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How sometimes “Being Productive” is not so productive

March 27, 2012 by · 1 Comment
Eat the big frogs first

Eat the big frogs first

Every Sunday night I spend about 45 minutes doing a weekly review. This has helped me immensely to see where my strengths and weaknesses in my productivity systems. I can do a whole post on my weekly review, as a matter of fact now I have my blog fodder for next weeks post.

Last week I felt as if I had a great week. One of my goals for the week was to make sure I got done a lot more of my to-do items listed in Evernote every day. At the end of the week, I felt I had done that so we had success. Then I started looking at it deeper during the weekly review.

All was not as it seemed
So there I was on Sunday night all proud of how many checkmarks I had completed during the week. Then it hit me, I had a horrible week. I had three items that I really wanted to make progress on.

  • Complete more of my to-do tasks each day
  • Complete two more chapters in my Certified Personal Trainer studying
  • Develop the idea for my underprivileged kids health foundation deeper

When I started looking back at my week and doing my review I realized I had made great strides in completing the little tasks on my to-do list, but I had failed miserably in making progress on my big to-do items that will really move the ball forward long term.

Know your big frogs
If you read David Allen’s Getting Things Done book, or any of Brian Tracy’s books, you know what the big frogs are. Frogs are the big items that are hard to swallow, but really move the ball forward. As an example let’s say you wanted to start a foundation to help underprivileged kids. You had an idea, and now you needed to start formulating it.

Your to-do list may look like this for the day

  • Formulate plan with dates for foundation idea Get eggs and chicken at store Run 3 miles
  • Call bank for work
  • Email Sarah about project Process inbox zero
  • Write a blog post
  • Check the blog for new comments and reply
  • Spend 20 minutes interacting with other blogs and Google Plus
  • Call for an update on Marshall file
  • Check Facebook for birthdays
  • Install new software

As you can see by this list, there are a bunch of things to do today. Many of these are short little items that do not take a lot of thinking and I can plow through them. Then there is the “formulate plan with dates for foundation.” This item is a larger idea that may take you a couple of hours and require some serious thought.

So the problem with my system last week, was I was focusing on all of the little stuff. I wanted the satisfaction of checking off the box as completed. The big items, the big goals, my big frogs, were usually saved for last when I had a large block of time. After all, seeing all those check marks at the end of the day felt great.

My problem? At the end of the week I made very little progress on my big items which are really going to move the ball forward for me in the long run. I was to wrapped up in the daily minutia of it all.

Eat your frogs first
So what to do? This week I am working the plan backwards. One of my goals for the week is to eat my big frog first every day. When I made my plan for the week there were three projects I wanted to get done, or at least make progress on this week. These are my big goals I am working towards right now. I am going to make sure that these items are moved forward and worked on every day before I get to my list of to-dos for the day. After all, is it more important that I complete my big items or install that new software I downloaded?

My challenge for you
I challenge you to figure out what three things you should be working on first. If you are having problems figuring those out go back to January 1st and look at your New Year’s resolutions? Your resolutions list for the year probably did not include things like checking comments on your blog or checking Facebook. It probably had larger items like start the new business, pass a certification or lose 20 pounds. These items on this list are your big frogs and should be tackled first.

If you do not have a list then make one now. Figure out three to five items that you want to accomplish in the next year or two. Once you have those figured out you will know what you need to eat first every morning.

What tips do you have in making sure you get the important things in your life done?

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How to go from inbox 80,000 to zero, and stay there

March 21, 2012 by · 2 Comments
What your life feels like before inbox zero

What your life feels like before inbox zero

Last week I wrote about how I manage my inbox zero on a daily basis, but it is a lot easier for me when I start every day at or near zero. What about for someone who has an inbox of over 80,000 and wants to try to be an email productivity ninja?

Well a good friend Jay Thompson is in just that situation. He recently attended one of my seminars on productivity and said he was interested in trying to manage his inbox better, but when he looked at his inbox of over 80,000 he gets overwhelmed.

As someone who always had thousands and thousands of emails in his inbox, and never thought twice about it, I can assure you that getting to an inbox zero will be a relief off your shoulders that you cannot imagine. Even if you do not think there is an issue with all those emails there, in your subconscious there is this lingering feeling going on that is making you uneasy.

When I first made the decision to work on being an inbox zero ninja in late 2010 I looked at my Google Apps email inbox, and there were a little over 12,000 emails in my inbox. I spent about two hours a day between Christmas and New Years deleting, archiving and labeling every one of those emails so on New Years Eve I was at zero.

