Productivity

The Pomodoro Technique

By brock on Thu 12 Aug 2010, 8:18 am

At it's core, the Pomodoro Technique can be described thusly:

  1. Pick a task.
  2. Set a timer for 25 minutes.
  3. Work on that task, without interruption, until the timer goes off.
  4. Take a five-minute break.
  5. Repeat.

This technique is useful for two reasons. The most important thing, of course, is that it encourages you to focus on work and nothing else for those 25 minutes. It doesn't force you to do so, of course, but it helps keep you in check when you find yourself wondering what's new on Twitter. And second, it reminds you to take regular, short breaks, which is something I often neglect to do until I realize my eyes have dried out from staring at the screen and I've needed to use the bathroom for half an hour. Read more »

Things of Value

By brock on Tue 23 Mar 2010, 8:33 pm

Marco Arment is quite a guy. He's the one behind the delightful Tumblr and the nearly-essential Instapaper, and when he writes, he writes well.

In some ways, I wish I were more like Marco - specifically, in the "why don't I ever have good ideas like this?" way and the "how in the world does he get so much stuff done?" way. That second one was driven home by a not-so recent post that I read this past week. Read more »

Rands In Repose: The Foamy Rules for Rabid Tools

By brock on Fri 6 Nov 2009, 7:33 pm

From The Foamy Rules for Rabid Tools: Read more »

A Sense of Accomplishment

By brock on Sun 7 Jun 2009, 12:08 pm

I haven't got much work-work done this weekend, except for a three-hour burst around midnight last night.

So far today, I've been focusing on little things: cleaning the apartment, scanning and shredding documents, doing laundry. Some days, I need this a lot more than I need to get the big stuff done, for my own sanity. I've been carrying about 20 items over from one daily todo list to the next, and it often feels like I'm not getting anything accomplished. Read more »

Accepting Minimalism

By brock on Mon 12 Jan 2009, 5:02 pm

I realize that I've donated and sold a whole mess of books and DVDs in the past few weeks, and add, "Update library app" to my to-do list.

And then I wonder, do I really need to maintain a list of the media I own? I'm trying to cut down on the clutter and get rid of things I don't use much - is it worth the time to make sure I know what I have where and how many stars I gave it? Will that make my life any better?

I uninstalled the library app. Seems simpler that way.

Non-productivity

By brock on Fri 9 Jan 2009, 12:57 pm

I'm having three productivity issues these days.

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ol>

  • I need to organize my task list.  A lot more goes into my system than comes out.  I'm collecting all the things I need to get done, but I've done a crappy job of giving context-appropriate tags to those things and then taking advantage of them when I've got time to work on stuff.  The result is that I still keep a lot in my head - it's all in my list, but I'm always thinking, "OK, I need to take care of that thing for work, and oh yeah, I was supposed to cal
    • Read more »

    What If Women Cared About Productivity? | Productive Flourishing

    By brock on Thu 1 Jan 2009, 1:36 pm

    An interesting read on Productive Flourishing: What If Women Cared About Productivity?

    <

    blockquote>
    Please understand me here: I’m not coming from the position that women actually get life and what’s important and are the saviors of humankind. That would just replace one socially-indoctrinated form of sexism with another form of sexism. Read more »

    Satisfaction

    By brock on Fri 14 Nov 2008, 11:05 pm

    I would sum up Getting Things Done in two points:

    1. Write everything down.
    2. Everything is work.

    The first is the most important for actually getting stuff done. Read more »

    OmniFocus vs. Things

    By brock on Sun 28 Sep 2008, 12:37 am

    I've always been the kind of person that has two or three todo lists going at once. If it doesn't get written down, it doesn't happen. And if I lose a todo list, a whole bunch of things don't happen.

    This makes me the perfect candidate for any one of the GTD-style task management apps that have been bandied about lately. I've used both OmniFocus and Things quite extensively, and hopefully this will help other people figure out which one is right for them. Read more »

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