All Questions
10
votes
6answers
560 views
How to beat the “Too Long Didn't Read” syndrome?
A large portion of my work deals with reading research papers and textbooks which run for hundreds of pages.
However, with all the pomodoros going on, its frustrating to be reading redundant or ...
10
votes
1answer
2k views
What is ZTD (Zen To Done) and how does it differ from GTD?
A recent RTM blog post mentions Zen To Done (ZTD), which the poster describes as basically a simplification of the Getting Things Done (GTD) system. What is ZTD, and what are the main differences ...
10
votes
3answers
551 views
How to break down steps of a project?
Each morning I'd wake up and tell myself that I have to get certain things done. The problem is that when I get to my GTD management program (Things for Mac), I don't really know what to put down.
...
10
votes
3answers
596 views
What is the average time lost when interruptions break your train of thought?
I'm looking for quantifiable results from studies; not best guesses please.
I quite frequently find that after an interruption I need to gather my thoughts and refocus on the task I was performing ...
10
votes
2answers
363 views
Can a project have multiple next actions?
I've recently read over Getting Things Done again, after reading Making Things Work, and as I was starting to implement my GTD system, I ran into an issue. I had ended up with a project that had ...
10
votes
6answers
489 views
Do ergonomic keyboards/mice provide significant productivity improvement over “average” counterparts?
There's not much to add to the title of the question...
I'd like to know if there's been any studies done on ergonomic keyboards and mice, and their effect on productivity. This might help me and ...
10
votes
6answers
307 views
How to get motivation to do important things in the morning?
I have developed a very bad routine of checking my emails, twitter and few other websites after waking up in the morning. Generally, i wake up at 8 AM and start with my important things very late, ...
10
votes
2answers
112 views
How can I bring productivity techniques that work for me to a new employer?
As a consultant, I am frustrated at the lack of motivation incumbent teams often show. It would definitely come across badly if I tried to indicate to them that I do things more efficiently, but how ...
10
votes
5answers
264 views
How to trick our minds into doing mundane tasks?
There are some daily tasks I am too lazy to do: simple cleaning, washing dishes, etc. When I have no other pressing tasks, I end up not doing these simple tasks. However, when I have something coming ...
10
votes
4answers
287 views
Losing Motivation during project
I am a Computer Engineer and working at a Software House as Software Engineer for the last 2 years.
I usually observe things a lot and try to get an idea from everything to do something ...
10
votes
2answers
455 views
Complete loss of focus / wanting to work
I work on my PC all day, every day, even when I get home.
I am a programmer, theres no getting round it, and I love it!
But recently I have been having 'programmers block' or complete lack of 'want' ...
10
votes
7answers
477 views
How can I spend less time optimizing and more time executing?
I love tools. I can (and often do!) spend lots of time fiddling with the settings of the tool (to-do list, project plan, whatever). I know I should stop tweaking the tool and start working on the ...
10
votes
1answer
162 views
Is there any psychological research into the value of GTD's trusted outside system?
One of the basic ideas of GTD is to dump all the things that are on your mind outside your skull, because you can't trust your brain to reliably remember all the details.
Personally I find this ...
10
votes
4answers
622 views
Is there a task manager that incorporates spaced repetition learning?
I'm having students in mind, let's suppose that a student plans to prepare exam for next month.
According to the "forgetting curve", the key for successful study is spaced repetition learning.
Are ...
10
votes
2answers
551 views
Is it possible to handle perpetually ongoing tasks in Personal Kanban?
I'm exploring organization systems like Personal Kanban and one thing I'm still not clear on is how to represent ongoing activities that are always there and always have to be done. For example, say ...
10
votes
4answers
519 views
Can working less get more work done?
I wonder if it is possible to get more done by working less.
Lets say that on a normal day: I work 8 hours and finish 10 units of work.
If I work less in a day, there are 3 possibilities:
I finish ...
10
votes
4answers
395 views
Fixing 'reverse-tiredness'?