I do not recommend this for Jay. As a matter of fact, if I had to do it all again this is probably not the approach I would have taken within Gmail.

For Jay, or anyone in the situation where they have thousands of emails in their inbox, I would recommend starting a folder or label called Before-Zero or Archives or anything like that. I would then select every email you have, uncheck all the emails from today as we are going to work on those first and then move them to that new label you just created.

Guess what, now you are at inbox zero, less the emails from today, and you are off to a good to start.

Now for your next two exercises.

The first thing you will need to do is learn how to check your email. The second thing you will need to do is learn how to process your email. No, they are not the same things.

There is a couple of key tips to making sure you stay at inbox zero:

  • Try and never touch an email more than once. When you open it, do something with it.
  • Unsubscribe. Use that unsubscribe button as often as possible.
  • When its time to process rid the inbox of everything. Everything has a place.

I don’t care if you check your email first thing in the morning or not. To me there is value in checking your email early. As long as you have developed a system and work the system, you will be able to maintain an inbox zero.

Remember, it does not matter where you are today with your inbox, you cannot change the past. But you do have total control over the future.

 

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How I process my email for inbox zero

March 16, 2012 by · 2 Comments

If you read my last post on my effective use of the Pomodoro productivity system, you may not be clear about how I am currently managing my inbox zero. As I have mentioned before, inbox Zero was something I started in January of 2011 and with varying degrees of success have maintained for the last  15 months. Of those 15 months, the best months have been the last three.

So what am I doing now for inbox zero?

First let me give you the 30,000 foot level then. Will go into details. On weekdays I typically check my email several times a day, but only process my inbox twice a day.

What the heck is the difference?

I want to start with processing emails first because I think if I started with checking first it would not be as easy to follow.

Processing inbox

I will typically process all the emails in my inbox twice a day on week days, then again on Sunday right before I do my weekly review. More coming on that soon too.

When I process my email, I am getting to inbox zero. Every email has a place, and I do what I can and make sure it gets there. My first task, after setting my Pomodoro timer, is I look through the emails for anything that should be deleted. Before I delete it, I ask myself is this something I can unsubscribe from. If the answer is yes i take the 30-60 seconds it takes to do so. You have no idea how much time this process will save you three months down the road when your inbox starts getting 95 emails a day instead of 146.

Once I delete what I can I then look at any news letters I have, scan them quickly and then either delete or email them over to Evernote with a read tag assigned for later reading.

Next I look at the remaining emails and see if there is anything that may look either time sensitive or maybe it’s an item I can do a required task in less than two minutes. I open these items one at a time. If the email is an action item I either delegate it, do it on the spot if it will take less than two minutes, or forward to Evernote to be placed on my action to do items. Then I either delete or archive the email.

Now once that is done I go to the bottom of the email list, to my oldest item, then start working up one item at a time. I use the same process as I read the email I decide if it is something I can just delete, delegate, complete quickly or email to Evernote as a todo item.

Once my inbox is at zero, usually takes about ten minutes once you get the system down, then I head to Evernote and make sure all the action items end up in a todo today list or a master action list for a future to-do session. You guessed it, more on that later.

And somewhere between 15-20 minutes after I started my inboxes are empty and that burden is off my shoulders. I can assure you, if you have never been an inbox zero person, and you become one, you will never wish you went back to that 15,000 inbox again.

Checking email

Now many people who look at my system and use a system of processing email twice a day will tell you that is all you need to check your email. They are probably right. At times, that is all I have checked it, and I survived quite well, but I check it more often.

As I mentioned in my Pomodoro post, I work hard for 25 minutes then take 5 minutes for me. During this time, I do what I want and often I will open up my google apps account and look quickly at my emails.

When I do this, here are the rules I try to live by:

  • Only look for email that may be time sensitive, something you were waiting for or motion critical If i open it and it is not one of those things I get out ASAP and move on If it is I process that email now and don’t wait.
  • I try and never open an email more than once. I am successful at this maybe 60% of the time.
  • There you have it. This is the system that has worked best for me over the past 15 months. It is not the only system, but it’s the one the Productive Dad uses. Let me know your system and remember.

I have never heard anyone who had an inbox zero say ”damn I wish I had more emails in my inbox”.

Next up how to get to zero when you are starting at 80k and what tools to make sure you never lose an email. This one will be dedicated to Jay Thompson

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Pomodoro: Show the tomato some love

March 13, 2012 by · 2 Comments
My Little Pomodoro System

My Little Pomodoro System

Been a while

It has been a while since I have blogged. That does not mean I have not been practicing productivity procedures, far from it. It just means I was deciding what to do with this blog. I have been blogging a lot about my physical and fitness transformation over at See Your Toes, but I have missed blogging here too. So here I am.

