4
Getting Things Done vs. Zen To Done
4
Happiness of Productive People
4
Tips on Fighting Procrastination
4
Decluttering your Life and Work Space
4
2-minute Productivity Tricks
G
ettinG
Best-selling
Author
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for productive
people
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David Allen
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Oliver Starr
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Leo Babauta
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Alexander Kjerulf
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James Mallinson
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Nick Cernis
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Gretchen Rubin
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Steven Aitchison
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Mark W. Shead
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Marc C
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Stephen Smith
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Glen Stansberry
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Chanpory Rith
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Brett Kelly
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Alex Shalman
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Michael Ramm
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John Kendrick
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Michael Sliwinski and more...
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hinGs
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one
The Art of Stress-free
Productivity
17
Articles from the Best
Productivity Bloggers
talking about:
Exclusive Interview with David Allen
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#1 (November 2008)
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Welcome to the Social
Productivity Wisdom
I
f you’re reading this first, inaugural issue of the Productive!Magazine, chances are you’re just like me – a busy professional who just wants to have a happy, productive and meaningful life.Being overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I had to do and the streams of information I was receiving on a daily basis, I needed a system to take control of all this. More than a system, I needed a set of practical tips that would help me take control of my life and get more done. Most of this has been delivered by the book I read – “Getting Things Done and the Art of Stress-free Productivity” by David Allen. The book was still not enough. I needed a tool and some practical tricks and “cheats” that would really make me stay productive every single day. As I didn’t find the right tool on the market, I built one using my company’s resources and called it “Nozbe – Simply Get Things Done!”.
When my application quickly became popular among productivity bloggers, I discovered the wealth of information provided by the GTD (Getting Things Done) blog community. I read and bookmarked many great articles with very useful tips and tricks to help me “hack” my life.
This is when I found out that even though my Nozbe tool was doing a great job at helping people stay productive and focused, my users needed more than just this tool. I began preparing a “10-step Simply Get Things Done course” which started as a series of articles and ended up as a series of videos viewed totally more than 20,000 times on YouTube. I continued the video path with the “2-minute Productivity Show” video series and people loved it. You’ll find out more about this series at the end of this magazine.
When the idea of a downloadable PDF magazine came up, I realized this would be something many of us busy professionals
From the Editor
By Michael Sliwinski, Editor
have been asking for. Although I had written several articles for the GTDtimes blog to date, this time I decided to simply turn to the “social productivity wisdom” and invite the best productivity experts to contribute to the magazine and let them talk to you through their best articles and blog posts. Based on my long history of blog readership I decided to personally invite the people I’ve come to know and respect in the blogosphere and I’m really happy they accepted my invitation.
Thanks to their great contributions, in this first issue of the Productive!Magazine
you’ll find 15 great articles about different approaches to getting things done (i.e.
“zen to done”), happiness, tips on fighting procrastination, de-cluttering your life and other useful “cheats” and “hacks” that will definitely help you live a productive and meaningful life.
All the included articles are real gems, but one of them deserves an extra introduction. This first issue of the Productive Magazine will feature an exclusive interview with the author of the “productivity bible” – David Allen himself – the best-selling author of the “Getting Things Done” book will talk to Oliver Starr, the editor of the GTDtimes blog (official David Allen Company blog) about the whole phenomenon of the GTD method and his new book, “Making it all work” due to be released this December. I met David personally on one of his seminars (see photo) and we had a great chat so I’m really happy he decided to contribute to our magazine.
Michael Sliwinski is the founder of Nozbe – a web application that helps thousands of busy professionals and companies get their things done (also available for the mobile phone and iPhone). He actively participates in the GTD community as a blogger, a host of the “2-minute Productivity Show”, a contributor to the GTDtimes blog and recently the editor of the Productive!Magazine. Michael holds a master degree in Business Economics and a bachelor in Marketing and Management. He fluently speaks English, German, Spanish and Polish.
Michael will be happy to hear your feedback, just email him at: [email protected]
Without further ado, I encourage you to read the interview with David Allen and all the 17 great articles by their respective contributors. Under each article there is a short biography of each blogger and a link to their blog as well as a the online version of the article so you can add your comments and join the live discussion on their blogs.
Lastly, I’d like to dedicate this entire magazine to the living memory of Marc Orchant
– a great blogger,
my personal GTD guru and a close friend. At age of 50, Marc passed away after suffering a massive heart attack on 9th December
2007. I wouldn’t have achieved so much in the GTD community without his help. Thanks Marc – our prayers are with you!
Yours sincerely, Michael Sliwinski Editor, Productive!Magazine
magazine
Sponsored by www.nozbe.com #01/2008 www.prodictivemagazine.com05
Oliver Starr
GTD is really about
gaining control and
gaining perspective
Interview with David Allen
10
Leo Babauta
Zen To Done (ZTD):
The Ultimate Simple
Productivity System
14
Alexander Kjerulf
Top 10 reasons why
happiness at work is the
ultimate productivity
booster
17
Nick Cernis
Happiness and the
End of the Working Week
19
Gretchen Rubin
Seven tips for making
yourself happier in the
next hour
20
James Mallinson
Having One Of Those
Days? Here’s How To
Deal With It
21
Steven Aitchison
The GOYA method for
Personal Development
22
Mark W. Shead
17 Things you Should
Stop Doing
25
Glen Stansberry
7 Idea Dumping Tips
26
Chanpory Rith
10 tips for keeping your
desk clean and tidy
28
Brett Kelly
14 Numbers Your Cell
Phone Can’t Live Without
30
Michael Ramm
Getting Things Done
®Primer: Chapter 1
31
John Kendrick
The Five W’s of a Weekly
GTD Review
32
Michael Sliwinski
Learn Productivity Tips
and Tricks In 2 minutes!
Table
of contents
24
Stephen Smith
3 Essential Tools for
Productivity
29
Alex Shalman
Seven Questions That
Will Change Your Life
Productive!Magazine www.ProductiveMagazine.com Chief Editor: Michael Sliwinski [email protected] Technical Editor: Maciej Budzich [email protected] www.blog.mediafun.pl Sponsor: www.Nozbe.com
Your Online tool for Getting Things Done
– available in your computer browser, mobile phone and on your iPhone.
Tribute:
Marc Orchant (1957-2007)
The Productive!Magazine is dedicated to the memory of a productivity guru, great blogger and a very close friend,
Marc Orchant who passed away on 9th December 2007.
