🥇 Badge of the Month: Productivity Tips/ June

Miša Hennin

Hey, badge collectors!

Welcome to June's Badge of the Month! As part of our Rewards Program, Badge of the Month gives you an easy way to connect with others and earn a new badge. Your answers don't have to be Meister-related, we'd just like to hear from you 😃.

Want to know the rules? Check out this post.

Already know the rules? Read on to find out what this month is all about!

Badge of the Month: June 2023

At Meister, productivity is our heart and soul ❤️🤗. That's why we're particularly excited to discuss this month's badge! June 20th is world productivity day - A day devoted to considering our existing productivity practices and seeing where improvements are due 👀. I'm sure you can guess where this is going 😃...

...For this month's badge, please help me in creating a comprehensive list of tried and tested productivity tips and tricks. Together, we will make a resource we can revisit time and time again 💪. So, how do you ensure productivity? Maybe you have a focus mode extension, silence your phone, or utilize the Pomodoro Technique. Whatever it may be, share your ideas below in exchange for a badge!

Best,

Miša

Joerg Koper

Hi Miša,

that's a nice badge of the month 😊

• One of my favourite methods to ensure productivity is deep work. In this English and in this German article, the method is explained very well. Silencing all devices is of course very helpful, but In my opinion, it is very important to learn, how to stay focused when any devices make a noise too. And that's ensured through consistency and the weaning from annoying triggers.
  
• To stay organized as good as possible, it's a very good option to make use of the checklists in MeisterTask. What I love about it is, to be able to delegate single checklist items to others directly in the projects themselves. That enables me to stay focused on my work…and I don't need external fee-based tools. I'm also looking forward to the implementation of the new subtask feature in MeisterTask 😎
  
• Sometimes I love the complete opposite way of work in totally silence…and virtually visit a French Café, listen to a piano, to birds and the distant chatter of people. I also love meditative rain sounds while a cosy fire is virtually crackling. Drinking a coffee in this virtual surroundings while I'm working on the code of our websites, writing on articles or new concepts can be a nice way of deep, or let's say "meditative" work too. One of the many websites for virtual sound-surroundings is hipstersound.
  
• The best, free tool for improved concentration and, as a result, also for better productivity is our breathing. This may sound strange, but to breathe right is one of the most powerful benefits for a good life-balance. We do always have the right tool at hand to come down in stressful moments and to get into a concentrated state of mind…and this simply by breathing in and out correctly. The author James Nestor wrote a very nice book about breath. Absolutely recommended.

Best, Jörg

Rooster McNugget

Hi @Miša Hennin

The idea for this badge is great. So I can definitely take some tips and tricks from the other users.

Since I often to have a few different tasks on the table, I also like to use the two-minute rule (by David Allen from the book "Getting Things Done"), in addition to the deep work method already mentioned by Joerg.

The rule is that anything that can be done in two minutes or less gets done immediately. Even if the task is not the most important. If the task is not important at the moment, it should be deleted. The tasks also do not need an entry in the to-do list, because by the time you have entered them, they would already be done.

Then (and this is the biggest challenge for me…) I don't always try to do everything myself and actually hand over tasks that are easy to delegate. Not because I don't want to do them, but because I usually don't have the time to complete the tasks on time. And the employees can do it just as good as i can. 😉

Best,
Samuel

Cathy Fanning

Hi @Misa

Love this subject on “productivity” for this months badge. So many areas of discussion and it’s certainly not a “one fit’s all” topic. Productivity means different things to different people.

On the professional / work related side, the way we work has changed so much over the last couple of years. Many companies have had to re-think productivity not only for their employees but also for their business structure. You could almost say that the work force went through a massive shake up and consequently a re-structure.

Whether we are using task or project management tools to help us structure our day, the basic rules still apply. Plan, apply and then review. To get and stay productive everyone needs to start somewhere and work out what works best for them.

As a big picture person and sometimes a bit of procrastinator, the “getting going” is perhaps the hardest part of the productivity puzzle. If it’s a project, I envisage the end result or product and work backwards in stages. Once I can see the big picture and how it all fits together I’m ready to go. No special secrets or methods, I’ve just found that this work best for me and keeps me in a productive and motivated zone.

Turning off outside distractions is always a good way to start. i.e. phones, computer notifications, noise cancelling headphones, etc. Setting a timer so your focus is razor sharp and uninterrupted always works well. You get that "aha" moment of satisfaction when you've completed a big chunk of work.

Define your productivity and what gets you in the zone.

Cheers

Cathy

Andrew Lapidus

Wow, super thrilled not only with this badge of the month subject, but also with the excellent suggestions so far!