What has changed since I last blogged here? A lot! I have become even better at maintaining my inbox of zero and I will be discussing that over the next couple of weeks. I have become an Evernote fanatic, so much so that I have dropped my much loved Wunderlist and now use Evernote for my to do list too. Again, more to come on that in the coming weeks. Also I have adopted the Pomodoro System.

Love the tomato

What is the Pomodoro System? Think of it as setting the kitchen egg timer to 25 minutes and working as hard and as focused as you can for those 25 minutes. During that 25 minutes, you focus on the one thing you have at hand and get as much done as possible. At the end of the 25 minutes, your timer goes off, and you stop. Then you take a 5 minute break and rinse and repeat.

I use the “My Little Pomodoro” app for my MacBook Pro. All I need to do is hit begin, and it starts counting down and then when it goes off I hit break and it counts down from 5 minutes. As a matter of fact, I set it as I started writing this and right now I can see I have about 19:38 left until it goes off.

So how am I doing this?

I have my “To-Do” list broken up to a few parts such as

  • Real Estate
  • Political
  • Health/Fitness
  • Other

Each of my to-do items for the day is under one of those categories. Again, stay tuned for upcoming posts on Evernote and how I break these up and organize them. So when I sit down in the morning I look at what my big frogs are for the day, the three things I need to make sure I get done. Then my first three 25 minute Pomodoro segments are going to be dedicated to those.

So let’s say my big three for the day are

  1. Write Executive Summary (Real Estate)
  2. Call to set up PAC fundraising meeting later this month (Politics)
  3. Write a blog post (Other)

My first three items of the day will be to spend a 25 minute segment on each of those. This way I can be assured I have made some progress on my important to-do items before the minutia starts adding up and taking over.

Once those three items are done, and I go on to the next Pomodoro time slot, things may not be as clear. Let’s say I get done my 25 minutes of each and I am done those three things for the day. Now for my next 25 minute segment I may look at my real estate section, look at all my to-do items for the day and just start going through them getting as much done and checked off as I can in that allotted time.

Now during these 25 minute segments my email will be closed, phone will be on silence and all distractions will be gone unless it is something I need to complete the tasks at hand. If I am doing my real estate and I need to send some emails it may be open, but I am not checking new emails.

During the 5 minute down time is when I will use the restroom, get more coffee or water, look quickly through my email to see if anything urgent or check Google Plus, Twitter, Look at TPD Facebook page, Google Reader, Drudge Report etc.

The key for me is to eliminate distractions as much as possible and just plow as hard as you can through those 25 minutes. I am always amazed how much I can complete in 25 minutes when I eliminate the distractions, and now little I get done when those distractions are there.

Now this works for me; there is no guarantee it will work for you. I would love to hear from you, have you used the Pomodoro system or what system do you use to make sure your productivity level stays high?

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Productivity tools: My top 10 I use daily

October 19, 2011 by · 5 Comments
Tools of the trade

Tools of the trade

I often get asked what are the top productivity tools I use. It got me thinking about all the time management and productivity apps and services I use on a daily basis and as I started writing about them, a new post was formed.

Some of these time management tools I have used for years, others for as little as a month. But rarely does a day go by when I don’t use each and every one of these productivity tools.

10) Audible – Audible is a service that allows you to download audio books on your phone, computer or iPad. I often listen to books on my phone or iPad as I drive. You may not think of an audio book app as something that would show up with time management tools, but it allows me to get through books I would not otherwise have the time to read.

9) Hootsuite – This is one of the time productivity tools I have been using for a couple of years now. When I first started out on Twitter I was using Tweet Deck. But one issue I had was if that each computer I owned had a different set up for Tweet Deck and Hootsuite was a web based product that allowed me to have the same setup no matter what computer I was on. Since then I have been an exclusive Hootsuite user. Hootsuite allows you to set up different profiles and streams on one window to make it easy to quickly see the things that are important to you.

8) Evernote – Many people have used Evernote for years. While I have had my account for years, it was not until four or five months ago that I started using it on a regular basis and since then has become one of my daily time management tools. If you have never used Evernote you can easily Google Evernote tips and get dozens of them. One of my favorite uses is when I see an article on the web I want to remember or find later I will clip it to my Evernote for easy access down the road. This is really a help when I see Paleo recipes I want to try later. There are so many great things you can do with time management and Evernote. I think I will need to start working on a post for that.

