Buck The Trend and Go Analog: Three Reasons To Use Paper To Track Your Tasks

These days productivity and technology seem to be overlapping. If you want to be productive or hip, you have to use the latest technology. While using technology can be very effective, there’s also a lot to be said for going back to the basics. To enlighten us on this topic, we have a guest post from blogger Torbjørn Rive.

Taking a break from technology can not only add to your productivity, but I believe it can make you feel human again. There is Microsoft Outlook, Google calendar, and other applications for alerts, timing, and lists – but for me, lists on paper win out in terms of the “to dos”. Furthermore, making use of old printed emails and other one sided docs extends the life of paper – something I tend to do merely for ethical reasons. I love the rationality of paperless, but it gets to a point when things are just better on paper

Paper Offers:

1. Better Visualization: My handwriting and squiggles are a comforting sight. When I highlight, cross, circle, and arrow - it’s all me, and it’s more visual. Taping up actual calendar-page months besides my desks works really well for me in the visualization category, which leads me to my next point…

2. Versatility: When I make lists in digital format there is still a certain missing trust, I get the double-check syndrome and can even lose precious time. Digital is sendable, readable, editable, and will travel… but paper can go in your back pocket, and paper never fails (as long as you have someone’s back to write up against), and it never runs out of batteries or has ‘no signal’.

3. The break from tech: There is something about using longhand that actually makes me feel original, bucking the trend of how tech tools are marketed to make me feel. When I’m remaking my three-day ‘to do’ list I literally turn off my computer screen. If I don’t, I may end up checking my email again and never actually get my future tasks on paper. How many times have you opened your browser to get somewhere for work related information and found yourself on Facebook, YouTube, or checking your weekly blog stats? Sitting away from your computer for as much work as possible can solve productivity problems. I use our office boardroom for editing, project management and organizing, and for making phone calls that matter…and all I need is paper and pen.

In this digital age, I take comfort in one of the last handwritten things I experience on a daily basis: my to-do list. All else is lost to the keyboard and mouse. If making the move to paper is too radical for you, try going with a mixed-media solution, one medium pointing to the other. We cannot deny that the tech rules in many cases, but you may find an actual freedom in choosing paper over plastic.

Check out Torbjørn’s blog Variable Interest where he blogs about land, forests and environmental issues.

 

Working Quickly: How to Use Virtual Desktops to Give Yourself More Space

I’m a neat freak. I hate it when things get cluttered up. My desk can sometimes be a contradiction to that fact, but still, I’m a minimalist at heart. I like to keep the distractions limited to exactly what I need for the task at hand.

It drives me nuts when a computer has so many open windows that you can’t find one from another on the taskbar. It really slows me down if I have to click the Windows Explorer button and dig through the pop-up to figure out which of the four open windows is actually the one I’m looking for at the moment. What this means practically is that any time I have more than 6-7 windows open I consider my taskbar cluttered.

There’s been a bit of a buzz around the web recently about how having more and bigger monitors can increase your productivity. It’s certainly true that you can increase your productivity by increasing your screen real estate. Depending on the project it’s almost hard to work without one or more big screens in front of you. The big 22″ widescreens can have a hefty price-tag though, and there is a solution to your screen space problems that is a lot easier on the wallet: Virtual Desktops.

For those of you who haven’t used virtual desktops before, a virtual desktop manager basically gives you multiple desktops on the same computer. You can have multiple screens with separate programs running at the same time. If you switch to a different desktop, you immediately leave all your open programs on the old one behind. This is great for working on separate tasks while still leaving the original task all set up so you can go back to it later on.

In addition to the multi-tasking benefits, it’s also a great clutter reducer. When my screen is all full of various windows I can easily switch gears by hitting a hotkey and I’m suddenly switched to a clean desktop where I can get started on a new task or just open more windows that wouldn’t easily fit on a single desktop.

There are many different programs out there that give you virtual desktop functionality. Dexpot has worked very nicely for me. It’s light on the system resources when it’s running in the background. It supports up to 20 separate desktops, which would seem to be a bit of overkill unless you have a supercomputer to keep all those programs running without filling your RAM to capacity.

