My best productivity tip
I’ve been tagged by Brett of The Cranking Widgets Blog to post my single, most effective tip for productivity. Brett stole the first thing that came to my mind, so I’m going to take the next logical step.
Regularly process what you’ve written to extract any actionable items.
It does very little good to write everything down if you never review it and take steps to process it. "Processing" may mean different things to you depending on your personal system, but to me it means to make the canonical GTD decision: If it’s actionable, should I do it now, delegate it someone more appropriate, or defer it until some time down the road?
The "if it’s actionable" part is a biggie. One of the biggest changes that I’ve adopted this school year is taking fewer meeting notes and instead focusing on capturing items that require action. I sort of intuitively knew that most of my meeting notes went unread and eventually wound up just taking up space in a notebook or filing cabinet somewhere, but it didn’t really hit me until I read "Step 3" of Behance’s Action Method framework: "File Reference Items, Sparingly. Keep only the notes, articles, and sketches that you need. Avoid clutter."
So if it’s not actionable, it’s either a resource you need to keep (file it!) or something you don’t (toss it!). Figuring out the difference is where I’m focusing my personal improvement efforts right now. If you can do it "on the fly," you’ll avoid taking pages of notes you never look at again, and be able to spend more time focusing on the items that need your attention.
After writing things down, the biggest single thing that you can do to get more done is to process, process, process what you’ve written in order to glean any actionable items from your notes. I’m interested in hearing what other busy school administrator types think of as their biggest productivity tip so I’ll pass along this meme to Rick, Greg, and Brian. Hopefully they’ll find the time to indulge me on this one.
Scott(and please pass along to Brett):
I have three words to share with you…
Post It Notes.
My nomination for Invention of the Century when it comes to Tools for Administrators.
I carry the pads everywhere. I have the little ones for the books I’m reading (”use this quote in next meeting”). I have the PC Post-Its lined up in priority order on my computer screens.
[http://www.download.com/Post-it-Software-Notes-Lite/3000-2351_4-10508740.html
I have the ones with lines for those who can’t write straight, the pop-up kind (only because the dispenser looked like it would be fun to play with…it is), and I have a collection of Post-It Notes that glow in the dark (hmmmm, not sure why on those).
They are all over my fridge, my desk, the back door to the garage (reminding me it’s my turn to take a can of coffee to work tomorrow)…and of course they cover the Central Communication Hub of my life: the bathroom mirror. Birthdays, work notes, reminders, love notes to or from my wife and kids…my whole life is written down and posted there.
You guys hit it on the head: Write It Down. I just wanted to add the postscript of Post-Its.
Other than my Pocket PC with Word Mobile, is there a better way to write things down for future review and manipulation? Want to prioritize things?…unstick, move the note down or up in the pile, restick it, and voila…my life is re-prioritized. And Scott…ya say something you just reviewed is no longer actionable? Unstick it and trash it.
I think I’ll write myself a Post-It Note to write a post about Post-It Notes someday. Naw…something tells me I just did.