Simple productivity tips By Josh Hinds

Success begets success. No doubt about it, we all feel a sense of accomplishment (i.e. successful) whenever we manage to complete a task or attain a goal we've set for ourselves.

Therefore it only seems natural that we would all benefit greatly from putting into our daily routine some simple actions that will help us each to experience that all important feeling that we're in fact "getting things done".

Incidentally, if you've yet to read the book by David Allen, "Getting Things Done" (yes that really is the title) do yourself a favor and do so. In it you'll find countless ideas that will do wonders for helping you increase your productivity, both personally and professionally.

Josh's productivity tips...

Before I continue please keep in mind that the purpose of sharing my thoughts here isn't to create mindless robots -- rather I offer these ideas as things that I've found useful and hope that you might as well. Like I always say, personal development is a hands on project. By that I mean give something a try and if you find it's not your cup of tea drop it like a bad habit and give something else a go.

In other words, use what works for you and ignore what doesn't. I don't claim to know all the answers and by the way if you run into someone on this earth who does I might recommend running as fast as you can...lol. Finally, keep in mind that we're all students when it comes to personal development -- with each of us at different levels of study.

The ideas already...

Keep it simple - I'm one of those folks who runs across some new productivity program (I.e. Software app) and before I know it I've got the thing installed and I'm trying it out. Certainly I've run across some excellent solutions over time.

One of the problems I've found in the past however is that unless I'm reminded to use it it doesn't make a hill of beans how many bells and whistles the program has. It's the old out of sight, out of mind getting in the way.

So what do I do? ...

I've committed to making things simple. So simple in fact that I've got a plain text file (not even a word file, plain jane .txt) which I've named inbox. It sits right on my computer desktop (the first screen most folks see on their computer before opening any programs). Is it as glamorous as some of the previous solutions I've used? Of course not. But I'm finding its simplicity is what makes it work so well for me.

Why I think it works...

Since it is just a text file it's naturally small in size. Which means I can (and do) keep it open as long as my computer is on. This helps to ensure that my list of things to do -- my inbox as I call it is NEVER out of sight nor out of mind.

Furthermore, I use a simple way of breaking my tasks / things to do, etc. down so they're displayed in the handy dandy inbox text file.

If you're familiar with the book mentioned above, "Getting Things Done", what I'm about to mention will sound familiar to you. If not bear with me anyway.

Main categories in my inbox file...

I'm pretty easy going on myself when it comes to this. For example, here is how I'd lay out my inbox. Items will of course be removed, moved, deleted, etc. depending on where I am in relation to a given task, project, or goal. Some might disagree with my approach, but I find the flexibility in the way I do it to my personal liking.

So here's the example:

@personal
- list any task I want to get done that's of a personal nature.

@work
- tasks that are work related

@ calls
- phone calls, emails.etc that I need to take care of.

@waiting
- here I would list notes to myself of things I'm waiting for a reply on or to hear back on. Things I don't want to forget and require some sort of response back to me from another person. Say for example I have called someone that I had listed in the @calls category. I'd delete that note to call the person and if necessary make a note of what I was waiting on from them. Again, that's assuming it required a response from them in the first place.

Again, the point here isn't to have some terribly structured system. In my humble opinion it is those overly structured systems that leave me so frustrated that I run from them. So again, consider the idea above, if it works for you, terrific, if not that's fine too. If you can integrate a part of the idea, but not all of it, that's perfectly fine.

Added benefit...

One of the things I particularly like is the simplicity with which I can print a paper version of my inbox text file / list of things to get done. In fact I do this often, scratching off things as their completed, as well as removing them from the list on the computer, that in itself will give you a well deserved feeling of achievement.

Remember, little improvements over time lead to great positive gains, which equates to more of your goals being achieved.

-- to your goal-setting success, Josh Hinds
http://GoalsSuccess.com

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