Productivity
Like most people, I don’t feel like there are enough hours in a day to do everything I want to. And, I’ve been getting caught up in the small stuff because it’s so much easier to renew that library book than start writing my dissertation. Here are a few things that have been helping me become more productive lately:
Inbox Zero. There are many explanations of inbox zero floating around out there, but this is the one I’ve implemented. Now, the only things I see when I log in to gmail are emails that haven’t been touched before, and if I want my “to-do list” emails, they’re in the starred filter. On the same tack, I’ve started filtering my work emails out of my personal inbox so that’s not the first thing I see when I look at my phone in the morning. I only work half time, so this helps me to delineate my time better.
Coffitivity. Again, there are many tools that give you ambient noise (my old standby was iSerenity) but this one has a modern sound. In fact, I swear it incorporates the exact buzz that my phone makes against the desk. Maybe that’s not a good feature…
RescueTime. This app helps me quantify how productive I’ve been. The weekly reports are always a little depressing (I need to adjust my goals so I sometimes meet them), but they give me a little jolt of energy to change my habits or an affirmation that I’m on track.
toggl. When I need to actually keep track of hours for something (freelance projects or general hours accounting) I use toggl. Social media on the bus, only. It’s so tempting to look at facebook, twitter, or blogs during the day, but it’s so counterproductive to my dissertation goals. I’ve been trying to limit social media consumption to my twice-daily bus ride, when there’s too much stimulus for me to read something serious but I’ve got a solid block of time to fill.
Then, there are some things that I know would help me become more productive that I need to implement (or get better about):
Turn off email notifications on my phone and probably on my computers as well. Do I really need a ping every time I get a new email? As I work to filter things out so they don’t hit my inbox (and instead are filtered for later consumption), maybe the ping will become more meaningful, but right now it’s probably a distraction.
Leave myself a note with an action-item for the following morning. I usually have my highest energy levels right when I arrive at the office, so that’s not the time for email triage (are you sensing a trend, here? Email is the bane of my existence). If I left a Post-It with my first concrete task for the day, I could jump right into that.
Many of these ideas came from adulting, smartprettyandawkward, and hacks for grad students, so credit where credit is due.