A Few Tools I Use for Productivity

Human said:
+1 for Todoist. It allowed me to scrap my calendar apps and other to-do list programs and tools. Definitely worth $29/year for premium as well.

I've also been using Evernote a lot more to shy away from Microsoft Word. I was late to the bandwagon, but bought a bunch of sticky notes that came with Evernote Premium codes, so I'm sitting on two years of that no cost.

Between Todoist, Evernote, and Google Drive I can access anything I use from pretty much anywhere. I've been rocking Safari since replacing my old Macbook with a new Air. It's quite fast on Yosemite, and gave me a reason to drop Chrome finally.

IFTTT has been pretty helpful in automating tasks as well. Working on getting familiar with Tasker, and been using Hootsuite to auto-post to social media for my clients as well.
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eliquid said:
^^ labels, recurring
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Bump.

I've been using Todoist since it was mentioned in this thread. I've paired it with Sunshine Calendar because I like the interface and the fact that it seems to actually sync with Todoist quickly instead of lagging behind like some other things I've tried.

So this was going to be a post asking what else came with premium since recurring tasks seems to work in the free version. I accidentally stumbled across a list of all of their features along with which are free and which are premium. This seems to be a list of the premium features: reminders, labels, notes, and file support. (Source)

They also have a list of different shit that you can integrate with Todoist, and I thought it was cool that they had it all in one place: https://win.todoist.com/Help/Integrations
 


potentialeight said:
Bump.

I've been using Todoist since it was mentioned in this thread. I've paired it with Sunshine Calendar because I like the interface and the fact that it seems to actually sync with Todoist quickly instead of lagging behind like some other things I've tried.

So this was going to be a post asking what else came with premium since recurring tasks seems to work in the free version. I accidentally stumbled across a list of all of their features along with which are free and which are premium. This seems to be a list of the premium features: reminders, labels, notes, and file support. (Source)

They also have a list of different shit that you can integrate with Todoist, and I thought it was cool that they had it all in one place: https://win.todoist.com/Help/Integrations
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The Todoist blog is also worth reading to learn how to get more out of Todoist. Here's an example:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QLEzlSIvpE[/ame]
 
I'm a big fan of working offline. If you have no internet, it really cuts the habit loop of Browser -> Time wasting thing down zero. It's pretty easy to disable to the connection on any OS, but if you really insist on paying money then you can buy Freedom for $10 https://macfreedom.com/purchase.

Another neat thing is a music service called Focus@Will https://www.focusatwill.com/ which streams music based on category that is not distracting and helps me drown out background noise but stay focused. You could also use a white/brown noise generator but I prefer the Alpha Chill station on the service. Just make new emails and keep getting trials, no need to pay for it.

Even better just listen to the same playlist on youtube that's been ripped. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYhuQ_syoPs
 
Jameel said:
I'm a big fan of working offline. If you have no internet, it really cuts the habit loop of Browser -> Time wasting thing down zero. It's pretty easy to disable to the connection on any OS, but if you really insist on paying money then you can buy Freedom for $10 https://macfreedom.com/purchase.

Another neat thing is a music service called Focus@Will https://www.focusatwill.com/ which streams music based on category that is not distracting and helps me drown out background noise but stay focused. You could also use a white/brown noise generator but I prefer the Alpha Chill station on the service. Just make new emails and keep getting trials, no need to pay for it.

Even better just listen to the same playlist on youtube that's been ripped. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYhuQ_syoPs
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I use Freedom myself. Cool stuff with the Focus@Will site. I'm going to try it this morning.
 
Tools don't mean much if you do not have a strategy. Probably the best tool I can recommend to you is to craft a strategy for yourself.


For example, every day of the week has a theme for me. Mine is currently set up like this:

Mondays => Marketing​
Tuesdays => Current Product Development​
Wednesday => Increasing Personal Wealth​
Thursdays => New Product Development​
Friday => Financials​
Saturday => Family/Rest/Personal​
Sunday => Planning and Pivoting Into Next X Days and Months​


Does this mean this is all I do on those days? NO.

The focus of that day is set on those topics, but on Friday after I get done with Financials I might hop on some marketing or coding tasks. Same with Sunday or Monday.

The goal is that I try to lump all the related tasks together and do those first on that day ( batching ). Anything Financial related I try to lump and do at once on Friday morning... after that, I jump into other projects for Friday that couldn't be lumped into other days ( like putting out fires, special projects, etc ). If something comes up on Monday that is financial related ( like buying domains or paying affiliates ), I try to see if I can batch this out for Friday instead of Monday and then just do it then. Sometimes you can't put something off and that's OK.. it just gets done after all the Marketing stuff for Monday.


I haven't even touched on ideas like:

Eat That Frog​
Timeboxing​
Pomodoros​
80/20​
MITs/Big Rocks and Goal Setting​


When you can start learning all of this, having tools means nothing. I would try to grasp all of the above before jumping into a tool.

Again, nothing is perfect and I can't always follow my own system to a T ( we are all human ). But you have to have a system before you can have tools.
 
I use tools on a need basis nowadays. I find tools that I need to solve a particular problem, rather than putting the cart before the horse; don't want it to become busywork. I try to keep a critical eye on any activity along the process that seems to be wasting time on the computer, causing undue difficulty, requiring too many work-arounds, complicating things etc. Sometimes the changes are small and can be done with/without software, such as disabling the UAC filters on Windows so software I use often loads faster, or getting a mouse gestures software to make minimizing many windows easier. Sometimes the changes are bigger like overhauling my entire note-taking methods so I'm not having to open different tools get the information I need, or finding a new supplier because excess lead times putting a hamper on the flow.
 
