How I reduce stress and anxiety, get laser focused, organize my brain and get more done in one day than most people get done in a week….
This is my personal process for managing my time and getting stuff done. It’s a combination of the Pomodoro, Kanban and GTD techniques.
The tool that use to organize it all is Workflowy (krall.in/workflowy) It’s a free software that allows you to make an unlimited amount of embedded lists (sounds exciting, right? Bear with me…)
Here’s what I do:
1. I created a list called: Kanban (for those of you who don’t know what Kanban is, check it out online).
2. In that list I have 5 Items: ARCHIVE (Which contains everything in my head that needs to get out, including a Someday/Maybe list, Backlogged and Projects lists), NEXT ACTIONS (stuff that needs to get done), WAITING ON (stuff that I need to get done but I’m waiting on others to make progress), ACTIVE (stuff I’m currently working on & DONE (stuff that gets completed).
3. I put everything in my head into the ARCHIVE list, I’m talking EVERYTHING. I just dump it all out and clear out my head. I put to do items, goals, projects, ideas, everything.
4. I move the most important items into the NEXT ACTIONS LIST. This is the list of stuff that needs to get done.
5. Every day I move a few items into the ACTIVE list. Usually I’ll go through my NEXT ACTIONS list and find anything that will take me 2 minutes or less and put it in there first, then move 3-4 more items into my active list.
6. As stuff gets done, I move them into the DONE list. In the done list I have months and days listed out and I put the items that are done under the appropriate day.
7. I have a physical journal that I use to jot down notes and stuff throughout the day, but I move all of it over to Workflowy every couple of days.
I have a physical timer on my desk that I set for 25 minutes. I turn off all distractions (emails, phone, skype, Facebook) and I work on each task for 25 minutes straight (this is the Pomodoro technique).
I have another Kanban list that I use for organizing everything else in my life including books I want to read, restaurants I want to go to, date ideas, gift ideas, etc.
This process has helped me think clearer, get more done, be more focused, less anxious and I feel more productive at the end of the day. If you have a system that you love already, this may not be for you…but if you haven’t found something to keep you organized, productive and focused, this might work!
Check out the video below to see how it all works, and reach out if you have ideas for how to improve or questions about this method.
=> Video explaining how I set everything up:http://youtu.be/
=> Workflowy download : krall.in/workflowy
One step at a time,
Aaron Krall