I just read a post by Jonathan Phillips in which he discusses some of his favorite productivity tips. He put together some great information in response to Ben Yoskovitz’s call for secrets to productivity. I’ve decided to join in on the fun, so here it is – my own personal productivity tip!
Kill two birds with one stone. We’re all familiar with multi-tasking, but with a little creative thinking, we can accomplish tasks we would have never thought possible to accomplish simultaneously. I remember a semester in college when I took a full load of classes as well as worked a very demanding full-time job. There just weren’t enough hours in the day to get the required studying done, and my Biology class was beginning to suffer. After a lot of brainstorming, I developed a plan. I spent an entire evening reading several chapters from the textbook into an audio recorder. The next day, I listened to the recording during the 45 minute drive to class and the 45 minute drive home. It wouldn’t have been possible for me to read the textbook while driving, but by thinking outside the box, I had essentially added an hour and a half to my day! For the remainder of the semester, I spent one evening per week doing the recordings, and the rest of the week listening to them in my car. My final grade in the class was a high A! If you find yourself in a situation where there just aren’t enough hours in the day, make a list of the parts of your routine that cannot be changed, like driving. Look for creative ways to integrate other tasks into the time allotted for those fixed duties.
Be sure to check out The Ultimate Guide to Productivity Group Writing Project, and gift us with a tip of your own!
May 4th, 2007 at 2:53 am
awesome post Tish! it’s true, with only 24 hours in a day it can be quite difficult to find time to do eevery single thing we want or have to do, but with a little creativity, and thinking a little outside the box, there’s always a way around things
May 4th, 2007 at 11:02 am
I wish I had known about those little voice recorders when I was in college-I might have actually passed Macro Economics if I could have had another hour and half of study time a day! LOL
Found you on BlogCatalog, and on MyBlogLog
May 4th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Jonathan ~ Thanks! And you are so right! After all, I manage to clean the house, balance my checkbook, cook dinner, and do the laundry – all while chatting with you!
Elizabeth ~ Thanks for visiting! Macro Economics was definitely a tough class. So was Micro! If you go back in time, take a recorder with ya! hehe. I’ll go check out your blog now, and I just added you as a friend!
May 17th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
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May 20th, 2008 at 4:52 am
For managing your tasks/projects and increasing your productivity you might try out this web-based application:
Gtdagenda
You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
A mobile version is available too.
As with the last update, now Gtdagenda has full Someday/Maybe functionality, you can easily move your tasks and projects between “Active”, “Someday/Maybe” and “Archive”. This will clear your mind, and will boost your productivity.
Hope you like it.
October 19th, 2008 at 7:03 am
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