Anyone have experience with Dexpot or other virtual desktop programs? Let’s hear how they’ve worked out for you in the comments.

 

How To Write Anything Quickly and Without Breaking a Sweat

When you’re productivity driven like I am, you might find it difficult to justify the time it takes to write. As irksome as it might be on our tight schedules, writing takes time and it takes work. Personally I find it very hard to estimate the time required for a writing project because completion time can vary so widely.

My college English Composition course had a description that basically promised to conquer all the problems of staring at an empty page and trying desperately to write. I wish it had, but there are still times when I find myself wondering how to get started. There are no hard and fast rules guaranteed to work for everyone in every situation, but I do have a few tips you might find helpful.

My first tip for writing a good piece is to know where you’re going. This is where college papers can be a bit of a mixed blessing. You usually have a relatively detailed assignment so you know where you’re supposed to go. The only problem is that sometimes you don’t want to go there, at least not before the deadline they gave you. Another upside of detailed assignment descriptions is that you have a benchmark to measure your success. It is usually pretty obvious when you’ve succeeded in meeting the qualifications for the piece.

A second way to write successfully, and quickly is to give yourself time. It never works to rush yourself and write the whole paper 3 hours before the deadline. Okay, it usually doesn’t work. One of my professors told me a story about how she scrapped the whole paper she was doing and wrote a new 40 page paper the day before the deadline. Personally I try to stay away from that, because I find it’s much more manageable to get started on the paper and take little bites as the deadline gets closer. When you sidestep the pressure of the ticking clock, it’s much easier to keep on track and write quality stuff.

Third, do your research. It’s really hard to write about something you don’t know about. A much easier way to tackle the writing is to read up on your subject before you get started. That way you don’t have to make things up as you go along, and of course you are able to seem more knowledgeable. The process doesn’t feel forced and things tend to flow much more coherently.

One of the biggest problems I have with writing is that sometimes I just don’t feel like it. The topic isn’t right or the time isn’t right. If it isn’t one, it’s usually the other. Now if you haven’t studied up on the subject and given yourself plenty of lead time, you can get into a real pickle as the clock runs out. By getting an early start I’m able to pick the times I write and stay with times when I feel inspired. That way I can do my best work, and as an added bonus, I usually work more quickly, which keeps the productivity side of me happy.

What are your favorite ways to make writing easier, quicker or more productive?

 

Moving to Firefox 3

I read Lifehacker on the Firefox 3 beta, and as a testimony to how totally unable I am to think for myself when Gina Trapani recommends something, I went and upgraded to Firefox 3. I didn’t just go for the portable version, I went whole hog. Here are some details on my experience.

I’m not sure if it was just me, but when I got the Firefox 3 installed, there were no back and forward navigation buttons on the toolbar. At first that’s disconcerting, but you’ve got to love people who have enough faith in keyboard shortcuts to remove the buttons that do the same thing. (Lest mouse lovers be frightened, it is possible to add the buttons through the customize menu.)

A cool feature that I just noticed is that when I have two Firefox windows open and one is not maximized, I can still use my mouse to scroll in the other one, even if it’s not focused. That’s pretty cool because it allows you to move through the background window even while you’re working in the foreground. In the particular situation I noticed it in, I was making a comment in a pop-up window on a post that was in my un-focused window. In spite of these benefits, for some reason I can’t open more than one window at a time except when I run into a pop-up. I rely on tabs most of the time anyway, but sometimes even the tab bar gets so crowded that I open a new window so that I can start filling that up with tabs as well. Hopefully that feature will get worked out in the future.

The tab bar itself has seen a little bit of improvement. The button for opening a new tab isn’t visible by default, which is a plus in my book, because it gets rid of one more thing to accidentally click. Scrolling through tabs is also better when you have so many tabs open that they don’t all fit across your screen. The scrolling feature that allows you to view the hidden tabs is improved in the beta. It looks very nice in action and it will only stop when the entire width of a tab is displayed.