7) Text Expander – This is the newest weapon in my productivity arsenal and is quickly becoming a favorite. Text Expander is a tool that allows you to set up a code snippet as they call it. You can associate whatever you want with that snippet so every time you type that snippet in any window, email, document or whatever it will automatically replace the snippet with the predetermined text you assigned to it. I know there are a dozen or so emails that I type on a regular basis to different people. The emails are typically the same and are sent when a certain time arises in a transaction or exchange. Now instead of typing the same email over and over I can type it once, get it perfect and save it to snippet. Now when I type that short snippet, the email is written for me.

6) iPad – Do you have an iPad yet? I guess this depends on the industry you are in, but an iPad has been an amazing tool for me. I can honestly do just about everything I need to on an iPad. I have written blog posts on there, but that is typically the one thing I do not do on a regular basis because it is just so much quicker to do on my MacBook Pro keyboard.

5) Linkdip – This is a new kid on the block, and unless you are a blogger you can just keep moving. Linkdip is a social service that allows you to receive points for Liking, +1′ing, retweeting and linking to other people’s posts. As long as you have points you can then ask others to +1, Like or link to your content if they like it. Does it work? Trust me, it does.

4) Google Reader – With tools like Twitter ( follow me ) and Google Plus ( circle me up ) some people say they no longer need Google Reader to track all their RSS feeds. They say they find everything they need in their streams from their friends. Well for me Reader is still one of the time management tools I need.

3) Dropbox – Dropbox is a must for me. I store all the files I need for work on my Dropbox account. That way I never need to worry about my computer or iPad crashing. All my files are automatically backed up. The other great thing about Dropbox is you can share files or folders with other people which can greatly help with your time management activities. Dropbox does need to watch out for Box.net though. Right now if you download Box.net from an iOS device (iPhone, iPad etc) you get 50GB free for life. I am considering switching to Box.net for this reason. Right now you get 2GB free on Dropbox, but you can also get free space by inviting others. And yes, if you click on this Dropbox link and signup, I get an extra 250MB!

2) Gmail – What is there to say about Gmail that has not already been said? I love my Gmail. Although I have had to learn tricks to make Gmail work better with my time management, it is a tool that does save me lots of time with quick organization. The key to Gmail is learning to use labels and auto filters. Once you master them, there is no better tool I have seen to manage you email. Also Gmail is the best spam filter in the universe!

1) Wunderlist – Wunderlist is by far the MVP of my time management systems. I have written about Wunderlist dozens of times. I simply could not get through the day without it. It is always open when I am at my computer working. If you like a simple, yet very powerful to-do list, your search stops here.

There you have it, ten time management tools I use every day. Now let me know, what are the ones I missed that would be on your list?

***Late edit. I do not know how this slipped though, but Google Voice should be on this list. The ability to get your voicemails transcribed into text messages, free text messaging and saving all those voice mails I may need for later is priceless. This should have been on the list.

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What an 8-year old noticed that made me laugh at myself

October 11, 2011 by · 1 Comment
Time Suck

Time Suck

An interesting thing happened the other day that I would have never noticed if it were not for my 8-year old daughter Rachel. We were watching a video tape (VCR, remember those way back when things?) of her oldest sister Anna from when Anna was a newborn. Anna is now 12.

During the video, Rachel made a comment that made me laugh. She noticed something that I would have never noticed, but of course once she mentioned it I could not stop noticing.

Throughout pretty much the entire hour video, which was made over a year, it seemed in every scene the television was on in the background. Now we were almost never watching the TV set, but it was on.

Why would this be something that Rachel would notice? Because about 16 months ago, we got rid of paid television and now watch our shows on the computer, over the air if it is a live sporting event, or the occasional news viewing.

I never realized I was such a TV addict. But looking back at it, I can see it clear as day. Up until last year, if I was awake and at home, there was a much better chance than not that the television was turned on.

All the meat

We still watch almost all the same shows we used to watch. I never have to worry about the DVR going down or filling up, I can just catch the show on HULU or CBS.com. Just about any network show you want to see, you can see any time you would like.

But not the filler

The biggest difference is what happens on Monday night after “How I Met Your Mother” and “Two and a Half Men” are over. Like most American families, after the shows we wanted to watch were over and viewed on the DVR, we used to start flipping. We would find cooking shows, or cake shows, or landscaping shows or travel shows, or history shows, or astronomy shows or…. you get the point. We would always find something to watch. It may not be a show we really cared about seeing, and if we had missed it we would have never cared. But flipping TV stations is a great American past-time.

