggest reason I’m glad I bought a Mac. It’s enormously pliable, and can be used for everything from simple to-do lists to full-fledged GTD implementations. My favorite part of things is the "Areas of Responsibility" piece – instead of projects (which my tasks rarely fit into), I can put them under my various areas of work – blogging, school, personal, and the like.

Things also has an iPhone app that syncs directly with the desktop version, keeping all my tasks in sync wherever I go.  Things is simple to add to, simple to access, and works exactly like my brain does – that’s no small feat.

For PC users (or those who want something free), I still recommend Remember The Milk – it’s a great Web-based task manager.

Email: Gmail

I’ve moved back into using Gmail for all my emailing needs. I took a couple of hours, a week or so ago, to learn all of the keyboard shortcuts within Gmail (which you can find by typing a question mark while in Gmail), and I can now go through my entire email inbox, taking action on everything I need to, all without ever touching the mouse. Gmail now has offline capabilities, thanks to Google Gears, and is a speedy and smart interface for email.

Gmail also continues to integrate gadgets, like Google Calendar (which I’ve always used for my schedule management, but in a totally ordinary way) and Twitter, that mean that I can use more and more of my social networks right from within Gmail. Gmail is becoming, more and more, my nerve center of the Web, and just continues to get better.

Capture: Evernote

Evernote has been, and continues to be, the hub of my productivity system (here’s how I use it). Thanks to its availability on Mac, Windows, Windows Mobile, the iPod Touch, and the Web (all five are platforms I use regularly), I can add information into my system from anywhere. I can snap a picture, write a note, or even record a quick voice memo to myself.

All my notes sync everywhere with Evernote, and once a day I go through my "Inbox" notebook and create new tasks in Things. It’s easy to add, organize, edit, and most importantly search through all of my notes – it’s where I store everything from blog posts, to cool restaurants to visit, to lists of things to read.

Stuff: Dropbox

There’s a theme to my life that had to be reflected in my productivity system – mobility. I’m always working in different places, spending time with different people, and can’t be counted on to be at my computer when I need to do or access something. Things, Gmail, and Evernote make sure my tasks, emails and notes are always handy, but what about everything else?

That’s where Dropbox comes in. By downloading Dropbox onto every computer I have, all my files get synced both to the Web and to the respective computers. Word documents created on my Mac are available on my PC, and changes I make get synced back. Everything’s in sync, as well as available on the Web. I got 2GB for free, and love having all my important files accessible anywhere I am. For more, check out How to Sync Your Life Everywhere with Dropbox.

There are also four habits that I’ve been trying to cultivate that I’m convinced are making me more productive already:

Fewer Due Dates

I have the tendency to give everything a due date, and decide when I want to do something. That never works – things come up, or maybe I’m not feeling well, and suddenly overdue tasks start to pile up.

Now, I’m only putting due dates on the few things that absolutely, 100%  must get done that day. Everything else goes into the list, and I plow through them once I’ve finished the dated stuff. Things with due dates get done first, and then I move on to the rest of the list.

The Two-Minute Rule

If something crosses my plate that will take me less than two minutes to do, no matter how boring or painful it is, I do it. And, frankly, it’s amazing how many things you can do in two minutes or less – writing emails, making phone calls, even cranking out some work-related tasks.

Putting those tasks into my list often takes longer than completing them, and allows the tasks to fester and become overwhelming. Instead, I’m learning to just do it and forget it.

Weekly Reviews

Once a week, I sit down with Evernote, Google Calendar, Things, and my physical inbox (for mail and the like) and deal with each and every thing. I look at all my tasks in Things, and decide what needs to get done that week – as well as what can be deleted and forgotten. I look through Evernote for the same. Gmail gets cleared and purged, and my calendar gets reviewed – what do I need to prepare for this week? How much time do I have?

Doing this review once a week focuses my time, and helps me make sure nothing’s slipping through the cracks, because I’m reviewing everything that’s come into my system.

