Productivity Assignment

1. Productivity Assignment Maggie Hortin

2. Most Important Things • Each morning when I get to work, I turn on my computer. As I wait for my computer to boot up, I review my calendar on my phone and write down three most important things for that day. I’ve tried to also get in the habit of doing my “least favorite” task first. I heard someone call this “eat the bug first.” This helps me guard against procrastination. I’ve had two issues with this system, however. I still have a habit of procrastinating, and I’m finding that very difficult to break. Additionally, I find it hard to limit my Most Important Things for the day to only three or four. Once I get started, I can easily fill a page with things I should do that day. The GTD system has helped me limit myself to only three. When those things are done, I can add three more.

3. Ubiquitous Capture Device/Most Important Things • I have started writing everything in an ubiquitous capture device, aka a notebook. I’ve found that this keeps me from forgetting things. As soon as I have a thought about something I should do or something I should work on, I write it in the personal section of my notebook. My notebook has three sections – two of the sections are for my college classes, and one of the sections is for to-do lists, random thoughts, and ideas for future projects. I’ve also incorporated my most important things list into this notebook. Because I struggle to limit my MIT list to three things, I have started to keep a rotating list of important things to do in my UCD and then each day I highlight three of the most important things to do that day. That way, I don’t forget about the other important things that might not make the MIT list for the day, but my to-do list for the day is not unmanageable.

4. Inbox Zero/Weekly Review • One of my goals was to get my work email and both personal email inboxes to zero. In the past, I’ve cleaned out my inbox about once every school year. It gets pretty full. I never want to delete anything because I think I might need to refer back to it later. Now, instead of letting those past emails clutter up my inbox, I have a 2012 folder where I put emails I think I might need to read again. Then, I can use the search function to find that certain email. My personal email is organized a little differently with more folders, but I’ve set up the auto-clean function that helps keep my inbox clear of most junk mail. At the end of each week, I review all three email accounts and sort them into the correct folders. These pictures were taken in the middle of the week.

5. What I’ve learned… • This was a very interesting experience for me. What I discovered most intensely is that I am nowhere near as productive as I need to be. I have yet to find a system that works flawlessly for me. I still feel like I juggle way too many things and I always have a million things running through my mind. The UCD has helped a little so that I write things down and then I don’t have to worry about forgetting them. I feel less “cluttered” when my inbox is at zero. I also feel like I’ve at least accomplished something when I complete my three MIT. Procrastination is still a serious issue for me, and I’m still not sure, even after all this productivity practice how to overcome that. I also feel like my days are severely overbooked, and even when I try not to procrastinate I still do because I just run out of time. The bottom line is this: I’m still learning to be productive.