Try it

I highly recommend you try this for a month. You don’t need to cancel your cable or DirecTV, just challenge yourself for a month to not watch television on the television, but just over the computer. You will be amazed how you can still see  all of your shows, but save yourself hours and hours a week to do more productive things like spend time with your kids, go hiking, read or write blog posts.

Now this may not be for everyone. I know my friend Bill Risser, who is a television addict, may not be able to pull this off. But for the rest of you, if you are looking for more time in your life to do things like exercise and spend quality family time or build a side business, try it for a month. I bet more than a few of you will be delighted with the results.

 

Photo Credit: dhammza

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I’m noticing a change in my morning routine: Hello Google+

October 6, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Google+

For the past two months or so I have been waking up around 4:30am to get a start on the day. Since I starting making this switch from a lifelong night owl to a morning person I have noticed a huge increase in my productivity by mid morning. I now get done more by noon than I used to get done by 5pm.

My morning routine

Over the last week I have noticed a new habit forming in my morning routine. For the last few months my morning routine has looked something like this:
4:30 get out of bed and regular morning stuff
4:35-4:50 read my Google Reader and get through as many stories as possible
4:50-5:30 head to the Crossfit gym, workout and jog back home
5:30-5:45 drink lots of water, rest up a little and maybe a couple more quick Google Reader stories
5:45-6 make a 3-egg omelet or put a fritatta in the oven.

Hello Google+

The big change I have noticed of late is much of that time I spent reading my Google Reader and blog stories is now tending to be taken up by time reading andinteractingon Google+. I willeventuallystill get through all those RSS feeds in my reader, but my first stop is no longer Google Reader, it is Google+ to see what is being discussed there. Many of he conversations I find there are interesting and supplement what is already in my Google Reader feeds.

I find the information being shared on Google+ is better than any of the other networks. And I love tloveact that I can quickly hit my “read”, “productivity”, diet-exercise”, “geek” and “real estate” circles and feel like I know what people are talking about today.

How about youg?

If you are on Google+ make sure you add me to a circle so I can add you too. Also let me know how you are finding Google+ so far? Are you enjoying is as much as me? Has it changed your habits at all?

Sidenote

I had a back and forth with Robert Scoble about the importance of RSS feeds on blogs over at Google+ a few days ago. He thinks that the RSS feed is dead because people find their stories on social networks now. While I understand how that may be true for him, I cannot spend all day on Google+ or Twitter. I am on there in the am, maybe a quick stop by in the afternoon, then again at night. So for us who do not have a full time job of reading andinteractingon social media RSS feeds are still important to make sure we don’t miss anything on ourfavoriteblogs.

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Taming the time jungle – How to master your schedule

October 3, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
tungle-round-large

Who doesn’t have a busy schedule? Not seeing many hands go up right now. One thing we can do to free up more time is learn to tame the time jungle that runs our lives.

Time Jungle

What happens when we combine the words Time and Jungle? We get Tungle as in the scheduling service Tungle.me. Your time jungle is the mess that is your schedule. I know when I get a call for an appointment my schedule is usually pretty full for the next few days, and it is hard to come up with a time that works for all of us. Now what makes things even more difficult is when you are on the road and get a call for an appointment.

Imagine how easy it would be if you could tame your time jungle by saying “please call my assistant to set up a time for us to meet. They have my schedule and can help you find the time that is best for both of us.”

Now imagine you could do that and your assistant didn’t cost you anything. That is how Tungle.me works in my daily business.

A waste of time

Almost daily while I am out driving someone calls and wants to schedule an appointment. If you were like me, the most likely scenario here is you telling the client you will call them back later after you are done driving. Later you end up playing phone tag to eventually set something up.

Or maybe a client emails you and says they would like to see some houses next Monday at 3pm. But of course you are already booked, so email them back and ask them if noon or five would work. They throw some more times to you and before you know it you have spent 15 minutes with emails back and forth until you land a time that works for you both.

Be more efficient

The good news is there is technology that can help you with these issues.

Tungle.me is a calendar application that will sync automatically with your Google Calendar, Yahoo, Outlook, Blackberry or just about any calendar system you may use. Tungle.me allows you to set your available schedule, and whenever you put something new on your calendar of choice it automatically blocks it off on Tungle.me too.