All articles are copyright © by their respective authors. Productive!Magazine is copyright © by Michael Sliwinski. Getting Things Done® and GTD® are the registered
trademarks of the David Allen Company.
23
Marc C
How To Work Less and
Still Impress
O
liver Starr: What was the original impetus for writing your first book?David Allen: It took me about 25
years. Really that’s how long it took me to have enough life experience to put GTD together, as well as to realize that it (GTD) was as unique as it was and as badly needed as it was. There really wasn’t anything else out there like it.
Plus I’d been working with some of the best and brightest business people
and other over-achievers on the planet and I had become convinced due to their productivity improvements while using the system that it was pretty bullet proof.
In addition I had reconfigured my business and put my name on the masthead so part of my mission was to create a website and was advised by my advisors to create a book – write a bestselling book.
This was pretty intimidating for me but I said well – maybe somebody needs a manual for this and besides, a good
business book is a great business card. To a large degree it was a large anticipation but a low expectation exercise. Additionally I wanted to see if I could put GTD in a box such that people who were not around me could get it, I also wanted to see if I could even write a book and also if GTD would be anything that would be recognized as unique in the marketplace. I knew that what I was doing was unique but I wasn’t sure that the world or the marketplace would recognize it as unique.
GTD is really about gaining
control and gaining perspective
GTD Times Interview with David Allen for the Productive Magazine
Oliver Starr
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OS: Have you been surprised by the success of your first Book?
DA: Nicely so. It kind of depends; I’m of
two mindsets. My ego says “Why didn’t the world catch it before this – it should have sold 10,000,000 instead of 1,000,000. On the other hand I think wow, I’m surprised that anyone bought it. It is pretty subtle stuff.
OS: Well your sales are pretty exceptional considering how little you’ve done to promote the book.
DA: Well it is a bit like the blog world,
in that if you create great content people will tell people about it and over time it will get popular. Business books can be sleepers for years and then reach a tipping point where they become popular.
In fact they were sort of preparing me for that possibility but then we sold like 60,000 copies the first year, which for business books is a best seller so they kept it in hardback for an extra year before going to paper to keep the higher margins.
So all that was good news but then when it hit paper that made a really big difference. As you know when people read the book – if they get it – there’s this “ah ha!” moment where people suddenly think “everyone around me needs to know this stuff ” a lot of business people want to get ten copies to give to everyone they work with and this is a lot easier physically and financially when a book is a paperback.
OS: So, you’ve got a new book coming out very soon. Tell me a little bit about the key differences between the new book, “Making it All Work” and your original “Getting Things Done”. Why would I want to buy both?
DA: Part of the focus of the new book is
why was the first book so successful. What was it about the first book, “Getting Things
Done” that seemed to resonate, that had no cultural bias of any sort in terms of ringing universal bells out there? So part of my reason for writing this was to find out what that was true.
Another reason was that over ten years of my own maturation has taken place and during this time I’ve had lots and lots of feedback and noticed that there wasn’t
anything I would change about Getting Things Done but I realized that there were deeper and deeper levels that needed to be explored. So the new book is really more about lifestyle as much as work style as well as how the principals of GTD are really about gaining control and gaining perspective.
When we go to do things we tend to want to get organized and get focused. Those are two admonishments, not one. In the first book most people were so blown away by just getting stuff out of their heads and make lists and determine next actions and organize by contexts – if someone just did that at a 30% level it totally changed their life but there’s so much more to GTD than that.
You know for those that had ears to hear you could probably find it in the first book if you really took the time and looked carefully but what I’m really doing with the second book is just speeding up the process.
In a way it’s a good one-two punch. There’s a lot of take this here, put this here – very process oriented coaching in the first book. Book two is really spending a lot more time on the prioritizing aspect. The criticism of the first book – if there was one – was “well David doesn’t really spend much time on prioritization – he doesn’t care much about priorities.” Well that really isn’t true – if you look the third chapter
addresses priorities but going deeper than that, it is such a complex issue, there are so many aspects and variables involved in prioritization that it needs its own book.
The different factors that go into making the correct choices instead of making hoped-are correct choices. It’s one thing to get control and perspective but then what? So in the second book I go more into the Horizons of Focus and the different factors that go into making those choices.
OS: It seems like you put a fairly heavy emphasis on this in your road map seminars too. I was lucky enough to attend one of your Road Map seminars and when you went into the Horizons of Focus, for me the way that this related to my life and my experience as an athlete is what really hit home. So would it be fair to say that your second book expands more upon this sublime but critical aspect of GTD?
DA: Yes. I haven’t been asked this
enough in interview yet to figure out a really elegant way to say it – and maybe you can help me with this – I think what I’ve done is really figured out the essence of time management. But you can’t manage time so the mislabeling of the problem is one of the reasons that no one ever came up with a solution.
I think I’m one of the first guys to ever define organization which means “just parking stuff in a place depending upon what it means to you”, and the whole idea of setting priorities well – I’ve got it as simple as I can get it and no simpler.
I haven’t seen any situation in which it won’t work so once you figure out – what is the purpose of all that stuff? Prioritization, personal productivity, time management and I think what I did was just nail what we all knew intuitively; sort of the truth inside us, and I think that the new book, Making it All Work, pulls this all together in one coherent, set of best practices.
Look: if you need control do these five things, if you need perspective evaluate these six horizons. There’s nothing I’ve
I’m one of the first guys to ever define
organization which means “just parking stuff in a
place depending upon what it means to you”
ever seen that can’t be corrected by one of more of the principals inside of those eleven modules.
OS: I had a friend that used to always admonish people to step up the stairs, not stare up the steps, and I’m continually reminded of that when I look at what you’ve done with GTD. Really you help people take a lot of what’s overwhelming them and break it down into manageable chunks.
DA: The interesting thing with all this
stuff is that if you go top down you never get down [to the bottom] but if you go bottom up and build toward the top from the bottom where it’s nice and grounded, if you know how to process your own in basket and your own ideas and get clear on that most mundane level and build up from there, you’ll know how to get clear on every level.
As you now, it’s a holistic model. You don’t need to start anywhere; It’s not a linear model it’s really “which part of the model do you need to work on?” but you can’t really ignore any of it.
Our approach is to start with what has your attention, not what should have your attention, because what should have your attention can’t really be dealt with until you’ve addressed what does have your attention.