I'm a nightowl by nature, always have been. I've read Steve Pavlina's strategies on changing this, I follow Lifehacker, and all sorts of things.
However, here's how my day goes (from midnight)
...
10
votes
1answer
105 views
Which studies are the most significant in demonstrating radical variations in individual productivity for knowledge workers?
For example, in software development there is the oft-sited Fred Brooks number (5-10x) from the Mythical Man Month and the Robert Glass number (28x) from Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering, ...
10
votes
2answers
215 views
Is there anything similar to TRIZ known outside of Russia for improving personal productivity?
I was born in Russian and went to school there in middle 90ies. During my school time we had a special subject called "TRIZ" that stands (in Russian) for "theory of inventive problems solving". Apart ...
9
votes
10answers
516 views
What can I do to keep my work space tidy and clean?
I have quite a messy desk at work, and that messiness state is reflect on my desk (or kitchen counter or some other work space) at home. Not matter what I do, it returns to this state of messiness in ...
9
votes
13answers
2k views
How to get rid of distractions and focus on what I am reading?
I need to study hard for a month, more than 10 hours/day. The problem is, I cannot concentrate on what I'm reading more than 15 minutes. I lose concentration easily while reading. the most important ...
9
votes
9answers
516 views
Suggestion for a disorganized guy
I'm not well organized and I'm feeling not as efficient as I could be.
I've tried to use some personal organizing methods to improve myself in this area, like
- using a todolist (using a pen & ...
9
votes
5answers
450 views
How to efficiently use time during a long bus trip?
I will be going on a bus tour of Europe soon. I'll spend some time looking out the window or chatting with the other people, but we'll be spending a lot of time travelling. I can spend time reading ...
9
votes
11answers
419 views
How can I use the travel time (car driving) efficiently?
My job requires me to drive about 30 minutes to the firm and 30 minutes back to home.
How can I use this otherwise wasted time efficiently?
Do you have special audio CD's or tracks you do listen to in ...
9
votes
8answers
738 views
How do you store your writing implements?
I have got a lot of pens and stuff, which I also need, but not only due to my delibarate oversupply of pens, but also the lack of organisational system for them my question is now:
How can I more ...
9
votes
9answers
440 views
Managing information bits
I have had this peculiar problem for years and tried many tools to solve it, but so far none were satisfactory.
I read a lot of blogs, social sites, etc. and regularly encounter very interesting ...
9
votes
5answers
902 views
What should I do with my 30min break using the Pomodoro Technique
The 5 minute breaks in between Pomodoros are short and give me a breather. However, every time I go on the 30 minute breaks after 4 Pomodoros, I always feel I could be doing something really ...
9
votes
9answers
621 views
How do I memorize lists of technical terms?
I find it easy to remember the meaning of most technical terms if I'm prompted to explain each one of them. However, recalling all of them by their topics is a bit more difficult when they weren't ...
9
votes
3answers
475 views
How to quickly restore concentration?
Very often I'm being interpreted while working or studying, sometimes the interruptions are small, and take a minute and sometimes it requires more than few minutes.
How do I quickly restore ...
9
votes
5answers
681 views
How to handle recurring but low priority tasks that aren't actionable now?
In a GTD system, how do I handle a task such as "checking the oil in the car", which should happen once a week or so but is also fairly low priority? My concerns are that
this task isn't actionable ...
9
votes
4answers
199 views
How to avoid procrastinating on the Stack Exchange network?
I love the Stack Exchange network, but I often find myself procrastinating by looking at the most recently updated questions on the sites I visit most. Those questions are rarely (if ever) relevant ...
9
votes
8answers
626 views
How do you read programming books?
I'm wondering, how do you read programming books? I always don't do the exercises, I just read the book.. Do you read while sleeping or you really take the book and study like you do in high school ...
9
votes
5answers
327 views
Should you 'make up' time when working with Pomodoro technique?
I have recently been feeling very stressed and burnt out at work. The stress has begun to have physical manifestations, in terms of dizziness, headaches, fatigue, loss of focus and IBS. As a result, ...