Zero

Each and every day, three things end up empty: my Evernote inbox, my Gmail inbox, and my Things "Today" folder, full of tasks to do today. I try to create lists that allow this to happen, but nev
er go to bed without zeroing them all. It means I can start fresh tomorrow, and deal with new things and new opportunities, instead of still stressing about today.

It’s all working for me so far, and my productivity is skyrocketing (as is my sanity).

What works for you? What apps or habits are critical to your productivity?

Photo: iStockPhoto

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  • Hi David, this looks like a great article!


    I can't wait to try it out!!
  • Nicely done! With all the technology we have access to, we forget to use it to SAVE time rather than suck time. I like the 2 minute rule you instituted...great thing to keep in mind.


    I also read your Evernote article. I tried both the iPhone and desktop version, but I just couldn't get into the flow of using it. Your "inbox" use of it, however, gave me a new idea for trying to utilize it. Thanks.
  • Can, will, and am about to. Stay tuned, there's a post coming on that this week. Thanks for the great idea!
  • Ben
    Can you extrapolate on bringing your inbox to zero? I like keeping emails around for proof I sent them, and lots more. Do you send them to gmails archive? If you do are they still search able? Is the archive laid out like an inbox, so the whole point in archiving would be when signing into gmail I see only new messages?
  • TommyLondon
    Great suggestion on Evernote desktop. Not only does it sync what I've captured on the web and from my Blackberry, but it also allows you to set up a local folder (ie, does not sync). So I can do searches, etc. across all data and not have to worry about my work stuff getting synced back to the cloud.


    As far as Sunbird goes, I forgot to mention the other pesky issue with my work life - my company is still on Lotus Notes for e-mail/calendar! So no easy way to combine calendars into a third party tool. I've taken to inviting my work address to all my Google calendar appointments, which I then accept as "tentative" in my Lotus work calendar (just to differentiate). Not optimal, but a halfway decent workaround.



    Thanks for the suggestions. Great blog.
  • Todoodlist has been on my "To Read" list for a while now... What'd you think of it? It sounds like the interesting read, I'm a huge fan of Nick's.


    Let me know what kind of system you come up with - I'm always curious to hear what works for other people.
  • That sounds like an extremely good working system!
    I am still improving my system, but after reading Todoodlist I will try to make it more a paper based system, as that works better for me..
  • For the calendar issue, try iCal if you're on a Mac, or Sunbird (from Mozilla) if you're on a PC. They'll both let you subscribe to the Google Calendar (your personal stuff), but keep the local calendar (your private stuff) purely local.


    As for the rest, good stuff! The privacy issue is definitely a concern - one solution, off the top of my head: create a new Evernote account, and download the desktop client. NEVER sync it to the Web. That way, you get all the Evernote-y goodness, but nothing goes to the cloud. Just a thought.



    I hope the privacy stuff continues to be addressed by Google, as they do seem to be making waves into doing so - until then, I think a lot of people are in your boat.
  • TommyLondon
    Very good system - I have incorporated Gmail/Goolge, Evernote and RTM myself and have found them to be critical tools in keeping my tasks under control. Google calendar is particularly useful with respect to coordinating with family/significant others. My wife and I have set up a shared family calendar in Google that we can post family events, birthdays, ballgames, and my work travel details (flights, hotel, etc.) Accessible from my Blackberry and her iPhone, keeping us pretty synced up during hectic work week.


    My biggest issue is that there will always be an element of my work that I need to keep firewalled off from the system due to client/confidential data. Not ready to post certain client documents, meeting/conference call passcodes and meeting/client details with Big Brother at Google. My firm actually has strict policies on this, so even if I were fully confident in Google's privacy, I still couldn't do it. May be specific to my line of work, but I end up keeping my work email and calendar in a separate account on my Blackberry, with the rest of my life on a Google account, RTM and Evernote system on the same Blackberry.



    Blackberry does allow me to show an integrated inbox that includes work and Gmail accounts, but doesn't share data between the two. It would be awesome if there were a calendar tool that would allow limited one-way sync between the two systems or some other way for me to coalesce my calendar into one view, but without sending data over to Google.



    Anyone else have this problem?
  • Sounds pretty solid!
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