All Questions
1
vote
0answers
7 views
app which to keep track of reminders and scrap notes
I am looking for an all encompassing app which allows me to handle the my calendar (with mobile reminders) and my "scrap notes" (to-do lists, links I want to check out in the future, cool stuff I find ...
7
votes
6answers
102 views
How do you remember to sit up straight?
I spent some time thinking about this recently. It's kind of frustrating. It seems that most of the advice out there on posture is about why sitting up straight is good for you. There are also all ...
1
vote
3answers
104 views
Is It Worth The Time?
There was an xkcd recently that raises an interesting question, which I would like to pose to Productivity.SE.
The math of the chart is undeniable, so I am not asking "how much time is saved by doing ...
7
votes
7answers
221 views
How to cancel out caffeine's effects on sleep?
I'm a programmer and I need caffeine in order to do my job.
But, the paradox is - the same caffeine that enables me to do my job degrades the quality of my sleep, which in return degrades my ability ...
2
votes
2answers
74 views
Task Management Application with task dependencies
For some reason, even though there are tons of task management applications out there, I'm not able to find many that have the capability to manage task dependencies. That is to say, if I must do A ...
0
votes
3answers
57 views
How to maintain Day-Specific Actions such that they don't become Daily To-Do lists?
Following quotes are picked out from the GTD book of David Allen:
Day-Specific Actions: These are things that you need to do some-
time on a certain day, but not necessarily at a specific time.
...
3
votes
5answers
148 views
The flow phenomena
Short: How to trigger so called "flow" phenomena during everyday work routine (which is not really challenging)?
A bit more detailed:
On Wikipedia site about flow we can read:
Flow is the mental ...
1
vote
2answers
68 views
Effective method of thinking beyond the first idea
As the title says, do you know any effective ways of escaping the trap of thinking about a problem only in the terms of the first idea/solution that came up?
I have encountered this issue both in my ...
11
votes
7answers
233 views
How to keep free from thoughs while meditating?
When I sit for meditation, there are a lot of thoughts come to my mind. How can I be a free from thoughts while meditating?
5
votes
2answers
97 views
How can I get rid of the psychological effects of bad experiences from the past?
As a college student, I had my shares of failures in exams, courses, quite a handful of it, so much that it resulted in my one year extension in the university. With this I feel that my past failures ...
0
votes
1answer
176 views
How to incorporate the processing diagram of GTD on paper?
What would be an efficient way of penning down these branches with my own activities on paper?
104
votes
31answers
4k views
How to prevent oneself from lounging around in bed, instead of getting out of it and starting the day?
I find that I often wake up at a decent time, but don't get out of bed immediately. This results in me falling asleep again for another hour. This process might repeat itself once or twice, resulting ...
0
votes
1answer
132 views
Keeping track of emails, notes, files, and deliverables for a project
Is there anything better than Basecamp?
Basecamp seems to have all the features I'm looking for in a project manager, but it requires a ton of tedious little interactions with its web GUI: uploading ...
6
votes
4answers
176 views
Can Noise Cancelling headphones knock out people speaking, announcements, etc?
Often when people on this board have wanted to reduce sound, nearby conversations people have recommended noise cancellation headphones. I have never tried these but have been told they cannot knock ...
2
votes
0answers
71 views
How do you organize your life in Asana?
I am looking forward to migrate fully to asana from Things because of pricing/costs reasons. What I have right now in Things (for Mac) is :
Today
Next
Scheduled
Someday
Projects
I have never used ...
7
votes
6answers
354 views
I don't want to study. I don't want to think. I want to have fun
I always end up playing a game or something when I'm supposed to study. Hey, having fun is a lot more fun than studying, right? What can I do to make the consequences of my action seem more real? I ...
6
votes
4answers
279 views
How to concentrate on only one thing?
I have a problem. I can't concentrate on one thing at a time. I can't read a whole article, I can't read a whole book, I can't watch tv without reading news from social networks for example.
Could ...