You are given a unique Tungle.me url such as Tungle.me/YourName. What I recommend doing though to make it easier for your clients is to head over to your favorite domain registrar and reserve a unique URL that will direct to your Tungle.me address such as ScheduleYourName.com. When someone goes there it redirects them straight to my Tungle.me page. When I am driving and someone wants to schedule a meeting, I tell them to head to ScheduleDean.com and pick out some times that work for them.

When someone lands on your Tungle.me schedule they can see exactly what you have available for open times and then can make a request for a meeting by providing a few different time options to meet. You then receive an email saying there is a request and you can pick the time that works best for you. Never again will you need to go back and forth to schedule a meeting.

You completely control your Tungle.me settings. If you dont work on weekends you can make it so Saturday and Sundays are not an option to request a meeting. If you only work from 8-11am and then from 4-6pm, you can set those as your available times. No one will ever know what you have booked, they will just see your are booked with something else during those times.

There are many tools out there we use to make our life easier, the true test though is what ones do we keep using. I have been using Tungle.me for almost a full year now and could not imagine trying to run my schedule without it.

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Real Productive: My best experiment yet?

September 28, 2011 by · 1 Comment

I have tried many different productivity tips over the years, some last and some don’t. My latest experiment may be one of my biggest game changers yet. This experiment revolves around one my my favorite topics- email.

I need to preface this with a little about me. I have been an inbox zero guy for close to a year now. Even though I am an inbox zero guy, I still spend a lot of time in my Gmail Apps account, but I never knew how much until recently. As a full time real estate agent I do a lot of my work, I would say the majority of it, through email. I communicate with the banks on my short sales, my business partner, other agents and my clients through email. On a typical day I receive roughly 130 emails (not including what my spam filter catches) and I send about 60-70.

Why do I tell you this? Because I know your response to this post is going to be, “But I could never do that.” When I first heard of other people talking about this concept, that was my first reaction. But my vacation this summer to California taught me that if I did not check my email every 5 minutes both myself and the world would somehow manage to keep going. I know…. shocker.

So I decided a little over two weeks ago I wanted to try and spend less time in email. I am one of those guys who checks his phone every 5 minutes or whenever it buzzes, whichever came first. When I was at my computer, my Gmail was always open in one of my Chrome browser tabs. It would be nothing for me to go there every few minutes to look at my emails.

What I decided was I was going to check my email twice a day at 10am and at 5pm. I would touch each email only once. Each email would be answered immediately then filed into the proper label or deleted. Each email that needed action that would take more than a couple of minutes would go directly into my Wunderlist (my system I use for my to-dos) and then be filed or deleted.

What I found was that when I went in with the intention of getting my email cleared as quickly as possible, I was amazed at how quickly I could process all the emails and get on with my day. Typically there would be somewhere between 50-60 emails when I checked at 10am and 60-75 emails at 5pm. When I log in to my email that is all I am focusing on. On average I can process all those emails in 10-20 minutes. On an average day I now spend roughly 30 minutes total in email.

Another benefit of this new email checking system is I don’t jump every time my phone buzzes. It is amazing how the world does not come to a halt because I let my email pile up for half a day. I am not sure how much time I used to spend in my Gmail, but I am guessing it was probably in excess of two hours a day.

I do make some exceptions. If I need to email someone about a business matter in between those times I will open my email, send what I need to be sent, then close it back down. But I will not check email while I am in there. And if I need a file or information quickly and know it will be coming via email I will check my phone when it buzzes. I won’t open anything except the urgent email I am waiting for, but I will open that when it arrives. This only happens maybe 2-3 times a week. For the most part I stick to my system.

Will this system work for you? I don’t know. The only thing certain about productivity systems is no system will work for everyone. But I encourage you to give this one a shot. No matter how important you think your emails are, no matter how much email is a part of your business and life, I know you can pull this off if you give it an honest try.

Let me know, have you ever tried anything like this? How do you process your email? And let me know if you have any email challenges you think you may need help with.

 

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Wunderlist to-do productivity tool gets even easier to use

September 12, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

If you have been around here a while you know I love my Wunderlist to-do app. Wunderlist is simple, powerful, and will work from my computer, iPad, Android phone or just about any other device you can think of. I use Wunderlist pretty much all day, every day.

One of my favorite things about Wunderlist is they are always improving their product. There are many programs and apps that constantly add updates, but when doing so often make the program or app more difficult and more cumbersome to use. Wunderlist seems to understand that by adding new features it does not mean you need to add layers to the program.

Here is a video they just released with some new updates. I love the new quick adding date feature. Great job Wunderlist, keep it up!

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