Grindstone said:
1) Pen

2) Notepad (a real one that you can like write on and shit)

3) Kitchen Timer or gym boss

4) Desire to achieve great results, not fuck around on FB all day like the rest of the sheeple we're supposed to be shearing.

5) Set the timer to 20 minutes. If you have a gym boss, set it to run 4 cycles of 20 minutes/5 minutes.

6) Hit start. Plan out your day in the first 20 minutes. Try to break it up in to projects that take 20 minutes. Yes, you'll have to break down bigger projects into smaller chunks. It's worth it. 20 minutes of no distraction balls to the walls racing the clock is plenty hard enough mentally.

If you get it completely dialed out in 20, you probably didn't do a good job of breaking tasks down into compatible chunks but if you did, cheat and start working on the first project. Something along the way will take longer than you allocated and you'll want the extra time.

6) When the timer goes off, step away (or stand up if you're still a chair dwelling denizen) from your computer and go do something else for 5 minutes. This is why you have a physical timer and not some desktop app that chains you to your work mode. I like to work out or just walk around and stretch, you can waddle the fridge, if your mom is keeping it stocked with enough N0S or w/e young neckbeards chug these days.

7) After the 4th cycle of 20/5, take an extra 10 minute break (turning your final break into 15). Then start over. At some point in the day after working this hard and focused, you'll burn and out need to go do something else. But up until that point, it'll be your most productive day yet.

8) This has changed my life, both in work productivity and working less/doing more fun shit away from computers. YMMV. You may need a 5 part 3 software 9 buzzword stack to feel like you're accomplishing something. That's fine. The key takeaway is to improve your productivity in some way every day. Work smarter, harder. Work harder, not longer. Charge crystals all the days.
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Just because I love the way he sets it out!

sodamnsexy5016.gif
 
I remember watching Time Management Fundamentals at Lynda. This online course was quite helpful to manage my time. I'm suggesting to watch it for you all, seriously. Time is a real treasure these days :)
 
icestationzebra said:
Why not use a pen and a piece of paper ya fuckers
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Actually I do this for the "short to-do list". For the long term / big picture stuff I use Kontact's to-do list and Calligra's BrainDump.

I don't trust online services enough to share my plans to the world. If it is important for me, then I need to be the one storing it.

:2twocents:
 
Do these tools work on Mac as well?
Thanks.

potentialeight said:
There's a productivity thread about every six weeks or so, and I figure we're due. Someone asked me what I use for organization/productivity or whatever after they saw some of my posts in a previous productivity thread, so I figured I'd just post a list here and link him to it.

WinSplit Revolution (Free) - This is a window management tool for Windows. You create areas where you want to be able to send windows, and then you can use a simple popup that allows you to place the windows, or you can use shortcut keys. I prefer shortcut keys. I don't like having multiple "workspaces" like with multiple desktops, and this works better for me personally.

7Stacks (Free) - Back in Windows XP, you could add folders to your start menu that would just open up when you hovered over them, and you couldn't do that anymore in Windows 7. This program does something like that, but it also lets you create popup menus straight off of your taskbar. I like this better than the menus in something like Objectdock that completely replaces your taskbar, and I probably save like 15 minutes a day just from how I've organized all of the random shit I need with this.

Freedom ($10) - The only piece of productivity software I've ever paid for. It essentially turns off your Internet connection for a set period of time, and it's great for when you catch yourself with some dumbass distraction like reading forums. The way I use this is that I set out a chunk of time (usually 30 minutes) when I realize I'm being distracted by something, and I make sure I have up all of the information I need in browser tabs before I start it. This gets me away from the distraction long enough that I get back into my work without feeling the need to go back to it.

News Feed Eradicator for Facebook (Chrome link) (Free) - This is a Chrome plugin. I think there's one for Firefox too, but I'm not sure. What it does is eliminates the news feed when you go to Welcome to Facebook - Log In, Sign Up or Learn More and replaces it with some quote about productivity or staying focused or whatever. This is helpful for me because I use Facebook Messenger a lot, though it might be obsolete for that purpose with https://www.messenger.com running now.

Block Site (Chrome link) (Free) - This is another Chrome plugin. It blocks certain URLs, and you can have it set to block them during specific times on a schedule. I keep it on a schedule for the first few hours in the morning since I prefer to get up and start working right after I take a shower first thing in the morning. It adds another layer of resistance from getting into reading forums or news or something else in this time, and it helps me to keep from getting distracted along those lines.

As far as organizational tools go, I use OneNote, a bunch of spreadsheets (organized by 7Stacks listed above) and a pen/paper system. Any other suggestions?
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Diskretni said:
Those are all good tools there.
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You are a tool, please throw yourself down some stairs for me.

ANYWAYS

I have been using Habitica for my daily to-dos and habit building etc for 6 months now. If you like video games and have used a lot of different to-do type apps etc but end up not keeping them updated because it feels like another chore then you should give Habitica a shot, the one thing that finally got me to replace my long time system of "put post its all over your desk" and really took my productivity to the next level. The concept is that it basically turns your life into a video game, pretty cool and fun. Just thought I'd add it to the list.
 
BabyGotBacklink said:
You are a tool, please throw yourself down some stairs for me.

ANYWAYS

I have been using Habitica for my daily to-dos and habit building etc for 6 months now. If you like video games and have used a lot of different to-do type apps etc but end up not keeping them updated because it feels like another chore then you should give Habitica a shot, the one thing that finally got me to replace my long time system of "put post its all over your desk" and really took my productivity to the next level. The concept is that it basically turns your life into a video game, pretty cool and fun. Just thought I'd add it to the list.
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There's a TED talk about either that program or one very much like it that was pretty good.
 
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