OS: As you know, I’m still very much in the early stages of my GTD learning process but I can really see what you mean by that. Marc Orchant always used to say – “if you have 10,000 things in your email inbox then you have 10,000 different bosses all pulling at your attention.”
Of course I didn’t really believe him (and I always had about 9,000 things in my
inbox) but once I was finally able to get my inbox under control and even get it to zero I saw the difference in my ability to focus on the task at hand and not get distracted. The flipside to that is that now when my inbox starts to creep towards having more than a few messages in there that I haven’t processed yet I find THAT to be a distraction!
DA: I’ll give you a scoop – this is
something I haven’t put into an essay or anything, and it’s a big one.
You’ve heard of efficiency versus effectiveness? That is doing the right
thing as opposed to doing the thing right. Everyone pooh poos the doing the thing right – “yeah but you want to be doing the right thing”? The truth is that process is harder to change and learn than your focus. It’s easy to shift your focus on to the right thing; it’s a pain in the ass to change how you get that done!
You know that’s why I think GTD has hit such a nerve. I focus more on the process piece and this is what I think people find so challenging to grow as well as to change their behaviors to make that happen. See if I make you highly efficient at getting
Everyone pooh poos
the doing the thing
right – “yeah but you
want to be doing the
right thing”?
I realized that there were deeper and deeper
levels that needed to be explored. So the new
book is really more about lifestyle as much as
work style
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anything done, you can change your focus on what you want to get done in an instant.
Now that’s a bit of a simplistic way to say it since we’re all going to resist taking on bigger things and challenging ourselves and getting out of our comfort zone. You know, all the venerable “golden goodie” stuff about motivating and goal setting and mission and purpose and vision. This doesn’t denigrate the power of what all that’s about. Again if I can get you to do well what you’re doing well and now just shift your focus so that you’re doing the right thing well, that’s easier than somebody saying “I know how to focus on the right thing but I don’t know how to get anything done”.
OS: That’s really true. You know, because of my background as a professional athlete I see a lot of this stuff as it might relate to sports or coaching an athlete at a world-class level. This example is really true; you can identify something that an athlete is doing wrong and make them aware of it but it’s much, much harder to get them to fix it.
One of the things that I was curious about is whether in your experience there’s a personality type that tends to excel at GTD or get more out of GTD than any other?
DA: No.
OS: It works across the board huh? Doesn’t matter if you’re a super high type A or a type B – just works the same?
DA: You may be using the model
and GTD may be of interest to you for various different reasons based upon your personality but the model itself – anybody that has to keep more than one thing that they can’t finish with they think of it is going to find GTD is universally applicable.
I don’t know what personality model you are familiar with; Meyer’s Briggs, Right Brain, Left Brain, which ever you want to pick but let’s say you have your typically anally retentive implementer type and you have your crazy maker visionary right brain type the right brainers love GTD – in fact I think that at the summit we’ll have a right brainer workshop. All the actors and writers and artists that love GTD
because one of the things that GTD does is that it frees up your psyche for creative thinking. It allows you the freedom to be as spontaneous and intuitive as you want to be as well as facilitating that process.
Now the more anal retentive, implementer types love GTD because it gets those things done extremely well. It lets them keep track of stuff and get closure on stuff… Now the really, really anal types think that GTD is too loose and too right brain while the right brainers that aren’t sophisticated enough to step of the plate think GTD is much too anal.
The bottom line is that GTD is not really a system, it’s a systematic approach and that approach can be taken by anyone for any reason.
OS: As you know, I was a little resistant to trying GTD at first. I didn’t think that I needed it because it’s sort of a gift of mine that I can remember where everything is and all my appointments and it doesn’t take any energy – or rob me of any creativity – or so I thought. I always think I know everything until I discover that I don’t. In the case of GTD I’ve been truly surprised at the impact that getting stuff out of my head has had on my creativity and my ability produce at the creative level. I’ve seen a really dramatic increase – much greater than I would have expected under even the boldest prediction.
DA: I have another scoop for you that I
haven’t written about yet in much detail. You know the people we’ve been touting that the creative, artistic mind likes a certain amount of mess around themselves to create a certain amount of cognitive dissonance. The resolution of that sort of takes them out of the box.
Similarly, I was talking to a fellow from Cornell – a serious mathematician who is now at Xerox and this guy said that we need a GTD plug-in for the deep research types.
It seems that they want to create this same cognitive dissonance – generate so much data that they’re thinking is so clogged that they have no choice but to think outside the box to make any forward progress.
The truth is this is still actually the same principal. As soon as you want to do something that isn’t true yet you create a little bit of cognitive dissonance – this is what brainstorming is just what are all the here to there’s now that I know what the “there” is.
For the deep research folks they don’t even know what the “there” is. They’re just trying to come up with solutions that they don’t have problems for yet. Even so I think it still maps to the GTD model.
You know people that like piles around them? Are you a pile kind of guy? That’s exactly what GTD is. When you are doing your weekly review you are going around to much more discrete much more sophisticatedly managed piles, that are created much more efficiently and are themselves the endpoints of creative thinking.
If you read the Belgian paper that talks about the ants leaving pheromones to help them - well this isn’t that different – it’s an extended mind. You want all that stuff out of your mind. When you think about what piles are for they are for things that you still want to be thinking about that you still want to be moving forward on in some way that I still want to be creative about…
In truth a really good GTD application is that I have my piles set up in really appropriate ways to turbo-charge my thinking so that your mind kind just graze…How elegant can piles get?
OS: I know we’re running long already so I’ll try to wrap this up but I do have just a few more questions; what is, you think the single most common mistake you see high performance people making?
DA: I don’t rely have an answer for
that. IF I did what would it be??? I’d say it’s the neglect of the speed up by slowing down factor. Unless you’ve already built in
the principals of
GTD are really about
gaining control and
gaining perspective.
the habit of stopping and taking a breath – building in time to stop and reflect is commonly missed. This is true, especially of the younger high performance types who don’t have to stop.
The other things are the ability to say “no”. The ability to put things into “someday, maybe”…
OS: Would you say that your thinking has changed over the last ten years?
DA: Only that I’m even more confident
that it does work. No one says: “GTD doesn’t work”. Some people say, “GTD works, I just don’t work it.”
At its essence you might even say: “First there is a labeler,
Then there is no labeler, Then there is a labeler.
Because ultimately the labeler is really cool.
OS: I was wondering, in your own thinking what the goals were behind starting GTD times and what you hope it will accomplish?