A feature that I noticed back when I tried the portable version a few weeks ago, is that tab switching is incredibly fast. It’s really almost instantaneous. You click on a tab and you’re there.

When I was trying to run one of my extensions I accidentally discovered a new feature. Hotkeys Ctrl+Shift+S will open a screenshot dialog at the top of the screen which gives you some nice options for capturing web browser screen shots. Much better than “Print Screen” and without having to install another application.

Bookmarking capability has improved. The address bar now includes a star at the right side. Clicking it will give you some bookmarking options. In addition to this up-front improvement, the organize bookmarks dialog has improved considerably.

There are still a few things to get worked out, because it is only a beta, but so far Firefox 3b5 has worked pretty well for me. Any other early testers out there?

 

Run for Relaxation

Running is touted for it’s health benefits all the time, but what about the mental benefits? I think that the fact I took a run last evening is the main reason that I was able to finish my essay on gun control, which I was really not looking forward to writing after a long day at work.

There was some significant fine-tuning to do to the paper before it would be finished. I really wasn’t looking forward to getting home, because I was feeling sort of tired and definitely uncreative and unmotivated. I worked on school all week and I was ready to be finished. A little time to relax on the weekend is always nice in my book.

Running is addictive. That runners high you get sometimes, makes running worth it. Sometimes the runner’s high doesn’t end when you stop running either, as I experienced Saturday night. It gives you a huge positive attitude change, and frees your brain up for renewed concentration.

So the tip of the day is, try running. If you need a way to relax, counterintuitive as it sounds, running can help you regain your focus in the middle of a long project. Sometimes it can be a life-saver, like it was for me on Saturday.

If you’re not a runner yet, don’t give up if the first couple times feel hard. It gets better, and eventually you feel like your body gets tired long before your mind. You’d like to keep running, but you physically can’t.

Already a runner? Let’s hear what you like about running in the comments.

 

Variety Is the Key to Productivity

A couple days ago I read a really good post by blogger Albert van Zyl. It’s called 10 Ways History’s Finest Kept Their Focus at Work. I encourage you to go read it for yourself, but I’m also going to summarize some of the best points here.

In my last post I mentioned that I was a little bit busy, to put it lightly. That’s probably why van Zyl’s post caught my attention, because I have to get a lot accomplished in a little bit of time. It’s tempting simply to just keep pounding away. Long hours. Much time. Much accomplished right? As counterintuitive as it seems, some really brilliant people discovered that they could get more done by working less and relaxing more.

As they say, All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Some of the easiest ways to get things done? One that I’ve long believed in, if not always followed through with, get up early, work hard for a while, and then be done early. Starting early might not be right for everyone, but for people like me, it is really nice to get a bunch of things done before the day really gets underway.

Another important idea is to stop working and actually have lunch (or breakfast for that matter). It gives your brain a break and lets you actually enjoy your lunch instead of kind of ignoring it as it goes down while you keep pounding the keys. Use your lunch break to find variety so your brain stays happy.

We can’t forget relaxation. Sometimes the variety is not enough, you’ve got to actually stop working altogether. Take the afternoon off. Or remember that weekends didn’t used to be just another work day.

One last thing van Zyl suggests: exercise. Sounds like pretty good advice. I mean when was the last time someone told you not to exercise?

What are your best tips for mixing up the day and staying productive and relaxed at the same time?

 

Dealing With A Crushing Workload

Deadlines, deadlines, all around. The sky is raining projects and they’re all falling on me! The pile of books and papers on the floor and on the tables is already a foot deep. It’s getting hard to work through. I can hardly work because my mind is so full of the things I need to get done.

I know, I’m being a little bit melodramatic, but some weeks are like that. The key is not to get overwhelmed, but just keep plugging away and getting things done. Remember the 80/20 rule. There comes a point on any project when you have to just call it quits and move on to something else. In most cases absolute perfection is not necessary. It breaks my perfectionist heart to say so, but it’s true.

