Managing yourself: how to be productive with your time

Jo Alcock Birmingham City University

@joeyanne www.joeyanne.co.uk

Session aim

To equip you with tools to help you clear your mind so that you can focus on Getting Things Done

Learning outcomes

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1.  Implement the Getting Things Done methodology in their work and personal life

2.  Employ systems (physical or virtual) to manage and organise information

3.  Apply productivity techniques to focus on progressing towards short, medium and long term goals

Session overview

•  Introduction to Getting Things Done methodology

•  Stages of Getting Things Done (with discussion, individual and group activities, and software demos)

•  Alternative systems for productivity

•  Additional tips and tricks

•  Applying what you have learnt into practice

My story

Your journey

What is Getting Things Done?

•  Productivity methodology devised by David Allen

•  Series of processes to help you organise information and make decisions about what to do when

•  Sometimes known as GTD •  Can be used as full system, or

certain elements can be used

Getting Things Done overview

Collect

Process

Organise Review

Do

Stage 1 - Collect

•  Aim of this stage is to clear your mind to record all physical information and anything you are currently trying to remember

•  ALL sources of information should ideally come into one place (physical or virtual)

Suggestions and ideas

Physical collection Virtual collection

Stage 2 - Process

•  Process each item one at a time, in order

•  Decide what each item is and what to do with it –  Trash –  Reference –  Action –  Project (multi-step action) –  Someday

•  Don’t leave anything in your ‘inbox’

Stage 3 - Organise

•  Separate actionable items into distinct, separate categories: –  Next actions –  Scheduled actions –  Waiting for

•  If any action takes less than 2 minutes, do it now

Using lists

“I have a secret. I make lists. That's how I handle stress. And whether they actually help me accomplish more or not,they make me feel so much better. If I can jot down all the tasks that swirl around in my head, I shift from feeling deluged and stressed to feeling in control and calm. And this is before I even do anything on the list.”

Suzanne Riss (2007) in Maggio (2009)

Next actions – To-do list

•  Record next and scheduled actions

•  Utilise contexts –  @errands –  @computer –  @online –  @home –  @calls

•  May assign projects/tags •  Accessible from anywhere

Suggestions

Physical Virtual

Projects vs. actions

•  Each project will have a number of discrete actions with clear end points

•  Actions should be written in the following format:

EXAMPLE:

Prepare agenda for next project team meeting

Verb Noun Subject Action

Setting deadlines

•  Do personal deadlines help you focus or make you feel guilty? Get the balance right for you.

•  Work backwards from the due date to calculate deadlines for the subtasks of each project

Tickler file (43 folders)

•  Set reminder triggers for time-based items to ‘tickle’ your memory –  Agendas for meetings –  Tickets for travel –  Event information –  Materials needed for

scheduled task http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG0FU_M_YB8

Tickler file (e-mail)

•  Email folders (or labels) for each month and date

•  Time-based emails moved into appropriate folders/labels

Stage 4 - Review

•  System needs regular review •  Every day

–  Daily calendar –  Action list –  Tickler file

•  Weekly (?Fri afternoon) –  Full 5 step process –  Ensure all lists, files, folders,

and calendar are up-to-date •  Less frequently

–  Bigger picture reviews for goals

Stage 5 - Do

•  Assess situation depending on following factors: –  Context –  Time available –  Energy –  Priority

Knowing what not to do

•  Do you need to do this? •  Do you want to do this? •  Is it something you feel you

should do? Why? •  Can it be deleted,

delegated, or simplified?

Getting started

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started"

Mark Twain

•  Adopt the 15 minute rule - spend just 15 minutes starting a task. You may find that you are so into it by then that you want to continue, but at minimum you will have at least started.

Staying on task

•  If during a task you hit a hurdle or need extra information, make a note of the question or jot down the extra task to come back to after you have completed the rest of your original task

Dealing with procrastination

•  Discover the source of procrastination - lack of commitment, knowledge, motivation, fear of failure, overwhelmed?

