I recently read Making It All Work, the followup to Getting Things Done. I’ll be writing up my thoughts about in next week but in the meantime I want to take a look at an aspect of GTD that I don’t think has really been discussed before. As I was working my way through MIAW, Allen discussed the process of filing and organizing projects and how you shouldn’t be afraid to use plenty of folders, letter trays and other stationary to get sorted… but how  much does that cost? Consider the video of him showing us around his office for some idea of what I mean.

Read the rest of this entry »

We all have habits and behaviors that get in the way of being productive. Earlier in the week I wrote about getting back to GTD basics though to achieve that involves facing up to some of the hurdles in your path that caused you to neglect those basics in the first place. On Wednesday I revisited the vertical map. One of the reasons I dropped the ball with it in the past was because I got overly fussy about making sure everything connected up. I sometimes have to overcome the need to over-analyze everything and make it all just right.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the next few weeks I will do a post covering my three favorite productivity books, why I am like them and what sort of information they can offer you. However in the meantime I would be really interested in knowing what books my readers enjoy. Getting Things Done, The Four Hour Work Week and even The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People are probably the most obvious ones (and one of them will certainly be in my list) but it would be great to read recommendations for any other, less obvious classics. So, please leave a comment listing your three favorite productivity books and, if you have time, why not explain why you like them? I look forward to all your suggestions. Who knows, if the response is good I might be able to compile a league table of the most popular productivity books out there.

Some months back I asked my readers whether they thought personal development could and should be taught at schools. The response was largely positive, with most of you agreeing that even though children at a school age wouldn’t necessarily get it, it would still introduce some valuable topics and ideas for them to think about. As Mike King commented, school generally only provides basic knowledge and understanding (to function in a work environment), it doesn’t necessarily help with preparing them for life and its other challenges.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week was a special week dedicated to my productivity tips series. In case you missed it I covered how to deal with obstacles in your path, define what ‘done’ actually means, reward yourself when you get things done and make time to relax and recharge. I hope you enjoyed the change of focus. I will be doing more of these in the future to break up the normal routine. However for this week I’m putting the emphasis on you! What are your productivity tips? They can be small or large, simple or complex, minor or life-changing. Whatever tip you have, don’t keep it to yourself. Share it with us in the comments! I hope to collate answers from other productivity bloggers too and will post a massive compilation of everyones answers in the next few weeks. Now, over to you…