The Right Tool For The Job: 5 Things You Need For Your Personal Productivity System (TPS180)

Productivity can be very personal, but all good systems have a couple of things in common. In this episode, Brooks and Mike talk about 5 things you absolutely MUST have for an effective personal productivity system. They define what a personal productivity system is, talk about the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches, and walk you through the necessary pieces you need to make sure you stay on top of everything. They also give you some implementation tips to help you make sure the system you decide to use works for you so that you stick with it long enough to start realizing the benefit.

Cheat Sheet

• What it means to have a personal productivity system [1:38]
• The analog vs digital approaches to personal productivity systems [6:30]
• Why it might be beneficial to start with analog tools even if you’re a “digital native” [10:48]
• Tool #1: a calendar, and why everything you need to do must be done within the context of time [14:28]
• The criteria for deciding what gets added to your calendar [22:23]
• Tool #2 :a time tracker [31:16]
• Why time trackers help you figure out how you actually spend your time so that you can make changes to how you spend it [37:01]
• Tool #3: a contact manager [44:26]
• Tool #4: a note taker [51:00]
• Tool #5:  a task manager [59:32]3
• Why the weekly review is so important [1:02:06]
• Implementation tips for the 5 tools of your personal productivity system [1:08:48]
• Why the best solution is often the simplest one [1:16:05]

Links

• To Automate or not to Automate Your Personal Productivity System (Lifehack.org)
• Until You Have Productivity Skills, Productivity Tools Are Useless (Harvard Business Review)
• OmniFocus
• 2Do
• Things 3
• Todoist
• Trello
• Increasing Your Productivity By Using Analog Tools w/ Curtis McHale (TPS177)
• Thinking Time: the Counterintuitive Approach to Growth (TPS162)
• Fantastical
• Busycal
• Asian Efficiency 12 Week Calendar
• BestSelf journal
• Timing Mac app
• RescueTime
• Toggl
• Vitamin-R
• 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think
• BusyContacts
• Cardhop
• Field Notes notebooks
• Drafts iOS
• nvALT
• Evernote
• Leuchtturm1917 – Bullet journal
• Baron Fig – Confidant journal
• Scanbot

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If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show. You can also leave a review!