11
votes
8answers
362 views
When I'm going back to an old complex project, how can I restore my focus and motivation?
I've had a few weeks break from a large and difficult project that I've been working on for two years. The project could be a few weeks from shipping, if I can manage to focus on it.
I've noticed a ...
2
votes
2answers
97 views
How to set/control my hours with a new employer?
When I start a new job I face a difficult time with hours.
I like to work from 7 or 8 (when it is nice and quiet) to 3 or 4 in the office and then do a bunch more at home.
These hours are not usually ...
1
vote
1answer
73 views
Task estimated to be 8 pomodori, what to do?
Scenario:
I am reading a tutorial; it is separated in Chapters. I have "proved" over the course of 5 chapters that each one of them takes me 8 pomodori (there hasn't been an exception).
Problem:
...
14
votes
6answers
429 views
How to setup linux as a pure working environment
I am a freelance programmer and I suffer from procrastination - a lot. When I manage to dive into work I really enjoy it, but then after a while something crosses my mind, and I have strong urge to ...
11
votes
7answers
420 views
How can I manage several hours of intellectual work (web dev/coding) a day without getting mentally exhausted?
I'm a coder. It's what I do. It's what I like doing. It's also what pays the bills. I do this at home and I set my own hours.
However, I have a problem. I have a very, very hard time getting in ...
10
votes
5answers
319 views
how to get over something stupid done in past?
I have a tendency to act out wierdly and angrily, (usually throwing stuff here and there) when I suddenly remember something stupid that I had done in past, and then bang my head over how stupid I was ...
1
vote
1answer
38 views
Is there a tool that can track or record pomodoros based on tagging?
I'm looking for a tool that can track and record pomodoros visually and/or graphically, and ideally with the ability to tag pomodoros, like a "Writing" pomodoro completed, or a "Career", etc.
3
votes
2answers
97 views
Becoming efficient and thus reducing how much we work & stress?
We're all about productivity and efficiency these days. But these all serve to get more done in less time, making us more stressed and looking for even more ways to cut time down. At least, that's ...
33
votes
7answers
1k views
What is a good way to begin your work day?
I work for a very small company and most of the time I work alone and manage my own work and don't get much feedback. I'm not completely used to this and though I have projects and to do lists and ...
16
votes
9answers
781 views
How can I improve my workplace to have less interruptions?
In the past week I've tried switching between several work spaces
Office
If it's open space and someone starts talking loudly you get distracted.
There are also people around who may want ...
19
votes
11answers
964 views
Why do I start wasting time when I am excited about learning some technical stuff?
I make plans, todo lists, etc. about the technical stuff which I have to study.
I am not, but I do wish to become an excellent C++ programmer.
Now, *
(when I am pretty excited about learning the ...
4
votes
5answers
2k views
What is the hidden secret in Think and Grow Rich (by Napoleon Hill)?
He mentions in the book that it is in every chapter and while inspired by it, I did not have a clear idea of one single secret after reading the book.
Did anyone discover a "secret", or is it ...
8
votes
6answers
501 views
Does anyone have any recommendations for an alternative workstation ergonomic setup
My job means I have to sit at my computer all day, 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, 46 weeks a year. That’s 1610 hours a year and 1/3 of my whole day (given that I also sleep about 8 hours so am not ...
12
votes
5answers
564 views
How to master a large variety of technical literature
I've an Engineering background I like to read technical literature (college level onwards) quite omnivorously - especially mathematics, computer science, engineering, and medicine. This is part of my ...
31
votes
17answers
3k views
what do you do when you are stuck at programming and you don't have access to internet?
This is a question most of us have faced while programming. Getting stuck! It might be a programmatic problem or tool problem, most of us eventually face it.
You know something is supposed to work ...
4
votes
4answers
244 views
What are the general steps to increase your IQ?
I believe that the engine that drives us forward is our IQ. Increasing it will result in a higher productivity rate so I'd like to know what are the general steps that will put a person on that path. ...
7
votes
5answers
325 views
How do I manage a weekend of virtually no sleep?
