In keeping with the Contests theme of the week, we want to make sure the prizes are spread out evenly among our ten areas of Total Mind and Body Fitness: Brain Power, Dating, Exercise, Family, Grooming, Money, Nutrition, Sex, Stress, and Work.
We've already covered Dating and Sex with yesterday's contest. Today's topic and prize fits perfectly in the Family and Work Life categories.
Everyone is always trying to get something done. Whether it's getting an important project done at work, a long term paper for school, or some overdue housework around the house, we could all use a little extra time and help to get things done faster and more efficiently.
"Getting Things Done
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
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If you apply the information found in this book to your daily activities, no matter what they are, this book could quite possibly change your life. Most of the adjustments are very simple to implement and sometimes quite obvious, but you will be amazed at how much more you can get done in the same amount of time, all while keeping your mind completely clear and worry-free.
So What Do I Have to Do to Get a Free Copy?!
Leave a comment below with one quick productivity tip. That's it! Let us know one little thing that you do at home, at work, or anywhere else that helps you get things done. Just make sure someone else hasn't already given the same tip. You have until July 31st.
As soon as your comment is confirmed, you will be emailed a free link to the full book immediately. So, make sure when you leave your comment that you use a valid email address, or you won't get the free book link. Don't worry, no one else will be able to see your email address, so it's totally safe and secure.
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This is hardly a new tip, but for me it has proved to be the most effective change to my daily routine that I have ever made:
Do the most important task FIRST!
It seems obvious to see it in black and white, but the bottom line is that a lot of people – myself included previously – do whatever is IN FRONT of them, rather than whatever is most important.
As a professional blogger, there is literally no end to my "to-do" list. However, at the end of the day (or week, or month, or year), the only thing that truly matters is whether or not I wrote quality content in my blog each day.
I am happy to report that the answer lately has been a resounding "Yes!" on more days than not. :)
To keep motivation up, make an "I've Done" list showing all you've achieved in the past day, week, month (whichever works best for you) and look at it at least as often as you look at your to do or next actions lists.
I keep an I've Done list for the week and a summary for the month – it really does show you can achieve far more than you think you can.
Be sure to clear up your time and schedule to get things done. If you know that you need to accomplish a task, trying to get it done while working on myriad other things will not only risk your not being able to complete the task, but it will make you feel worse about the quality of your product.
HI there, I know the best tool for me to use to get all my tasks done is to make a list. It feels good to mark off what I have accomplished and move to the next task :)
keep recycle bag at front door and throw all unnecessary reading material away. Less likely to distract yourself later or allow important papers to be lost.
I run a four-square to-do list with High Importance and Low Importance labels at the top and High Urgency and Low Urgency labels on the side, then I enter my tasks according to where they fit in the matrix. But to counter my natural inclination to procrastinate, I also strive to always tackle the ugliest task first – the one with the highest level of drudgery. Getting it out of the way feels great and dealing with it first makes it seem less arduous – it's never as bad as I think it will be.
When at work or at home, use the "touch a paper once" principle. As soon as you pick it up – mail, newspaper, memo, letter, any document – read it and decide what to do with it immediately. Don't put it back down on the table or in a basket. Either respond to it, file it in the correct file (not the "to be filed" pile), forward it on, throw it away, or post it.
Do the one thing you dread doing most first! Usually I find that the doing is not half as bad as the anticipation of the doing, and I get a real sense of acomplishment that the dreaded task is accomplished!
I always keep a bottle or cup of water next to me. By drinking water, I can prevent dehydration's drowsing effect, allowing for greater productivity. In addition, I get to enjoy water's other healthful benefits and can readily wash down supplements and medicine (multivitamin, fish oil, etc).
When it is empty, I get up for a nice, quick walking break.
I have found that asking my boss to priortize the projects he assigns to me does not always work. Now I simply write the project name and priority rank on a large whiteboard as we talk so that he can see how busy I am, and that all projects cannot be priority one. Works like a charm!
The one thing that I do that gets me to complete my work for the day is the day is to remind myself if I am doing justice to the salary that I get from my superiors, if I am eat. Coz if I am eating just, then I am living just.
As there is no date on this post, I do hope that this is available til July 31 2008.
My biggest tip is the weekly review. At the end (or beginning) or each week, I take a look at my to do list, and re-prioritize for the upcoming week. I sort based on Next Action, Action, Someday/Maybe, and Waiting On. It makes the weeks go so much easier and more organized. I love being able to see exactly what I have to do each week.
Hey – best advice I was given re time management was to run my to do lists as part of a main paper diary. Week to an opening – split the page down the middle – appointments on the left, to do lists on the right across each day – tick/cross each item off the list as you go. sit down on Friday to look at what remains outstanding – catch up on the items that need to be finished this week and then set up your diary for next week.
Never put off doing things that dont take long to do no matter how ugley the task. ie if you can do a task in less than 5 minuites, do it right away.
i make notes on my weekly calendar to help keepmyself organized