Refreshing from last week's discussion, let's revisit crafting an enhanced productivity system. This system aims to help us efficiently tackle our daily meaningful tasks, alleviating the mental burden of remembering them all. Traditionally, we're taught that our brains serve as a place for information storage, yet consider how much you recall about today before reading this article—it's likely not much. Our brain's core purpose is sustaining the body through survival instincts and creative endeavors.
System One: The Padawan
Luke Skywalker: (Just able to organize your daily life one task at a time)
Just able to get by through daily organization. They mostly think in the short-term daily or weekly planner. Thinking that this task must be completed on a particular day at a specific time. They are treating each task as their own.
Here are some tips and tricks that may help you along your journey through the padawan stage.
1. Calendar ( physical or digital)
So many people don't track their lives on a calendar in order to understand what they will do tomorrow or even later today. Many people say they will remember the information, but there is a high probability that they will not remember what they were supposed to remember/do an hour later.
For example, a friend invites you to a birthday party two weeks from now, and you say you will remember it when the time comes. Two weeks later, your friend texts you if you are coming to the birthday party, and now you are scrambling to find a gift since you just remembered about the event the last second your friend reminded you. So it is better to take those extra five seconds and write down the event on a physical or digital calendar so you are not forced to remember it when the time arrives. If you don't have a calendar, get a piece of paper or your phone under the "notes' app to help you release that information into something visual.
A physical one is always good because you actively write down what needs to be done. But you can't always bring a physical calendar everywhere, so let's look into a digital calendar.
Some Pros and Cons of having a physical calendar are:
Tangibility and Visibility:
Pros: Physical calendars are tangible and offer a visual presence, making it easy to see your schedule at a glance.
Cons: They can be bulky and less portable than digital alternatives.
No Dependence on Technology:
Pros: A physical calendar doesn't rely on technology, avoiding the risk of technical glitches, battery issues, or data loss.
Cons: Limited in terms of reminders and integration with other digital tools
.
Customization and Personalization:
Pros: You can personalize physical calendars with stickers, notes, and other creative elements, making them uniquely yours.
Cons: Changes and modifications may require manual adjustments.
-Apple Calendar is good, as well as Google Calendar. Or other third-party calendars.
Some Pros and Cons of a Digital Calendar are:
Accessibility:
Pros: Digital calendars are accessible from various devices, enabling you to check and update your schedule anytime, anywhere.
Cons: Requires a device with a compatible app or internet access.
Real-time Updates and Notifications:
Pros: Digital calendars provide real-time updates and notifications for events, reminders, and changes.
Cons: Notifications can be distracting and may contribute to information overload.
Integration with Other Tools:
Pros: Digital calendars can integrate with other productivity tools, making it easier to coordinate tasks, emails, and collaborative efforts.
Cons: Learning curve for integrating and managing multiple tools.
If something is outside the calendar, then it is optional. If it were necessary, then it would be on your calendar. But it also keeps you organized in that if a friend asks you to do something on a particular day, you just need to look at your calendar and say yes or no to the availability.
The goal of a calendar is to help you remember stuff you need to do and intentionally block out pieces of the day for things you want to do. You can block time for anything that you want to do.
Finally, you can use automatic scheduling apps to help you set up your schedule. Here are some for your convenience.
(Calendy)
Calendly is an online availability and booking application designed for scheduling meetings, appointments, and events for both individuals and organizations.
( Tidycal)
A scheduling app that makes it easy to manage your calendar and get more bookings for any meeting.
(SavvyCal)
2. E-mail
Email Management (Most of us use Gmail.) Some people could use Apple Mail as a secondary source.
Email Hack: One-Touch to Inbox Zero
The method behind this theory is that you should touch your inbox only once for every Email. For example, if your Email relates something to a time-scheduling event, it should be placed in your calendar and archived Email. If it is something long, such as a business plan description, move it to your notetaking apps, Evernote or Notability( Find one). Finally, if it is an article or blog post you would like to read but not right now, put it into an app called (Instapaper).
(EverNote):
This software facilitates notetaking, enabling you to generate and arrange digital notes, ensuring synchronization across all devices. It functions as a digital filing system, allowing you to organize a variety of notes, whether they pertain to recipes, work-related strategic plans, or your daily diary.