DA: I think there’s been a great
universal adoption of GTD but at the same time a certain lack of depth and understanding so part of the goal was to create a forum where the various idea and thoughts, tips and techniques applications, crazy ideas, whatever can support and be synergistic of one another instead of 6000 voices crying in the wilderness not to create a central thing that doesn’t try to legislate what GTD is or where it’s going but still keeps a central focus.
As GTDers were probably the largest group of radical non-joiners that we could band together – it’s sort of the same idea that people who you really want at a party are the ones that don’t have time to be there but will show up and be willing to just not have an agenda.
OS: Last question: You’ve got a big event coming up in 2009 and I thought you might want to talk about that a little bit..
DA: To some degree it’s build it and
they’ll come. It might be that this is the only GTD summit if we come together and realize that we’ve all got it together. And we’re all glad we’re there but there’s no reason to continue. On the other hand there seems to be this magnetic energy where people that are involved with this who want to get together to share best practices. So in a way this is an opportunity to deepen what GTD is and really I think a lot of the focus will be not only what are the coolest ways to get things done, but also, what are the cool things to GET DONE? That’s not to try to replace TED or any of the other great works conferences that are out there, but really just to explore the people that really work this and have great practices and war stores to share about how impactful this can be as a way to reinforce that set of best practices.
We’re still in the process of determining what the most interesting way will be to format the summit but the good news is that people seem really exciting that we’re going it.
I think that to some degree GTDers are a bit eccentric so when you put 500 people who are nuts together then all of a sudden you’re not nuts. You know there are some people doing some really cool and interesting things with GTD so at the end of the day, I think if we put them all together and create a forum for the open exchange of ideas and stories and information it will benefit everyone and will be a success.
I think that the appeal is simply that people that get into GTD do so because they want to get better and as you have probably heard me say, the better you get, the better you better
get. Hopefully the Summit is a way to help people get even better.
David Allen – interviewed by Oliver Starr
Oliver Starr is the Executive Editor of GTD Times. He’s also a former professional cyclist, a biochemist and a serial entrepreneur as well as reasonably well known blogger. His former blogs include MobileCrunch.com (for the TechCrunch Network), the Mobile Technology Weblog and the short lived Blognation. Oliver is also an industry consultant providing services related to
mobile technology and marketing, blogger outreach and blog marketing and business development. In addition to his work at GTDtimes you can read more of Oliver’s writing at his personal Weblog StarrTrek.
Visit „GTD Times” blog
Visit Oliver’s Personal blog
Visit this article’s online version
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Zen To Done
habit-change methods (the ones I talk about on this site) to change their habits.
Solution: ZTD focuses on one habit at a time. You don’t have to try to adopt
the entire system at once – it’s overwhelming and it’s too hard to focus on your habit changes if you do too many at a time. Instead, focus on one at a time, and adopt the system in phases. Use proven habit-changing methods (30-day challenge, commitment, rewards, motivation hacks, etc.) to successfully adopt each new habit.
2. GTD doesn’t focus enough on doing.
While it’s called Getting Things Done, often what we end up doing most of the time is Getting Things in Our Trusted System. The book, while presenting an excellent system, focuses more on the capturing and processing stages than it does on the actual doing stage.
Solution: ZTD focuses more on doing
– and how to actually complete your tasks, in a simple, stress-free manner.
3. GTD is too unstructured for many people. This can be one of the brilliant
things about GTD – its lack of structure, its in-the-moment decision making about what to do next – but it can also be a huge source of confusion for many people. Some people need more structure in their day, and GTD can be disorienting. Different people have different styles.
Leo Babauta
(ZTD):
W
hy “Zen To Done”? Well, first off, my blog is called Zen Habits, and “Habits To Done” doesn’t sound cool enough to me. I also thought of “Simple To Done” but the acronym didn’t seem right. Second, ZTD captures the essentialspirit of the new system: that of simplicity, of a focus on doing, in the here and now, instead of on planning and on the system.
If you’ve been having trouble with GTD, as great as it is, ZTD might be just for you. It focuses on the habit changes necessary for GTD, in a more practical way, and it focuses on doing, on simplifying, and on adding a simple structure. Read on for more.
Overview
ZTD attempts to address five problems that many people have with GTD. I should note that GTD isn’t really flawed, and doesn’t really need modification, but everyone is different, and ZTD is a way to customize it to better fit different personality types.
ZTD addresses five problems people have with GTD:
1. GTD is a series of habit changes. This
is the main reason why people fall off the GTD system – it’s a bunch of habit changes that are attempted all at once. If you’ve read Zen Habits long enough, you know that focusing on one habit at a time is best, and guarantees the most success. In addition, GTDers don’t apply proven
I am a huge fan of GTD, as you probably know by now.
It’s one of the best productivity systems ever invented.
However, it’s not without its flaws, and because of
that, I have a new productivity system for you: Zen To
Done (ZTD).
Solution: ZTD offers a couple of habits to address this: the plan habit, where you
simply plan your three MITs for the day and your Big Rocks for the week, and the routine habit, where you set daily and weekly routines for yourself. These habits, like all the habits of ZTD, are optional. If they don’t work for you, don’t adopt them. But for many people, they will compliment the other great parts of GTD perfectly.
4. GTD tries to do too much, which ends
up stressing you out. GTD doesn’t discriminate among all the incoming stuff in your life, which again is part of its beauty. But the problem is that we put everything on our lists, and end up being overloaded. We try to do everything on our lists. This isn’t really a problem with GTD, but a problem with how we implement it. But it should be addressed.
Solution: ZTD focuses on simplifying.
Take as much stuff off your plate as possible, so you can focus on doing what’s important, and doing it well.
5. GTD doesn’t focus enough on your goals. GTD is purposely a bottom-up,
runway-level system. While it does talk about higher levels, it doesn’t really go into it much. As a result, GTD is more focused on doing whatever comes at you rather than doing what you should be doing – the important stuff.
The Ultimate Simple
Productivity System
Solution: ZTD, as mentioned above, asks you to identify the big things you want to do for the week and for the day. Another habit in ZTD is for you
to review your goals each week, as a way of staying focused on them throughout the year. GTD contains an element of this, but ZTD extends it.
Again, GTD is a brilliant system, and works very well. But ZTD takes some of the problems that people have in implementing it, and adapts it for real life.
