It often seems like there is no limit to using technology to help you become more productive. In fact, sometimes, it looks like there are too many options. The truth is as a society, we have become so dependent on technology for our livelihoods. That without these systems in place, we would be much poorer as individuals and as a society. Even countries that have been slow to accept these technologies have begun to see the benefits of embracing them. It is no longer an option to make use of technology to help you with your productivity.
Personally, I struggle to get organized and stay productive with all of the information that comes flooding at me daily. So I am currently working out how I can get technology to assist me with my workflow, to-do’s, calendar, etc. It has been a process, but I’m working it out.
I have tried just about everything I can think of to be more productive and wrangle this brain of mine. From the old days of a Filofax to using a PDA, mind maps, I have tried them all.
So far, nothing has really worked for me. Besides, I could generally get by with remembering the things I needed to do, deadlines, meetings, etc.
As for goal setting, well, that seemed like a foreign concept written in a foreign language.
I have recently come across a concept called building a second brain. Essentially the premise as I understand it is that your brain is for having ideas, not storing them.
From what I can gather, it is essentially a system of outsourcing and automating your memory using technology and getting apps to do it for you.
One of my favourite quotes is “Out of clutter find simplicity”.
I like this quote because if you find a system that helps you reduce the clutter, then that’s got to be a productivity win, right?
I shudder to think how much money I have spent on personal productivity and goal-setting tools over the years. Currently, I have narrowed it down to four products that I intend to use.
Productivity Tools
- Evernote
- Things
- Notability
- XMind
That being said, I am currently writing this at 04:30 on a Sunday morning, so clearly, I have not really gotten into creating my personal productivity system. The challenge for me is that I look at these apps and immediately fall back into what I call “Ostrich Mode”. This is where I bury my head in the ground and pretend nothing is happening. After all, If I can’t see my problems, they can’t see me.
But where to from here, you may ask. The funny thing is I am asking the exact same question. How do I organize my life, my work, my projects, my to-do’s? The list goes on and on. What has become clear to me is that I need to do something, or I will crash and burn in a rather spectacular fashion. At the moment, I have tons of unfinished “stuff”, and this “stuff” is stored all over the place. From notebooks to scraps of paper, notes on my phone, notes in the cloud, ideas stored in different apps, and hard drives full of things that I have started or looked at and never gotten to.
Recently, I have been revisiting a great book by David Allen called Getting Things Done or GTD. The book is available online. You can also check out his website at https://gettingthingsdone.com.
So the next part for me is figuring out where to start and then committing to sticking to the process.
If you going through a similar process or have any hints, tips, or suggestions, I would love to hear from you in the comments below.
Until next time, keep on keeping on.
D