9
votes
3answers
465 views
What to do when the work in a Pomodoro is completed before 25 minutes?
I earmarked two Pomodoro to clear my inbox this morning, and when I got half way through the second I was done.
The Pomodoro Technique manual says that this presents an opportunity to 'over learn' - ...
9
votes
6answers
363 views
How to calculate my personal efficiency in programming?
I want to improve my personal efficiency. How better can I calculate my personal efficiency?
I am a programmer. I want to calculate my personal efficiency in programming.
9
votes
4answers
261 views
One hour a day or 4 continuous hours a week for an activity?
Should I practice an activity, say drawing, programming, or even sport, in short day-sessions of one hour for example, or do it all at once in a week?
If I choose to do one hour a day, I might waste ...
9
votes
9answers
472 views
How to handle interruptions in developer work without losing concentration?
I work as a developer for some years now. Mainly the issue why it's antisocial work is because you need to spend much time programming. I've been always the kind of developer who likes to cut off from ...
9
votes
5answers
563 views
Important long-run goals vs urgent tasks
I noticed that small tasks are eating the large ones, even if the last are more important in a longer run.
Things that have no deadlines and have no clear structure (e.g. learn Spanish, do some ...
9
votes
5answers
866 views
How to plan a month of work in advance
I had a main list with the main projects and tasks, organized according with priority, importance and other factors. I would like to be able to plan a whole month of work in advance, so when the day ...
9
votes
4answers
354 views
What techniques or approaches can help me get started with mind mapping?
I've read descriptions of mind mapping before, and understand the basic concepts of the system (nonlinear, graphical representation of thoughts.) I've even read the descriptions of how mind maps are ...
9
votes
7answers
584 views
How to use bathroom time effectively
I spend a non-neglible time in the bathroom, sitting on the pot.
It occured to me that I could be using the time better and not let precious productivity time literally go to waste.
So, how do I ...
9
votes
9answers
1k views
Is it possible to learn while sleeping?
I heard somewhere that listening to what you need to memorize during your sleep actually helps retaining the information. Based on that I converted a piece of text to a music file to listen last ...
9
votes
2answers
198 views
How do I introduce someone to Personal Productivity Improvements?
I've found the personal productivity methods and techniques I use (such as GTD and Inbox Zero) to be hugely helpful, but I've always struggled with good ways to introduce them to other people.
Some ...
9
votes
3answers
163 views
Situational procrastination: how to be productive before project starts?
I am working as a software programmer and my company does not have any projects right now, but there is one in the pipeline. It has been around for one month and I have been told to read the documents ...
9
votes
9answers
2k views
Which GTD apps provide cloud syncing, android device access, and SSL?
It seems like every system I've tried is missing something.
Remember the Milk
Requires paid for android application and requires a lot of tinkering because of it's flexibility.
Producteev
Doesn't ...
9
votes
8answers
3k views
What is an Android task manager with sub-tasks and complex filtering?
Basically, I'm looking for an Android app that will let me do just two things:
Have unlimited levels of nested sub-tasks
Filter so I can view only tasks that have no sub-tasks.
Let's say I have ...
9
votes
8answers
465 views
How to deal with dreaded tasks?
How do you deal with difficult tasks, which take long to complete?
My problem, for example, are emails which require a lot of writing or research. They are not the main core of my work, and usually ...
9
votes
8answers
388 views
How to Stop Glazing when Reading
When I need to read something, I have a really bad habit of just glazing over it and not really comprehending the words.
As a result I have no clue what I've read.
How can I stop glazing at a ...
9
votes
6answers
494 views
How to efficiently make a hard decision?
I saw an interview with Warren Buffet, where he states that if he makes something like two or three good decisions in a year, then it was a good year.
Is there best-practice process on how to make ...
9
votes
2answers
535 views
Can a good comfortable chair increase work hours and productivity?
Can a good comfortable chair increase work hours and productivity?
Would it be good to invest in a very good chair?