The 10 Habits of ZTD
Each of these habits should be learned and practiced one at a time if possible, or 2-3 at a time at the most. Focus on your habit change for 30 days, then move on to the next. The order listed below is just a suggestion – you can adopt them in whatever order works best for you, and you don’t need to adopt all 10 habits. Experiment and find the ones that work best with your working style. Habits 1-8 are the most essential, but I suggest you give Habits 9-10 serious consideration too. I will expand on each of these 10 habits in future posts.
1 collect. Habit: ubiquitous capture.
Carry a small notebook (or whatever capture tool works for you) and write down any tasks, ideas, projects, or other information that pop into your head. Get it out of your head and onto paper, so you don’t forget it. This is the same as GTD. But ZTD asks you to pick a very simple, portable, easy-to-use tool for capture – a small notebook or small stack of index cards are preferred (but not mandated), simply because they are much easier to use and carry around than a PDA or notebook computer. The simpler the tools, the better. When you get back to your home or office, empty your notes into your to-do list (a simple to-do list will work for now – context lists can come in a later habit).
2 process. Habit: make quick decisions on things in your inbox, do not put them off. Letting stuff pile up is procrastinating
on making decisions. Process your inboxes (email, physical, voicemail, notebook) at least once a day, and more frequently if needed. When you process, do it from the top down, making a decision on each item, as in GTD: do it (if it takes 2 minutes or less), trash it, delegate it, file it, or put it on your to-do list or calendar to do later.
3 plan. Habit: set MITs for week, day.
Each week, list the Big Rocks that you want to accomplish, and schedule them first. Each day, create a list of 1-3 MITs (basically
“It’s about the habits
and the doing, not the
system or the tools.”
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your Big Rocks for the day) and be sure to accomplish them. Do your MITs early in the day to get them out of the way and to ensure that they get done.
4 do (focus). Habit: do one task at a time, without distractions. This is one of the most
important habits in ZTD. You must select a task (preferably one of your MITs) and focus on it to the exclusion of all else. First, eliminate all distractions. Shut off email, cell phone, Internet if possible (otherwise just close all unnecessary tabs), clutter on your desk (if you follow habit 2, this should be pretty easy). Then, set a timer if you like, or otherwise just focus on your task for as long as possible. Don’t let yourself get distracted from it. If you get interrupted, write down any request or incoming tasks/info on your notepad, and get back to your task. Don’t try to multi-task.
5 simple trusted system. Habit: keep simple lists, check daily. Basically the same
as GTD – have context lists, such as@work, @phone, @home, @errands, @waiting, etc. ZTD suggests that you keep your lists as simple as possible. Don’t create a complicated system, and don’t keep trying out new tools. It’s a waste of time, as fun as it is. Either use a simple notebook or index cards for your lists, or use the simplest list program possible. You don’t need a planner or a PDA or Outlook or a complicated system of tags. Just one list for each context, and a projects list that you review either daily or weekly. Linking actions to both projects and contexts is nice, but can get too complicated. Keep it simple, and focus on what you have to do right now, not on playing with your system or your tools.
6 organize. Habit: a place for everything.
All incoming stuff goes in your inbox. From there, it goes on your context lists and an action folder, or in a file in your filing
system, in your outbox if you’re going to delegate it, or in the trash. Put things where they belong, right away, instead of piling them up to sort later. This keeps your desk clear so you can focus on your work. Don’t procrastinate – put things away.
7 review. Habit: review your system & goals weekly. GTD’s weekly review is great,
and ZTD incorporates it almost exactly, but with more of a focus on reviewing your goals each week. This is already in GTD, but isn’t emphasized. During your weekly review, you should go over each of your yearly goals, see what progress you made on them in the last week, and what action steps you’re going to take to move them forward in the coming week. Once a month, set aside a little more time to do a monthly review of your goals, and every year, you should do a yearly review of your year’s goals and your life’s goals.
8 simplify. Habit: reduce your goals & tasks to essentials. One of the problems
with GTD is that it attempts to tackle all incoming tasks. But this can overload us, and leave us without the necessary focus on the important tasks (MITs). So instead, ZTD asks you to review your task and project lists, and see if you can simplify them. Remove everything but the essential projects and tasks, so you can focus on them. Simplify your commitments, and your incoming information stream. Be sure that your projects and tasks line up with your yearly and life goals. Do this on a daily basis (briefly, on a small scale), during your weekly review, and your monthly review.
9 routine. Habit: set and keep routines. GTD is very unstructured,
which can be both a strength and a weakness. It’s a weakness for some people because they need more structure. Try the habit of creating routines to see if it works better for you. A morning routine (for example) could include looking at your calendar, going over your context lists, setting your MITs for the day, exercising, processing email and inboxes, and doing your first MIT for the day. An evening routine could include processing your email and inboxes (again), reviewing your day, writing in your journal, preparing for the next day. Weekly routines could include an errands day, a laundry day, financial day, your weekly review, family day, etc. It’s up to you – set your own routines, make them work for you.
10 find your passion. Habit: seek work for which you’re passionate. This
could be your last habit, but at the same time your most important. GTD is great for managing the tasks in your life, and trying not to procrastinate on them. But if you’re passionate about your work, you won’t procrastinate – you’ll love doing it, and want to do more. The habit to form here is to constantly seek things about which you’re passionate, and to see if you can make a career out of them when you find them. Make your life’s work something you’re passionate about, not something you dread doing, and your task list will almost seem like a list of rewards.
identify the big things
you want to do for the
week and for the day
About Leo Babauta
Leo Babauta lives in Guam and is married with six kids. He’s a writer and a runner and a vegetarian and he loves writing Zen Habits - his blog that in a short year became one of the top blogs on the Internet with 60K+ readers subscribed and counting. He’s also the author of two ebooks: „Handbook
for Life” and „Zen to Done”. Visit Leo’s blog - „Zen Habits” Visit this article’s online version
Read more about Leo’s Book: „Handbook for Life” Read more about Leo’s Book: „Zen to Done”
10-Steps to Productivity
according to Nozbe:
L
isa was falling behind at work. Every morning she woke up nervous about the workday ahead of her. Every evening she went home thinking of all the tasks she hadn’t gotten around to.Lisa is a 35-year old engineer and project manager at a Danish IT company. With business booming, keeping up had become a struggle – she felt she had to run really fast, to just to stay in place.
With her in-box overflowing and people all around her clamoring for assistance on their projects, she started to look at various productivity tools and systems and quickly settled on the one she’d use. As is typical for Lisa, once she’s decided to do something, she does it, and with new ways of tracking time, improved todo-lists and prioritizing her work, she did notice that she was getting more work done.
