My Productivity501 Answers

June 19th 2007

Over at Productivity501 I was invited to participate in a group email interview. This was a great privilage to be included as there were a lot of other big productivity blogs included in it. The various responses to the questions are very interesting and I highly suggest you check them out. In this post I thought I would go over my answers and share my thinking behind them.

The first question was “What is the single biggest way people waste time without even realizing it?” You can see my answer below, and the collection of other answers here

Not de-cluttering and simplifying their lives. Knowing where everything is saves on time and stress, compared to having to dig around in a drawer, cupboard or even something as small as your wallet (stuffed with receipts) to find what you are after.

I had to pick this as my example because I see first hand how much more effective a de-cluttered home/office can be (I do my Clutter 101 series for a reason). My partner unfortunately does not take much interest in this side of organization and she leaves it up to me to keep the home organized. I like to feel that I justify myself whenever she struggles to find any of her stuff and I am able to immediately find my stuff

The second question was “What change has made the most difference in making you effective in life?” Again, you can view the other bloggers answers here and a copy of my response below.

Starting something and finishing it. I used to start lots of projects without concentrating on finishing, hense I would end up with loads of projects on the go at once. Now, if I start a next action I will make sure as much as possible to get it done in one session. That way I can get it off my mind and stop worrying about it.

As Mark says in response to my answer, a lot of this is down to creating the right sized project or sub-project. If you have a big project to build a house, you can’t spend two months endlessly working on it so you can get it off your mind. In contrast you can’t break down projects to such an extent that all your next actions take five minutes to do. Read my next actions guide for ideas on defining them better.

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