Last week I announced that my focus for January would be getting organized. I’m concentrating on setting up systems to help increase my productivity. I have found that my primary failing is not dealing with a lot of the small stuff immediately – that’s how my email inbox got so out of control. I’m proud to say that I actually reached “Inbox Zero.” Here’s hoping I can keep it there.
Here are a few things I accomplished this week:
- Began setting up Todoist to keep track of my tasks
- Emptied my inbox by archiving/deleting old messages and setting up tasks for any email that requires follow-up
- Installed the Todoist Gmail/Chrome Extensions on all the computers I frequently use
- Began setting deadlines for tasks on my to-do list
- Set time limits on various tasks to help focus and complete them
I’m currently following along pretty closely with Tiago Forte’s productivity system (based on David Allen’s Getting Things Done). I would like to give it a few weeks to really see how well it works and give it a chance to become habit. So far, it’s helped alleviate a lot of stress.
For the coming week, I plan to continue organizing my to-do list and begin utilizing Evernote. I used to be a huge fan of Evernote but pretty much stopped using when I began using Pinterest. I want to clean up all the data I currently have stored there and begin to use it for projects that I have going on. I also plan to spend some time purging and organizing digital clutter. I am definitely a digital hoarder and need to address that. Just because I have a ton of space on my hard drive, doesn’t mean I need to keep multiple copies of pictures and other files.
What are your tips for being more productive?
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