Organize IT

The traditional approach of prioritizing, where you assign a task a high, medium or low priority (or maybe even something more meaningless than that) is outdated and largely ineffectual in today’s workplace. In fact David Allen of Getting Things Done fame actively downplays the importance of prioritizing, claiming that each task is equally important otherwise you wouldn’t be doing them in the first place. However, this implies a “need to do-don’t need to do” attitude which, as I’ve discussed before, can be a surefire way to end up burnt out as you continuously feel compelled to do something. With the focus increasingly being on working smarter a different way of prioritizing is required that takes into account time mangement.

Ever feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff swirling around in your mind? Sometimes feel lost and lacking in focus? The reason will likely be that you have amassed many unresolved thoughts in your head, and our brains simply aren’t very good at dealing with these never ending loops in our minds. Whenever I feel unclear and unfocused I like to sit down with my notepad and just get all those thoughts down on paper. It really helps to lift the mental fog! Below I’ve compiled several suggestions that I use in my life, that will help you to clear your head. Share your own tips in the comments!

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In a recent recap I pointed out a Lifehack.org article arguing that the current climate for hyper-productivity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Then yesterday I came across a similar post, claiming that the pursuit of productivity has ended up out of control. It seems that there is now an increasing shift toward simplifying our lives. Who needs productivity when the amount of stuff you have to deal with is cut in half?

I’ve been reading, practicing and blogging about productivity, GTD and various related topics for around two years now. I wish I could remember more clearly what set me on this road, there was certainly no major epiphany or one big moment. I probably came across an interesting article on lifehacking and GTD through Digg or some similar site. It sounded intriguing and useful so I continued to read into it more. I do remember buying Getting Things Done at the airport as reading material for the flight and holiday ahead though though :)

Recently I read a great article by Steve Pavlina about moving from a 7 to a 10. This struck a chord with me because if you don’t already know I use a ratings system in my weekly planner to track my performance. I consider using some form of ratings system a key component of any approach, so in this post I thought I would describe the best way for implementing one into your system. If you use a similar system share your experiences in the comments!