First Friday

I’ve been pretty obsessed with productivity and organization recently. It started with wanting to get my horrifying email situation under control – messages from last fall that were unanswered as of this June. It expanded from there, though, because as someone who works from home for herself and various contract employers, I am fully responsible for making good use of the hours available.

I started with Getting Things Done, the system in David Allen’s book of the same name. I actually haven’t read the book; there’s enough material online to get you started (in addition to the summary above, try zenhabits and 43 Folders). My initial goals were Inbox Zero and emptying my brain. I started by purging my email inbox of everything that could have been archived or trashed long ago, clearing space for a physical inbox in my work area at home, and writing down everything I could think of that I wanted or needed to do, regardless of deadline or level of detail.

Next was processing my lists into a more organized form (which took multiple drafts) and dealing with the items left in my email and physical inboxes. Inbox Zero actually refers to the state of having decided what to do with each item, not having necessarily done any of it, which didn’t seem that helpful to me because it is too easy. My initial goal was Inbox Zero meaning everything has actually been dealt with, but early on I realized that’s a moving target. I settled on having nothing more than three weeks old to deal with. I’ve already fallen off that wagon once, but five or six week old email is far less anxiety provoking than eight or nine month old email, so getting back in shape is easier.

In order to actually do my projects, I tried out a few to-do list schemes. Possibly the main point of Getting Things Done is allowing you to work without worrying there is something more important you ought to be doing instead, because you’re on top of your project list and know everything important is on track to being done on time. I did not have this experience. I was drowning in a huge unsorted list of projects.

One of the traits of academic life I disliked was the feeling of never having done “enough” work. If there was more time, there could be more work, and should be more work. In addition to not being sure how to prioritize my projects, I was in danger of having no (reasonable) definition of “enough” in my new career either.

Enter David Seah and the Printable CEO. A Sew-op friend tipped me off to his site, where he wrote about the same problem I was having: how do I make sure the work I’m doing every day is actually moving me forward? His answer was a point system and bubble sheet. I had to change the contents of each point value, since it was aimed at graphic design and programming, but the idea transferred. I’m still tweaking my point system, having begun just a couple of weeks ago; for now suffice to say it seems to be working well.

I realized this would also help me keep track of hours worked, if I adapted the record keeping. I made my “bubble sheet” a set of 4×4 grids, each square corresponding to 15 minutes of work at the grid’s point level. I had previously tried to keep track of time hour by hour, with a list on which I would write how I spent the hour, a check box (so I could plan ahead as well as record), and a space to write which day of the week I did it. It was cumbersome and I abandoned it in a month. This is working much better. Four categories with check boxes make for easy recording, and combined with the point accrual I enjoy doing it. However, it’s still enough division to keep me on track.

Dave also has a nifty Creative Cootie Catcher that I couldn’t resist, even though like his original Printable CEO it isn’t quite adapted to my work. And in case you’re looking for other productivity inspiration, here’s a long list of productivity tips, in which you are bound to find something that strikes your fancy.

Images in this post from a lovely site I just learned about called Pixabay.