Top 10
reasons why
happiness
at work is
the ultimate
productivity
booster
Alexander Kjerulf
If you want to get more done
at work, the productivity gurus
out there will tell you that it’s all
about having the right system.
You need to prioritize your
tasks, you must keep detailed
logs of how you spend your
time, todo-lists are of course
essential, you must learn to
structure your calendar and
much, much more.
But that’s not where you should
start. You should start by liking
what you do.
Does being
productive make
us happy or does
being happy make us
productive?
But she still felt, that she could be more productive. While she was thinking about her next step, it struck her: Some of what she did, she hated doing.
While she generally enjoyed her job, especially helping people plan their projects and advising them on the best ways to move forward, some of her tasks were administrative in nature. Tracking progress, updating various statics, generating reports, etc…. They didn’t take up that much of her time – but they were a lot less fun. Let’s face it: to Lisa, they were boring as hell.
She talked to her boss about it, and they decided to give those tasks to a project secretary. This freed up a little time for Lisa, but mostly it allowed her to work on those parts of her job that she really liked. Consequently Lisa became a lot happier at work – and THAT’S when her productivity sky-rocketed. Now she had the energy to connect with her people and the creativity to think up and implement new ideas. Instead of feeling stressed and harried, she was optimistic and positive.
While her productivity system had definitely helped her get more done, the productivity boost she got from being happy at work was many times bigger. Lisa is now working way less hours – and getting much more done. And most importantly, she’s enjoying work a lot more!“
The single most efficient way to increase your productivity is to be happy at work. No system, tool or methodology in the world can beat the productivity boost you get from really, really enjoying your work.
I’m not knocking all the traditional productivity advice out there – it’s not that it’s bad or deficient. It’s just that when you apply it in a job that basically doesn’t make you happy, you’re trying to fix something at a surface level when the problem goes much deeper.
Here are the 10 most important reasons why happiness at work is the #1 productivity booster.
1: Happy people work better with others
Happy people are a lot more fun to be
around and consequently have better relations at work. This translates into: • Better teamwork with your colleagues • Better employee relations if you’re
a manager
• More satisfied customers if you’re in a service job
• Improved sales if you’re a sales person
2: Happy people are more creative
If your productivity depends on being able to come up with new ideas, you need to be happy at work. Check out the research of Teresa Amibile for proof. She says:
If people are in a good mood on a given day, they’re more likely to have creative ideas that day, as well as the next day, even if we take into account their mood that next day.
There seems to be a cognitive process that gets set up when people are feeling good that leads to more flexible, fluent, and original thinking, and there’s actually
a carryover, an incubation effect, to the next day.
3: Happy people fix problems instead of complaining about them
When you don’t like your job, every molehill looks like a mountain. It becomes difficult to fix any problem without agonizing over it or complaining about it first. When you’re happy at work and you run into a snafu – you just fix it.
4: Happy people have more energy
Happy people have more energy and are
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therefore more efficient at everything they do.
5: Happy people are more optimistic
Happy people have a more positive, optimistic outlook, and as research shows (particularly Martin Seligman’s work in positive psychology), optimists are way more successful and productive. It’s the old saying “Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re probably right” all over again.
6: Happy people are way more motivated
Low motivation means low productivity, and the only sustainable, reliable way to be motivated at work is to be happy and like what you do.
7: Happy people get sick less often
Getting sick is a productivity killer and if you don’t like your job you’re more prone to contract a long list of diseases including ulcers, cancer and diabetes. You’re also more prone to workplace stress and burnout.
One study assessed the impact of job strain on the health of 21,290 female nurses in the US and found that the women most at risk of ill health were those who didn’t like their jobs. The impact on their health was a great as that associated with smoking and sedentary lifestyles.
8: Happy people learn faster
When you’re happy and relaxed, you’re much more open to learning new things
About
Alexander Kjerulf
Alex makes people happy at work. No, really, he does! He speaks and consults in businesses all over the world, showing executives, managers
and employees how to change workplaces from dreary and stressful to more fun, energized and happy. And profitable! He is the author of Happy Hour is 9 to 5, a practical guide to making yourself and others happy at work. He also runs a blog called „Positive Sharing - Chief Happiness Officer”. Visit Alex’s blog - „Positive Sharing” Visit this article’s online version
Get Alex’s book: „Happy Hour is 9 to 5” at work and thereby increasing your
productivity.
9: Happy people worry less about making mistakes – and consequently make fewer mistakes
When you’re happy at work the occasional mistake doesn’t bother you much. You pick yourself up, learn from it and move on. You also don’t mind admitting to others that you screwed up – you simply take responsibility, apologize and fix it. This relaxed attitude means that less mistakes are made, and that you’re more likely to learn from them.
10: Happy people make better decisions
Unhappy people operate in permanent crisis mode. Their focus narrows, they lose sight of the big picture, their survival instincts kick in and they’re more likely to make short-term, here-and-now choices. Conversely, happy people make better, more informed decisions and are better able to prioritize their work.
The upshot
Think back to a situation where you felt that you were at peak performance. A situation where your output was among the highest and best it’s ever been. I’m willing to bet that you were working at something that made you happy.
Something that you loved doing. There’s a clear link between happiness at work and productivity. This only leaves the question of causation: Does being productive make us happy or does being happy make us productive? The answer is, of course, yes! The link goes both ways.
But the link is strongest from happiness to productivity – which means that it if you want to be more productive, the very best thing you can do is focus on being happy with what you do?
So how do you get to be happy at work? There are two ways, really:
1. Get happy in the job you have. There are about a million things you can do to improve your work situation – provided you choose to do something, rather than wait for someone else to come along and do it for you. 2. Find a new job where you can be happy.
If your current job is not fixable, don’t wait – move on now!
You should start by
liking what you do.
faces who actually give a damn about making your business a success. Then your profit will come. Want proof? Just look at Zappos.
2) We’re commuting instead of computing The daily commute is killing us. It’s
also putting a drain on the planet which is,
at worst, throttling it slowly and, at best, terribly inconsiderate of us all.
The truth is, if businesses made some simple, cost-effective changes to the way they operate, the vast majority of us could work remotely from home on our own schedules using simple technology that already exists. (Don’t worry, I’m about to tell you how to make it happen.)
