Organize IT

We all know the importance of keeping promises to people. Keeping promises leads to trust which is one of the bedrocks of any good relationship, whether it be with friends, work colleagues or your partner. However there is one element of keeping promises that gets overlooked – keeping promises to yourself.

In this age of instant access information, always available entertainment and bottom line obsessed business our time, energy and focus is always at a premium. It seems to be a common and accepted part of life that we need to multitask to keep on top of it all. The only problem is we aren’t actually very good at it…

One of the most popular concepts the author of GTD, David Allen, states is to have a mind like water. When you throw a pebble into water, it responds appropriately to the force and mass of that pebble, then returns to a calm state. You should be able to react similarly when an email enters your inbox or you receive an urgent call from your manager. However, the mind like water concept is not new. Indeed, Bruce Lee famously used it in an interview, which this neat animation summarizes.

Organize IT recap for 13th June 2008.

• Still collecting productivity tips from you all! Already had some very good contributions so keep them coming. I intend to bring them together and publish a big compilation in the near future so keep an eye out for it.
• When I shared this link about six work myths with a few people, it caused a stir. Many questioned the validity of some points, while others thought the article was just downright wrong. One particular point regarding the myth of working hard got a lot of focus. The article claims that in actuality you will only get rewarded if you’re likable. My favorite remark was how if you really want to be happy, you need solid personal relationships and a job that doesn’t interfere with you enjoying them. Agree/disagree?
• When does your healthy eating plan go awry? Dieting is a 24/7 habit and there are seven points during the day when it easy for all your dieting efforts to go down the drain. It then goes into detail on how you can overcome these hurdles. I found this article particularly good because it takes a look at dealing with the obstacles in your way, something I have discussed at length in the past, especially in regards to building habits. The points are applicable regardless of whether you are trying to diet or build some other habit.

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…