I have to be smart with my time. I'm doing a shoot that requires me to work straight through saturday night into the morning, the same for Sunday and then be back first thing Monday morning.
I will ...
1
vote
3answers
68 views
Dislike towards sleeping late in order to study
I dislike/cringe at the thought of having to sleep late in order to study. This is for the reason that I make it a point to go to the gym everyday, and to get the most out of it I need to get the most ...
4
votes
5answers
266 views
How can I control my unproductive Internet addiction?
I have a big problem using the Internet - I am using it for purposes unacceptable by my moral stands but fun.
Every time I login, after about 1 or 2 hours I lose the control to the unproductive task ...
1
vote
2answers
50 views
Save browser state / tabs opened between usage?
I tend to leave a lot of related webpages open when I work, that I would like to keep working with at later points in time. Is there an easy way to "save" a browser's state with all the opened tabs, ...
15
votes
9answers
555 views
Be able to focus and read books when your partner watches TV
I like reading books a lot. Usually have only time for that at night, after work, but at that time my wife likes TV a lot and specially zapping; continuously jumping from one channel to another. I ...
6
votes
6answers
847 views
How to incorporate emails into a GTD system?
How should emails fit into a Getting Things Done (GTD) system? Should each actionable email be copied into the GTD system? Should the email account keep a duplicate set of GTD "lists"? Or some other ...
4
votes
3answers
97 views
Reviewing Past Productivity
I have tried tons of apps, some of the ones I like being Wunderlist and Workflowy. A feature that these 2 don't have (to my knowledge) is a weekly review.. I would love to be able to go back and see ...
4
votes
4answers
150 views
“It could be done better and more efficiently” at the end of projects
I'm not really an organised person, and my maxim is "two weeks of coding will save you two hours of planning". But before every (simple or complex) project, despite how long I'm planning, drawing ...
1
vote
4answers
324 views
How do I remember technical information for longer periods of time?
I'm a CS student and like many future software engineers, I have to learn a lot about data structures and algorithms (knowing them and also knowing how to implement them). I find that after I ...
10
votes
5answers
245 views
How to stop misplacing things?
I have a big problem of forgetting where I have put things. I always seem to forget where, for example I left my papers, keys, etc.
Is there a way I can remember all the objects and where I have ...
2
votes
2answers
347 views
Pomodoro app that keeps a log?
I use Pomodoros with some success, but I would really like to be able to easily track how many and when I do them. Is there an app that keeps a log of start time and stop time (if it was stopped ...
3
votes
1answer
126 views
an email / discussion forum productivity tool: a visually guided (manual) meaning extraction (more inside …)
I am looking for a software which could help me to write quality replies to a poorly worded/structured or otherwise complex emails/forum messages.
The tool should allow to graphically break (manually ...
4
votes
1answer
154 views
I have a mastermind group set up. Now what? What activities should we be doing while together?
I am interested in any ideas on interesting activities or discussions we could do/have while together. Also any tips on how to effectively run a mastermind group and ensure our members get the maximum ...
3
votes
2answers
112 views
While browsing, how can I quickly capture thoughts/ideas across locations and environments into a centralized, searchable medium?
While actively browsing the internet (via phone/tablet/desktop), how can I quickly file an impromptu thought or idea into a centralized, searchable medium -- but importantly -- through a method that's ...
12
votes
8answers
569 views
Relaxing at work
What is a good way to get instant relaxation at work? At home, I can just sleep or play video games. At work, that looks like slacking off, even though I can't concentrate productively while stressed ...
3
votes
6answers
811 views
What are the (dis)advantages of Mindmap software?
Anyone with experiences on mindmap software? I've used Freemind and iMindmap for a while.
What are do you consider strong and weak points of the mindmap programs?
Freemind is as the name already ...
51
votes
3answers
2k views
Early birds vs. night owls: what does research have to say?
I know that I personally work a lot better in the evening and at night rather than in the morning. However, I am curious whether it is just a matter of habit or some sort of natural predisposition. ...