3) We’re selling hours instead of output
The base unit of work is wrong. For years, we’ve been trading the hours from nine to five for cash, whether we’ve actually
got any work to do in them or not. The result
is a series of invented chores, the clickedy-click of the inbox refresh button, and the clock watching committees that feature so heavily in office life.
What’s worse, we’ve gotten so used to having to fill that prescribed time with mostly meaningless twitchery that, when
Nick Cernis
Happiness and the End
of the Working Week
P
ounding their way along 16.2 miles of pavement, train track, or gridlocked tarmac to arrive at their Official Place of Work, most will sit down, throw six triple-espressos into throats scorched by artificial air, and rub eyes zapped by fluorescent death rays from above.Those who succeed in wrenching themselves into what passes for the mortal realm are then forced to hunt down jobs to fill their day, an eight-hour stretch of meaningless meetings, the constant shrill of telephones, and having to listen to Suzie from Sales tell Sally that story about Sarah seducing Simon’s sister. Again.
Welcome to Crazytown. Population: you
Despite all the obvious warnings, like the cubicle stress that ends in Godzilla-style office rampages, all of this is somehow considered normal. Commuting is a fact of life, isn’t it? Or perhaps, like me, you find a dark humor in wasting our lives by physically travelling to work in the Internet age. If it wasn’t so sad it might be funny.
I blame the accountants
So what went wrong? Many years ago, Earth’s Universal Accountant got sloppy updating the monthly work-life balance sheet, forgot to carry a zero, and ended up with a half-eaten nuclear hot dog and a basket full of toenail clippings from his mother-in-law. Oh well, he thought. I’ll just brush it all under the carpet. Who’ll know? Then he rushed home to Cloud 17b
to forget about the whole nasty affair, and we’ve been practically pissing overtime ever since.
But let’s not blame him. Celestial accountants make mistakes too. Our problem remains: this business we call business is broken. So how do we fix it? And what’s the big problem, anyway?
The problem with problems
…is that they often come in threes. Business became so broken, in fact, that it needed two friends just to prop it up at the end of a long day. Here’s how the terrible triplets shape up:
1) We’re championing profits instead of people
Business is a numbers game. It’s
optimized for the bottom line. More often than not, people come second. Most businesses are not providing us with an environment that’s fit to stable us for our working lives.
The problem lies in the question that drives them, often: “how can we make an extra $10m this year?” My answer: who
cares? The question should be this: “how
can we create a company that people will fight to be a part of?” Solve that first and you’ll fill your company with smart, smiling
Business is broken. Every morning across seven continents, 402 million people rise ahead
of the Sun to drag themselves into that smog-filled, oil-fuelled nightmare called the morning
commute.
present home-working as a solution to the
problem of low morale, high stress and
dwindling productivity
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handed that golden rolling pin called retirement and told to cook whatever we please, many go crazy with boredom. Then we acquire the world’s largest kitchen tin and simply bake ourselves into a fruitcake-lined grave: an icing-topped end to an otherwise bittersweet life.
The solution is simple: work smarter
Doom and gloom take a back seat from here on. It’s time for some positive thinking! We need a simple change in our working habits that’s easy to implement and optimized for people, health, families, communities and the environment. A change that takes advantage of the Internet age while enhancing our quality of life and without affecting our bottom lines. Too much to ask for? I think not.
Here are my simple solutions:
The solution for employers
Want your employees to be passionate about their jobs? Want to make your life easier too? Then start optimizing for happiness today by rolling out my easy four-phase plan to a healthier, happier business:
Phase 1: Change the working environment
The first thing to do is to create a working environment to be proud of. Building an enjoyable office environment is cheaper than you think. I’ll be running some fun ideas on how to create a great office at work or at home soon.
Phase 2: End the working week
Forget about 9-5. Stop buying your employees’ lives and buy their ideas and output instead. Trust them to manage their own workload in the hours they choose, regardless of whether it fills the day or not. Do the same yourself! It’ll do wonders for your health and your sanity. (N.B. If you currently bill by the hour, billing by the task instead will help make this work better.)
Phase 3: Have a work from home day
Test out working from home for one day a week for a month. Make sure you give people everything they need to work from home (including you!). Hire laptops if you
have to. Tell employees that, if the trial works, you’ll make it permanent. Tell them that if it doesn’t, you’ll be going back to a regular five-day week. The results will surprise you. People will be happier and more will get done.
Phase 4: Offer an option to work from home full time
Reward those who’ve shown that they can be more productive from home with the option to do it full time. (If you can’t trust any of your staff to do that, why the hell did you hire them in the first place?) And, whatever you do, don’t cut their pay.
Be bold. Be successful. Be
respected. Optimize for happiness in your business today.
The solution for employees
Phase 1: Get people talking
Send people this magazine and show them this article. Make people aware that there’s a very real and obtainable alternative to the daily commute and 9-5 slog. When you go to phase 2, you want people to be aware of the options.
Phase 2: Push for a work from home day
Call a quick, informal meeting with your boss, set a short agenda with a simple goal (one work from home day a month, staggered across the company if needs be?), come out with some actionable results (like a calendar date for the first trial day, and the name of the person who’s responsible for spreading the word). Then follow-up in two weeks to make sure things are moving.
Phase 3: Prove you can be trusted
When given the chance to work from home for a day, for goodness’ sake, don’t screw it up. This is what you’ve been fighting for. Yes, it’s possible to work less and still get the same done (that was the whole point), but don’t piss this chance away. Prove you can be trusted.
Phase 4: Have a get out plan
I will warn you now. Being the one to suggest flexible working hours and championing the work-from-home lifestyle could backfire. It takes a brave heart and a
keen mind to make it work, but it’s worth it. I recommend that you have a get-out plan. If your boss proves too stubborn to be flexible, or your colleagues misconstrue working smarter for slacking off, it helps to have a plan B elsewhere.
To avoid these kind of problems, I suggest two things: a) champion the work from home lifestyle for everyone (and not just yourself) and b) take Tim Ferriss’ advice — present home-working as a solution to the problem of low morale, high stress and dwindling productivity.
Exceptions to the rule
Naturally, remote working isn’t for everyone. And it’s not for every business, if only because a three-course candlelit dinner with wine isn’t as satisfying once it’s been through your fax machine, and brain surgery isn’t much fun when you’re forced to self-operate from instructions sent by email.
The difference between an exception and an excuse is simple: deep down, you always know when you’re lying to yourself. If you think of yourself as an exception just because it’s easier not to take action, perhaps it’s time to fight to make a positive change in your life or company.