•  Deal with the problem •  Just do it - even if only for

15 minutes •  Set yourself a reward

mechanism

Pomodoro technique

•  Choose a task to be accomplished

•  Set the Pomodoro (timer) to 25 minutes

•  Work on the task until the Pomodoro rings, then put a check on your sheet of paper

•  Take a short break (5 minutes is OK)

•  Every 4 Pomodoros take a longer break

http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/

GTD overview

Five stage process for managing information and improving productivity: 1.  Collect 2.  Process 3.  Organise 4.  Review 5.  Do

Alternative productivity systems

•  Zen to Done

•  The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

•  Never Check E-Mail in the Morning

•  Bit Literacy

•  The Four-Hour Workweek

•  One Year to an Organized Work Life

Tips and tricks

Understand your Bodyclock

•  Are you a morning person or a night owl?

•  Can you structure your most difficult tasks when your energy is high?

•  Consider utilising 'slump' time to organise to do list and revitalise energy

•  Block day into periods of work (ideally 90 minutes)

Dealing with interruptions

•  List is constantly evolving •  Priorities will shift and

change on a regular basis •  Use time-based or priority

rankings to help you reorganise your tasks

To-don't list

•  Keep a list of activities that you sometimes feel you 'ought' to do but know drain your energy, take up too much of your time, or are unrewarding

•  Be sensible and realistic about your capabilities, skills and commitments

•  Practice saying no - be firm but kind when turning down opportunities and offer an alternative if possible e.g. "I'm sorry, I can't do that but Mr X might be interested"

Saying no

“Not saying no often enough is one of the biggest causes of being too busy”

Maggio (2009)

•  Before responding, let person know you'll get back to them but spend time making the right decision

•  Don't give excuses if it's something you don't want to do, be honest and keep your response simple

•  Saying no is much kinder than saying yes and not fulfilling your commitment

Email management tips

•  Try choosing 1-4 periods of the day to deal with email

•  Turn off email alert signal •  Store informational email in

reference folders •  Practice replying to emails

in as few words as possible

Extracting information from calls/meetings

•  Make notes at meetings and during calls

•  Highlight any actions and record these in your list immediately after the call/meeting

•  Store your notes for reference - somewhere you can easily recall them

Profersonal mix?

Professional Personal

Adapting your process

•  We are all different •  This is your own journey •  Regularly review what is

working well and what isn't - ditch or change what isn't working

Feel free to contact me

Jo Alcock Evidence Based Researcher @joeyanne jo@joeyanne.co.uk

Recommended reading

•  Allen, D. (2001) Getting Things Done: How to achieve stress-free productivity. Piatkus.

•  Hines, S. (2010) Productivity for Librarians: How to get more done in less time. Oxford: Chandos Publishing.

•  Houghton-Jan, S. (2008) Being Wired or Being Tired: 10 Ways to Cope with Information Overload. Being Wired or Being Tired: 10 Ways to Cope with Information Overload. Ariadne [online], 56.

•  Maggio, R. (2009) The Art of Organizing Anything: Simple Principles for Organizing Your Home, Your Office, and Your Life. New York: McGraw Hill.

Image sources http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwvc/6306132745/ - tickbox http://www.flickr.com/photos/rcpl/4881969613/ - storytime http://www.flickr.com/photos/aigle_dore/5849712695/ - journey http://pokechild.com/gtd-flawed-system-helpful-system/ - GTD flowchart http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr/3915514724/ - investigation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/schlosi/6413179977/ - inbox http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr/3915516040/ - group discussion http://www.flickr.com/photos/71804756@N00/410602044/ - wine glasses http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmachiavello/3327609638/ - to do list http://www.flickr.com/photos/joelanman/366190064/ - calendar

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29254399@N08/3187186308/ - clock http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/4782854680/ - hurdle http://www.flickr.com/photos/nataliejohnson/2122722198/ - Quality Street http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrhode/4632887921/ - toolbox http://www.flickr.com/photos/splic3/6811683059/ - alarm clock

http://www.flickr.com/photos/renaissancechambara/2927082003/ - do not disturb http://www.flickr.com/photos/27282406@N03/4134661728/ - thank you http://www.iconfinder.com - icons