(Notability):
Notability empowers every student to capture impactful notes. While note-taking serves as a method for students to record crucial information, not all students derive equal benefits from this process. Notability acknowledges students' diverse learning needs and preferences regarding notetaking.
(Instapaper):
Instapaper offers the easiest method to save and archive articles for reading, whether offline, on-the-go, anytime, or anywhere all in a perfectly formatted manner. The macOS version of Instapaper enhances the reading experience with an optimized text view, ensuring a clean and uncluttered presentation of internet content.
The First thing to do while going through your Email is unsubscribe to a lot of the content that is irrelevant to your daily life. It may take time, so I recommend taking at least 20 minutes daily to review your Email and sort out all the unnecessary content.
One way of doing this is by creating a smart filter that searches for the word unsubscribe, allowing yourself to check through each Email rather than just searching through each Email. Additionally, if it has the option to unsubscribe, it is probably unimportant so we can archive it. ( Skip the inbox) or delete it automatically, allowing free space.
Another option would be putting your emails into specified folders to allow yourself a type of organization so that only some emails that go into your inbox would be placed in one area. Smaller chunks are much more manageable than simply putting everything together because you will feel overwhelmed quickly.
The next thing is that if you have multiple emails, try to condense all those emails into one or two emails. This will allow you to see all the emails together in one place rather than searching for one Email you may have missed.
3) A To-do List
A Quote by David Allen,
“Our Brain was designed for having ideas, not for holding them.”
This allows you to physically see the tasks that need to be accomplished, whether physical or digital, all in front of you. Either way works best for you. I like to physically write down my to-do list on my whiteboard because it is close to me, allowing me to visualize the tasks that I need to accomplish and will enable me to erase the assignment when it is completed.
Side Note for Ali Abdaal Notebook
MY MOST IMPORTANT TASK:
1) What is the SINGLE the most essential thing I need to accomplish today?
MIGHT- DO LIST:
2) Everything else that I will try to accomplish (or not today) is saved for tomorrow. It takes a little off the pressure simply by writing it down.
One of the easiest ways on Google Calendar, for example, is to create tasks and, in the description, write down as much detail as possible to know how to do them.
A tremendous third-party app is (Todoist). If a task happens to pop into your mind, you don't have to use your brain to remember that information. You will probably forget it in five minutes. Just open up the todoist app and write down whatever the task is.
Now, you will get to those tasks at some point, but the most essential thing is visualizing the task. Now, if your to-do list only covers 90% of your activities and not 100%, we will encounter some problems. Let me explain. The point of the to-do list is that you do not have to remember things. That other 10% that is in your brain, you will ultimately forget what that 10% was all about. I would become stressed, wondering what that extra 10% was all about, and forget about the other 90%. So now we would be going down through the snowball effect, not accomplishing anything because of not having a structured system.
Todoist is a popular task management application designed to help users organize and prioritize their tasks. It allows users to create to-do lists, set due dates, add labels and priorities, and collaborate with others on shared tasks. The app aims to enhance productivity and efficiency by providing a simple and intuitive platform for managing daily tasks and projects.
4) File Management
Google Drive ( cloud-based storage): Need to find a file or something happened to your computer. Your literal life is on your computer, so metaphorically and in actuality.
A general management system will allow you to have all the files and papers you need all in one place, digital or physical. Google Drive will enable you to divide the subjects to your needs, such as a file for birthday parties and another for business Excel sheets. The list is endless, allowing you to ease the stress of trying to look endlessly for everything.
(Google Drive):
Google Drive, a complimentary service from Google, enables you to store filesbin the cloud and retrieve them from any location. Additionally, it provides access to free web-based applications for crafting documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and various other functionalities.
The good thing is that you can put files into files, allowing more room for specificity with each layer to add to that original file. One positive thing about your files being in the Google or Apple cloud is that if something ever happens to your phone or laptop, your information is still secure, and you can get that information back with ease once your equipment is restored. This level aims to reduce the number of tasks you assign your brain so you are not always stressed.
In our journey to enhance productivity, next week promises a deep dive into System Two, The Jedi Knight. Join us as we unravel the secrets and strategies that will pave the way for a productivity force to be reckoned with, one that even Master Yoda might nod approvingly at. Get ready to embark on a path of transformative productivity, unlocking the wisdom that will shape a more efficient and powerful system for success.
Keywords: System One Padawan You Inc.
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