Take action today!
The future is yesterday, folks. The cruise ship to a happier, smarter working life is already sailing for tens of market-leading companies filled with the smiling faces of people who love their jobs. Why not jump on board?
About
Nick Cernis
Nick Cernis is a writer and web developer from the UK with a passion for paper productivity. He
writes at „Put Things Off ”.
Visit Nicks’s blog – „Put Things Off” Visit this article’s online version
emotions—turns out that just going through the motion of happiness brightens your mood. And if you’re smiling, other people will perceive you as being friendlier and more approachable.
Some people worry that wanting to be happier is a selfish goal. To the contrary. Studies show that happier people are more sociable, likeable, healthy, and productive—and they’re more inclined to help other people. So in working to boost your own happiness, you’re benefiting others as well.
Feel happier yet?
Gretchen Rubin
Seven tips for making yourself
happier in the next hour
1
Boost your energy: stand up andpace while you talk on the phone or, even better, take a brisk ten-minute walk outside. Research shows that when people move faster, their metabolism speeds up, and the activity and sunlight are good for your focus, your mood, and the retention of information. Plus, because of “emotional contagion,” if you act energetic, you’ll help the people around you feel energetic, too.
2
Reach out to friends: make a lunchdate or send an email to a friend you haven’t seen in a while. Having warm, close bonds with other people is one of the keys to happiness, so take the time to stay in touch. Somewhat surprisingly, it turns out that socializing boosts the moods not only of extroverts, but also of introverts.
3
Rid yourself of a nagging task: answera difficult email, purchase something you need, or call to make that dentist’s appointment. Crossing an irksome chore off your to-do list will give you a big rush of energy and cheer, and you’ll be surprised that you procrastinated for so long.
4
Create a calmer environment: clearsome physical and mental space around your desk by sorting papers, pitching junk, stowing supplies, sending out quick responses, filing, or even just making your piles neater. A large stack of little tasks can feel overwhelming, but often just a few minutes of work can make
a sizeable dent. Try to get in the habit of using the “one minute rule”—i.e., never postpone any task that can be completed in less than one minute. An uncluttered environment will contribute to a more serene mood.
5
Lay the groundwork for some future fun: order a book you’ve been wantingto read (not something you think you
should read) or plan a weekend excursion
to a museum, hiking trail, sporting event, gardening store, movie theater—whatever sounds like fun. Studies show that having fun on a regular basis is a pillar of happiness, and anticipation is an important part of that pleasure. Try to involve friends or family, as well; people enjoy almost all activities more when they’re with other people than when they’re alone.
6
Do a good deed: make an emailintroduction of two people who could help each other, or set up a blind date, or shoot someone a piece of useful information or gratifying praise. Do good, feel good—this really works. Also, although we often believe that we act because of the way we feel, in fact, we often feel because of the way we act. When you act in a friendly way, you’ll strengthen your feelings of friendliness for other people.
7
Act happy: put a smile on your faceright now, and keep smiling. Research shows that even an artificially induced smile has a positive influence on your
You can make yourself happier – and this doesn’t have to be a long-term ambition. You can
start right now. In the next hour, check off as many of the following items as possible. Each
of these accomplishments will lift your mood, as will the mere fact that you’ve tackled and
achieved some concrete goals.
About
Gretchen Rubin
Gretchen Rubin started out as a lawyer. At Yale Law School, was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. She had a great experience
in law, but realized that what she really wanted to do was to write. Since making the switch, she’s published four books. She’s currently working on The Happiness Project which will hit the shelves in late 2009.
Visit Gretchen’s blog – „The Happiness Project”
Visit this article’s online version
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Treat yourself and move on
Rationalizing and being proactive will help you to smooth out the whole unpleasantness but if it fixed your entire day you wouldn’t be having one of those days in the first place. Take lessons from the experience and try and get through the rest of the day. Treat yourself by going for retail therapy, having a nice meal or watching a film, if it helps. Then get to sleep. You will almost certainly feel much better the next day.
Don’t live in a bubble
A boxer will never be successful if he just runs around the ring avoiding his opponent’s blows. Likewise you will never get anywhere if you are not willing to take the knocks and blows that life will all to readily dish out. You may feel like hiding in your shell when the day turns against you, but resist that urge, it’s not an habit you want to slip into. Shake it off and get back in the fight.
James Mallinson
Having One Of Those Days?
Here’s How To Deal With It
M
aybe you feel everybody is on your back or your computer is constantly breaking down when you need to finish a report. Perhaps all your current work isn’t satisfactory, the deadline is getting closer and you just can’t seem to get focused. Without really thinking about it we put it all down to fate or being unlucky and then we typically end up feeling sorry for ourselves. That can then spiral and affect the rest of our day. However, it need not be this way.Take a breather
Get away from it all. Disconnect the phone, turn off the computer. Heck, lock yourself in a cupboard if you can’t get away from work. Give yourself a chance to clear your head and gain some perspective. You can’t get hold of your day if you don’t give yourself a chance to regain control. One or two unfortunate events will affect your mood which can ultimately cause things to spiral if you don’t take a step back
Work out what the problem is
What makes you think you are having one of those days? Was it the moody customer who shouted at you? Have you been inundated with work because two of your staff are off sick? Having one of those days will put you in a bad mood. It’s important to know exactly what the cause is so you can do something about it.
Shit happens…
There is a logical, rational reason for everything. You might not directly cause it but it’s there all the same. If a customer gives you a hard time because another department didn’t do its job properly, that’s unfortunate. But these things do happen. If you’re dwelling on it while hiding in the cupboard, tell yourself you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
…but could I have done something about it?
Things happen that ruin our day which are out of our control, but there also things that, in hindsight, we could have influenced or can yet gain some control over. Could you perhaps have dealt with the rude customer a little better? Can you defer or delegate the workload till the absent staff return? Take the lessons from the experience now so it doesn’t mess up another day in the future.
We all have one of those days from time to time. But what do we mean when we say that?
Typically one or more bad things happen that put you in an unhappy mood. Here is a handy
guide to getting your day back on track.
Take the lessons from
the experience now
so it doesn’t mess
up another day in the
future.
About
James Mallinson
James Mallinson comes from the UK and is an aspiring author. He started Organize IT nearly two years ago after he began dabbling in productivity, and wanted to share his tips and experience.
Visit James’s blog – „Organize-IT”
Visit this article’s online version