I can only raise my hands and agree with Jörg's point about the necessity of deep work — it's a topic we're taking very seriously internally at Meister these days (Some may remember @Liis Monson's thoughts during her AMA!) We've implemented a completely meeting-free Wednesday, and some other have extended this to other days of the week. There are a ton of great apps to help you enter a deep-work state, but I've had great luck with the most recent update to iOS. I've set up certain "focus mode" states based on the current time and my location.

The two-minute rule is also one of those tips that remain relevant forever, @Rooster McNugget, especially when going through e-mails 😅 I find it helpful to remind myself that no matter how well you've built up an organizational system, certain tasks will simply just need the "get it done" approach. Sometimes planning, delegating or scheduling will only overcomplicate the matter. Also related to the "Eat the Frog" approach @Cathy Fanning once mentioned!

Andrew Lapidus

As a fellow "big picture" person who often sees only a forest and no trees, I totally agree, Cathy! Working backwards is a great way to avoid the curse of the blank page.

Richard Vitaris

My top two tips are using templates and checklists.

I am a big believer in building a library of templates. It doesn't matter which productivity to use to store them. What is important is that you never waste time "reinventing the wheel." Any time I write something which I think I might use again, I say that and come up with a system to easily find it. With some tools that may mean creating a tag. Or it could mean creating a hyperlink and putting that link in an alphabetical index. How you do it doesn't really matter. What matters is you never waste time rewriting.

Joerg previously mentioned checklists. I love them. I think one of the best productivity books ever written is The Checklist Manifesto by Dr. Atul Gawande. Dr. Gawande explains how he recommended that a hospital use checklists during surgical procedures resulting in a significant reduction in medical malpractice. Why? Because people make mistakes when they rely on rote memory alone. It doesn’t matter how smart you are or well educated. You can’t remember everything, particularly when under time pressure. It's why pilots use checklists prior to takeoff and in emergencies. I have developed checklists for all kinds of things I do on a regular basis. And, in my case, I often use MindMeister to use a mind map as a checklist. For example, I use a mind map for a packing list whenever I travel. Whenever I neglect to use it, I forget something.

Joerg Koper

https://community.meister.co/discussion/comment/5408#Comment_5408

I absolutely agree with your argument, related to pilots checklists @Richard Vitaris. Regarding to your packing list, I prefer to make use of our predefined checklists in MeisterTask. We always use it for our larger Scotland tours and check every single item and step in it. Are you using the packing list mind map in combination with tasks in MeisterTask?

Best, Jörg

Richard Vitaris

Jörg,

The truth is that while I have experimented with MeisterTask's free version, I have never used it. Many years ago when I graduated from a Filofax to an electronic tool, I chose Evernote and have stayed with it. I improvised my own GTD system with Evernote which I used until Evernote developed tasks.

Evernote now has keen competition and while I have looked at other tools, I stayed with Evernote. Not because it is the necessarily the best but because it would have been much too much work to transfer years of notes into another system and I lack the computer skills to automate that process.

Since my retirement, I just use a dashboard mind map in MindMeister for keeping track of my todos using the method recommended by Liam Hughes in his Using MindMeister for Personal Productivity webinar. A lifetime's worth of my notes remain in Evernote. That said, if I were starting over, I love Meister's suite of products, particularly with how MindMeister and Meistertask can be integrated. They are fantastic products.

Best wishes,

Rich

Miša Hennin

Thank you all for this brilliant discussion + thread.

This morning, Meister hosted an internal productivity tips meeting 😀. I thought it'd be an excellent idea to share a summary of these tips from our very own experts here:

 Google Suite:

• Tab groups in Google Chrome can help you better browse and streamline your workflow.
• Make Google calendars public (with due consideration for privacy) to improve collaboration and coordination.
• Add Google Drive to Finder in macOS to access it as though it’s just another drive on your computer.

Using ChatGPT:

• Use the power of prompts like "act as..." or "Please write ... with an example of...".
• Use ChatGPT to structure talks or generate initial ideas for agendas.
• Check out GitHub's ChatGPT prompts.

Music/Noise for Focus:

• Reduce noise levels during intensive work by working from home or using noise-cancelling headphones.
• Utilize different types of music to support various tasks:
  • Opt for higher BPM music for quick, productive tasks.
  • Choose slower-paced music, such as Ludovico Einaudi, to enhance concentration during creative work.

And finally, here is a podcast recommendation about how to be more productive.

Enjoy!

Emily

Hi @Miša Hennin, I'm going to keep things real simple - DELETE SOCIAL MEDIA!!!! Like most people, I am a slave to mindless scrolling but every few months I delete social media and am free! I feel the difference immediately + love it. I highly recommend others to take the plunge and experience the difference in productivity (and happiness!)

Cathy Fanning

Hi @Emily Excellent suggestion!