Another technique that I’m finding increasingly useful is putting off procrastination. It can be easy to put things off for later, but there are a lot of things that are better done right away, especially if they are small and easy to mark off the list. So switch things up a bit, leave the procrastination for later and get things done now.

I don’t particularly enjoy having my schedule so full that the only thing I do from the time I get up until the time I go to bed is work. Sometimes it’s the only choice though.

Any tips on dealing with an incredibly full schedule? Let’s hear them in the comments.

 

Working Quickly: Tabbed Browsing

Do you remember back before web browsers had tabs? I do. In fact I remember when my Dad first put a tabbed browser called NetCaptor on the family computer after reading a Walt Mossberg column in the Wall Street Journal in 2004. Since that time NetCaptor development has stopped, but haven’t stopped using browsers with tabs. I can’t imagine life without tabbed browsing.

That last line isn’t strictly accurate, because the computers at the store where I work still have Internet Explorer 5 installed. I do know what life without tabbed browsing is like, and it’s painful. The benefit of tabbed browsing is that it allows you to pursue multiple internet pathways at the same time without losing the place you started from. It also allows you to reference many web pages at the same time without filling your taskbar up with a dozen Internet Explorer windows.

I routinely hold the Ctrl key while I click links on web pages to open them in new windows so I can finish reading the page I’m on and remember to read the links later on. Using browsers without tabs forces you to focus on one page at a time and navigate in a forwards and backwards manner. Tabs open up a whole new world. In effect you can go sideways.

This post is the second in a series on using technology to work quickly.

 

Why You Should Use Twitter

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been a little skeptical of Twitter. After all, who needs another web app to pour more time down the drain. Time is scarce enough as it is without having lots of little two sentence updates to read. You’re right to be skeptical, you can waste time with anything, but Twitter has a good side as well. I took it for a test drive and these are my conclusions.

Improve Google Results
I just joined a couple weeks ago, but already Twitter is the second Google result for my name. My blog is nowhere in sight yet, but at least people can find me on Twitter, where I have a link to my blog.

Promote Your Blog
Twitter is an easy way to connect with people. If you find a blogger you admire, you can look them up on Twitter. If they’re on Twitter and you choose to follow them, they’ll get an email telling them about it. Being human they’ll probably wonder who is following and might even decide to follow you. Now is the time to use Twitter to promote your blog posts. Ask questions or just mention that you’ve made a post and it will drive readers towards your site.

Build Relationships
Last but not least, use Twitter as a social tool. You can go overboard of course, but there are also benefits to learning about others and letting them learn about you. It builds relationships and that’s always a good thing.

Let’s hear your thoughts on Twitter in the comments.

 

How To Escape From Stress

If anything is ubiquitous in the American lifestyle, it’s stress. We have work, school, and social life to juggle. Ironically, it seems like it’s the social life that takes the most out of you when you try to have fun after a long day at work. But you’ve got to have that social life, and you’ve got to have time to do nothing.

We live in a deadline driven society. There are projects and more projects and they all have to get done before it’s too late. The pressure can get pretty intense and sometimes it feels like you’re up against the wall. You can’t go any farther on the writing project but you feel too zonked to even switch gears and do some research on the other project.

When my brain is totally fried, I find the best thing is to dump everything out of my mind and walk away for a few minutes. If I spend 10-15 minutes just reading the newspaper or something else I’m not required to do, it refreshes me and leaves me ready to get back to work a little later.

Calling it quits at the end of the day is an extension of the same theory. Like a lot of people these days, I could work on long into the night if I let myself. There are always things to do, but sometimes it is actually less productive to try to slave on than to stop and unplug for a while. The concept’s not that hard to understand, but how do you stop when all the deadlines are piling up in the back of your mind?

Tiffany at Personal PR is trying a stress-fast. The idea is that you just refuse to let yourself be stressed by anything. Sometimes we treat stress as if it’s inescapable. I think it’s important to note that it’s not such an irresistible force as we like to think. It is possible to dismiss stress from your mind. Maybe this little trick is just what we need to help us make some time to wind-down every night.

How do you tell stress to buzz off? Let’s hear in the comments.