Tools for Thought

For any task management system to be trustworthy, it has to be realistic. It needs to have as few placeholders as possible, but no fewer. It needs to hold as many projects and actions as we’re genuinely committed to, but no more.
The discipline of rapidly capturing new inputs and processing them into a list or […]

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Sometimes procrastination stems from anxiety over the unknown. I lost hours yesterday in trying to adopt Google Documents for my article writing. A simple product review turned into an all-day affair. It took me most of the day to pinpoint the source of my procrastination; then it became obvious that I was splitting my attention […]

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If there’s one thing I’ve learned many times over since I resolved to always apply a timer to my writing sessions, it’s this: things usually take less time than expected, sometimes much less. I used to spend half a day “getting around” to writing an article, then surprise myself by completing it in two or […]

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It’s a great feeling to finish a project that has consumed significant time and attention. Taking time to enjoy the benefits of completion is important. It’s equally important, however, not to let satisfaction become a substitute for further action.
A student finishes his math assignment. Relieved, he goes to the nearby cafe to reward himself with […]

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If you’re experiencing an action block, one of the best ways to get around it is to use a timer. Set it for a 15-minute interval, during which time you work completely without interruption. No email, no phone calls, no web surfing; just work exclusively on the assigned task. When the timer goes off, count […]

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Like work, information has its own Parkinson’s Law. As one example, Google Reader will fill whatever time we have available. Without a strategic approach to processing RSS feeds, the tendency is to keep adding new feeds until we stop just short of overwhelm. This “Thanksgiving dinner” method of managing information intake is not sustaintable.
Notice I […]

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Yesterday, The Simple Dollar posted a great review of Predictably Irrational, a book that covers mental accounting and behavioral economics. One chapter he discussed, “The Cost of Zero Cost,” intrigued me because I happened to be in a situation that indirectly underscored the principle. I was about to have a second cup of coffee in […]

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As the public fascination with productivity keeps increasing, the backlash against it grows in proportion. The continual focus with getting more done in a day is suspect. Is it even a healthy or worthwhile endeavor?
It depends on what people mean by “more,” and how productivity and accomplishment are measured. A to-do list with many as […]

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Some of the best project management and workflow books come from the software industry. Programmers are an analytical bunch by nature, and most of their analyses port quite easily to other domains.
Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency takes the themes Tom DeMarco covered in his most well-known book, Peopleware, and […]

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Last week, just to amuse myself, and to squeeze in more writing time, I decided to speed up my morning routine by giving myself no more than 30 minutes from the moment I woke up to complete my entire grooming before heading out the door.
To accomplish this, I had to do things differently. I started […]

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