toppymoney

Its a bitch.

So. What do you do to manage your time? Calendar? Post it Notes? To do Lists? Whiteboards?

I ask because my new years resolution is to manage my time better and be more productive.

Discuss.

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LeFluffy

time is relative, therefor time management is relative and you can not manage that which does not exist

alcohol induced philosophy aside I just

1. pump myself up
2. do shit
3. profit?

Read ''The 33 Strategies of War''... thank me later

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Diplex

There was a big thread about time management a few weeks back, do a quick search.

EDIT: The Time Management Thread

Staccs

To do lists, Eat That Frog style. However, I'm beginning to find that I'm just getting things done and not wanting to make the lists anymore. I'm going to continue to force myself to make them.

If you haven't, check out Eat That Frog. Download the eBook, it's a light read and shouldn't take any more than a week of slow reading. I also got David Allen's Getting Things Done for Christmas, but I won't be reading it for a while.

And this.

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toppymoney

I was weary of the spinz. Thanks brah.

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jordanj77

Pomodoro

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toppymoney

Bet you bought this bad boy....



But seriously i'll have to give that try.

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wf_prospect

this should help...

1 goto google

2 type "time management hotfile rapidshare"

3 download guru productivity stuff for free!!!

4 watch the 10 dvd collection on how to stay focused on making monies

5 realize you just waisted 20 hours watching more guru BS instead of working and learned nothing useful

6 bang your head against the keyboard until your eyes bleed


...

ok some real advice..

visualize goals and success, write down your motivations to succeed. if you really want it bad enough you'll find a way, never make excuses.

RobinX

Chronic Procrastination is NOT a Time Management Problem!

If you give a procrastinator a new time management tool, he will just play with the new time management tool as a way to procrastinate. The problem is not a lack of time management skills - or not mainly a lack of time management skills. Procrastination is a form of addictive escapism that must be dealt with directly or there will be no recovery.

Recovery from procrastination (aka compulsive task avoidance) cannot be achieved by abstaining from your current favorite procrastination activity, because you'll just switch to something else (just as cutting out certain foods doesn't resolve compulsive eating problems). Recovery from procrastination means doing what you say you're going to do, when you say you're going to do it.

Chronic Procrastination is NOT a Time Management Problem! | Procrastinators Anonymous

RobinX

Tools for Recovery

• Break It Down: Break down projects into specific action steps; include preparation tasks in the breakdown.

• Visualization: Plan what to do, then imagine yourself doing it. The more specific and vivid your visualization, the better. See yourself doing the task, and doing it well.

• Ask Yourself Why: While you are visualizing doing the task, see if you can detect what it is about the task that feels odious to you, what uncomfortable feeling you are avoiding. Knowing what's behind the avoidance can help you get past it - for example, address real problems or ignore irrational fears.

• Focus on Long-Term Consequences: Procrastinators have a tendency to focus on short-term pleasure, and shut out awareness of long-term consequences. Remind yourself how panicked and awful you'll feel if the task isn't done, then imagine how good it will feel when the task is finished.

• Avoid Time Bingeing: One reason procrastinators dread starting is that once they start they don't let themselves stop. Plan to work on a task for a defined period of time, then set a timer. When the timer goes off, you're done.

• Use Small Blocks of Time: Procrastinators often have trouble doing tasks in incremental steps, and wait for big blocks of time that never come. When you have small blocks of time, use them to work on the task at hand.

• Avoid Perfectionism: Procrastinators have a tendency to spend more time on a task than it warrants, so tasks that should be quick to do take an agonizingly long time. Notice this tendency and stop yourself. Some things require completion, not perfection.

• Keep a Time Log: Increase your awareness of time by logging what you are doing throughout the day. This is a great diagnostic tool for discovering where your time went, and an excellent way to become better at estimating how long tasks take.

• Develop Routines: To help structure your day and make a habit of things you always need to do, develop routines for what you do when you wake up, regular tasks of your workday, and what you need to do before going to bed.

• Bookend Tasks and Time: Use the Bookending board on the P.A. Web site to check in throughout the day, or at the beginning or end of specific tasks you are dreading. Details are at the top of the Bookending board (www.procrastinators-anonymous.org).

Procrastinators Anonymous - Tools for Recovery

AdvExtreamer

i wrote my own software to track all my tasks/projects and keep track of time and so forth

but a big thing for me is scheduling "thinking" time, where it's just me and a paper notebook and a pen. no comp or any digital tools.

this can be akin to "planning" that some people do, but to me, thinking is the most critical point of it. this where is where i basically think through the project. visual how i want it to look at the end. what's involved. the main processes of the project, etc. and during this time, i'm writing/sketching/doodling out.

then i transfer all of my thinking into a project on my own software and off we go. been pretty successful so far.

another big thing that i've noticed, is that many times it's not "project management", but more "energy management", but that's another topic

toppymoney

THIS.

Thx for the tips.

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Dwight Schrute

Read Getting Things Done by David Allen. Time Management is a fallacy. You need to manage tasks effectively.

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veneficus

Awesome Post! this is exactly right, people keep looking for the perfect method to get them on track when it's more of a self destruction mentality of the person. I know I'm one of them. I'm thinking about a PA, too keep myself on track, but i'm going to try your above methods to see if i can fix myself.

