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One More Thing That Kills Your Productivity
One of the signature elements of a Steve Jobs keynote (or “Stevenote”) was his “one more thing…” endings. He would wrap up the presentation, and sometimes start to walk offstage, before turning back...
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Covey: Schedule Your Priorities [Quote]
The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. Stephen Covey
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Tracking Roles in OmniFocus
OmniFocus uses two concepts from David Allen’s Getting Things Done to provide most of the organization for tasks: Projects and Contexts. A Project is anything you want to do that’s going to take you...
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How to Create Email Templates in Automator
We are constantly sending emails (over 100 billion every day by some estimates). We regularly distribute information via email, and can send the same basic message monthly, weekly, or daily with little...
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One Word for Committing to a Task without the Guilt
The best definition I’ve heard of character is “the ability to carry out a worthy decision after the emotion of making that decision has passed” (Hyrum W. Smith). It’s doing what you say you’re going...
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Quit Sabotaging Your Productivity with a Cluttered Desktop
You would never let your desk get so cluttered with papers that you had no room to work. We instinctively recognize the negative effect that would have on our productivity. So we regularly take time to...
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Complete Your Digital Planning System with Evernote
I started using a Franklin planner when I started junior high. Even when I got a Palm PDA, then an iPhone, I kept using paper for my planning. It wasn’t until the iPad arrived that I finally set that...
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How to Create Project Support Notes in Evernote
Evernote is great at taking notes, including notes with information to support projects you are tracking in OmniFocus. Thoughts on the desired outcome, notes on what you’ve accomplished so far, and...
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Stop Procrastinating and Enjoy Yourself
If I could go back and teach my younger self one thing, it would be that procrastination sucks. Don’t get me wrong—I knew I was making myself miserable by putting off what I needed to do so I could...
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Is That a Task or a Project?
A common question when getting started with OmniFocus (or GTD) is “is this a task or a project?”. The short answer is that it doesn’t matter. Either way, you have the idea captured. In OmniFocus, you...
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How to Scan Business Cards with Evernote
Evernote is a great way to capture information and complements your planning system nicely. Their business card scanner takes a very specialized type of information and makes capturing it easy, fun,...
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Eight Ways to Remember What to Do When
For the last two weeks, I’ve been conducting an experiement. (It didn’t start as an experiment, but it’s become one.) I’ve been carrying two Starbucks gift cards in my pocket. Breast pocket if I have...
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Four Stages of Increasing Focus
Last week, I was at the Platform Conference in Colorado Springs. It was fantastic! I had a great time. The speakers were brilliant; the Broadmoor was gorgeous, even when it was 15º and snowing; and I...
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7 TextExpander Macros to Increase Your Typing Efficiency
The most important thing you can do to increase your productivity at the computer is to learn the keyboard shortcuts for the apps you use. Seriously. Common operations all have keyboard equivalents so...
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Why You Need a Weekly Review
Any navigation system is based on two pieces of information: a correct understanding of where you are, and a clear vision of where you’re going. The tools have varied over the years—compass, astrolabe,...
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Set Goals That Will Take You Someplace
When I was in Scouts, we did an orienteering exercise where we had to hike out across the Red Desert of southwestern Wyoming, away from Boar’s Tusk for some number of miles. It was surprisingly...
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Keep Moving the Chains
In American football, it’s fairly common to start a drive at your own 20-yard line. Fortunately, you don’t need to go all 80 yards at once. All you need to do is make it to the first down marker, and...
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Is Your Task List Weighing You Down?
One of the drawbacks to paper planning is that unfinished tasks don’t roll over from day to day. If you don’t finish something today and you need to do it tomorrow, you have to copy the task to...
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Linking to Mail Messages
When I was transitioning to digital planning, one of the pivotal moments was when I realized that I didn’t need to find one app that did everything—including syncing. I could focus on finding the apps...
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Removing Browser Tab Clutter
Right now, I have sixteen browser tabs open, just on this computer. This includes: two tabs showing my Gmail inbox two tabs comparison-shopping golf clubs three tabs where I’m comparing options for...
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