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Productivity tips
Put blog updates and other RSS feeds in a slightly less accessible region of the computer screen. (This is especially effective if on a Mac--I've transferred all my bookmarked RSS feeds to my Bloglines widget in Dashboard... It's slowly changing my life, now that each time I open a browser window I'm not tempted to check the feeds. If you're not on a Mac, use a different browser for your feeds.)
Don't visit "the usuals" on days where productivity is desperately needed. I don't procrastinate much, but checking my daily sites is habit forming in the same way RSS feeds are. This includes Facebook, any blogs I check that do not have RSS feeds, financial institutions (because I watch those kinds of things better than a hawk), and (always the last to cut) my news sites.
Shut off instant messenger. An away message is not an effective way of saying "I am busy" most times. Enough said.
Shut off cell phone. I can only do this for short periods of time and usually only at night because otherwise I might miss important calls from clients... but it's still effective.
Give the dog a bone. She'll chew it for hours and let me read. It's great.
Have post-it notes handy at all times for those pop-up video moments when you annotate your life throughout the day. Not just good for reaffirming details of learning--these notes can also be good fodder for creative writing.
Go to Dairy Queen, directly to Dairy Queen. Do not pass GO; do not collect $200. (Okay, so maybe I'm just throwing this one in there because my town's seasonal DQ just opened today and it was free cone day...)
Set limits on times for studying, working, and socializing. Part of having the time is making the time. I've set "office hours" for when clients can expect to contact me and that's been helpful.
Make reminders to reply to emails later. I flag them or make reminders in iCal. That helps me stay on track with whatever I'm thinking about when emails arrive and to be less stressed about forgetting to respond. I used to be really bad about wanting to respond instantly... but that's also made most of my correspondents think that I have hinges on my wrists to which my laptop is attached...
Make to-do lists, but make them reasonable. Break big projects into little ones. (You get to X things out faster that way, and that's accompanied by the feeling of accomplishment!) The list might look longer that way, but it's more manageable.
Shut off the computer. This is great! I love my computer, but I also need to sleep. So I'll be doing this step now, thank you. :)
Posted by KarissaKilgore at March 2, 2008 10:36 PM
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I don't give the dog a bone, I give the children a Disney Movie ;-)
Posted by: Val at March 29, 2008 4:56 AM
Schedules and getting things done efficiently is for schmucks.
I enjoy a great life of hectically trying to remember what the hell I walked in the room for when I should be getting work done.
Protip: Go when the light is green and accelerate to at least the speed limit in under 8 seconds, thank you.
Posted by: Dr Tasty at May 11, 2008 4:30 AM
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March 2, 2008