Taking Back Control
In 2016, I attended a talk by Scott Hanselman regarding productivity, staying focused, and how to handle everything fighting for our attention.
The amount of things fighting for our attention seems to only have gotten worse since 2016.
This talk profoundly changed my interaction with the digital world. I don't remember every talking point Scott made while I was feverishly jotting down notes. Below is what I could captured and have tried to follow. Maybe you too will find them helpful; bring about some quiet in a world fighting for our attention.
The CC'd filter below is one of my favorite things on the list and something I implemented immediately. It made a huge difference.
The other impactful item on this list is the advice regarding notifications. Not having notifications goes against the grain of today's world, but it is incredibly freeing not having them. I remember the feeling of ghost vibrations in my legs, triggering me to look at my phone and finding nothing there.
1. Prioritize your "inbox".
Not your mail inbox but your life's inbox. When you are stressed, what are the items "below the line" that you can drop? What are your priorities in life? Focus on those and let the others go.
2. Turn off the distractions.
Don't read your email in the morning. You're not missing out on anything. If it's important, people will find you.
Replying to email gets you more email. Keep your emails to 5 sentences or less. Actually, 3 sentences. No one wants a book. If it's a book, write it and store it somewhere for others to read; a blog, a sharepoint list, etc. If you have to write it, you might as well write it someplace you can reference the next time it comes up.
Create a filter for email where you're CC'd, it's informational. Maybe look at the folder once a day, once a week, and clear it out. If someone CC's you on something you need to do, it's their fault. It's ok to drop the ball.
Clear out your inbox. Mark everything read and move it into a archive folder. You might think that 9999+ unread emails doesn't bother you, but subconsciously it is. You won't miss it and if it's important, it'll come up again. Maintain "inbox 0" to reduce clutter.
Turn off Twitter, Facebook, etc. notifications. Take social media vacations. You don't need to know what your friends have done every minute of their life. When you have some down time, then go looking.
Don't complain you don't have time to do things when you've spent 2+ hours watching tv/surfing the internet. If you have things to do, do them.
3. Sync to paper.
When you're stressed out, look at things on paper and not on some tiny screen. It lets you step back and see the big picture. Make a huge whiteboard using whiteboard paint on a wall. Again, see the big picture.
4. We cannot multitask.
Stop trying to multitask. We are not wired to do 2 conscious things at once.
You schedule releases, sprints, iterations, etc. so schedule your own tasks. Try to focus on working on one thing for 25 minutes (http://pomodorotechnique.com/).
5. Evaluate your personal tools.
Whatever you use, make sure it syncs everywhere. Use OneNote, EverNote, Google Keep, Trello, etc.
Try 43 folders. 1 folder for each day of the month (1-31) and 1 folder for each month (12). Put the things that are due during the current month in one of the day folders. Put things due later in their corresponding month folders. Put them away and forget about them. Look in the folders on the day/month to make sure you don't miss anything.
6. Plan 3 things.
3 things to do each day and do them. Try to get at least 2 done by lunch.
Plan 3 things to do each week.
Plan 3 things to do each year.