P.S. How are you supposed to read time management books, if you can't ever make time to read them. -discuss

uplinked

You're not, that's the point. If you have to read a book on it, you fail. Just start doing stuff, really fast, right now no plans or strategies, there is no time, close wickedfire, just go do it all right now

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Dwight Schrute

Wake up an hour earlier, go to bed an hour later.
Take a dump? Read.
Standing in line somewhere? Read.

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LMSInc.

Dude, logged in just to +REP you for this!

I've never heard that term before, and holy FUCK is that me.

Off to google shit about it now instead of work... Oh wait...

Red_Virus

Write down you to-do's on a piece of paper (I do it and it has helped me). It does not get any simpler than this.

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Nick

SlimTimer - Time Tracking without the Timesheet (free) for logging time and keeping a to do list

AllanKing

Get a schedule management officer

siahhong2

Read "The 4 Hour Work Week" by Tim Ferriss...

rayson14

Just do what you can do and get atleast 5 hours sleep a day. That's my time management

lucas131

Check out Wake Up Productive by Eben Pagan. Definitely one of the best courses on productivity and time management. I use his ideas all the time like morning ritual and 50/50/30 rule. It REALLY WORKS!

mologic

Google calendar. Android phone. Scripts galore!

-Matt-

QFT. It really is this simple.

One more tip: start working early in the day. If you start your day off messing around, it'll be 10x harder to get yourself into work mode.

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onkelmicha

here we go eat the frog.
Eat That Frog – Do Your Most Important Tasks In The Morning

That website kicks ass in general as well if you want to learn how to get shit done.

Asian Efficiency – Time Management and Productivity


M

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Micko

Things app for todos/plans + notepad for notes/brainstorming works best for me.

fawkes

+1

Recently I've just been using the Pomodoro technique (google pomodairo, simple free software) and rotating through a list of tasks to keep things interesting. It works a lot better when I started setting measurable, completable goals.

Pranith

I do following.

1. Prepare check list
2. Allocate time accordingly.
3. Cutting down shit

tomaszjot

OMG, I'm a procrastinator! I didn't know until now. I knew something is wrong. I need help, seriously, I need help.

Navuud

Definitely just this.

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danej

procrastination is like masterbation, you only screw yourself

webetricky

I found this through their Pomodoro article:

focus booster - download focus booster now; try the pomodoro technique

Pretty cool, I'm trying it out.

CaronKincaid

Dave Allens book is really worth a read. Also try the first thing fire technique - spend the first hour of the day doing the single most important thing you have to do. And then do the rest.

Don't tell me you actually bought a Pomodoro?

Green Arrow DZN

I make a list daily and just work my way down it. I also have vbull set up as a client management forum too and create private client forums to manage everything. With some custom programming it has worked wonderful. I have used basecamp and a couple other organizational programs over the years as well.

Kiopa_Matt

I couldn't make a schedule if I wanted to, because new things come up literally every day that I have to devote my time to. I just work, hope people say "thank you" instead of "you stupid cunt!", then watch the money flow into the bank account, and live happily every after.

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eliquid

Isnt this b, tracey's method called Eat That Frog?

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Bofu2U

Also trying.

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eliquid

ive had focus booster for a couple months, its good shit

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taktikz

Post it notes. Whiteboard. Blackberry calendar notifications/alarms.
And I still have trouble getting shit done. Its just disipline and that takes time!

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BluAffiliate

Don't get too bogged up. Have at most 3 projects to work on. Fuck getting a real pomodoro just get the pomodoro app for your iphone. I set it to 40 minutes of Day of defeat source, 10 minutes to grab a snack or do some pull ups/push ups, and then 10 minutes of work. EVERY HOUR. That's 240 mins a day of pure work. and I guarantee I get more done and make more money than you with this simple trick.

EDIT: I just stayed up for 36 hours straight.

webetricky

Yeah I have really been liking it. I don't use it all day but when I have some really boring shit to do it helps create a sense of urgency and I definitely get a lot more done.

eliquid

Ive posted this before, but Ill do it here too. Here is how i try to manage my time:


Here is my breakdown:

1. GTD method - organize my desktop this way and also my tasks
2. 80/20 rule - Work on the things that make me money
3. Eat That Frog -Work on biggest task or one I hate first
4. Pomodoro - Give myself a set time to do the task, also give myself breaks
5. Time Boxing - Just get shit done, dont perfect it
6. Using Doit.IM as my manager for all this


So bascially I break shit down as listing all my tasks in Doit.IM in a GTD type of process.

I then go back through and highlight all the 80/20 shit that makes me money so that I focus entirely on making money activities.

Out of those projects, which ones do I hate the most or are the biggest Frogs for me? Those come first.

I then set my pomodoro for 25 minutes and timebox my way through the project, getting done what I can the best I can in that 25 minutes. Sometimes I need a 2nd pomodoro for the project, but thats OK cause pomodoro allows that.

Once I break through my Frog for the day, i hit all the other 80/20 shit until those are done and then start hitting my 20/80 shit in my Doit.IM list with again, pomodoro and timeboxing.

So everything I do is timeboxed within pomodoro and managed in Doit.IM ( unless i am on Mac, then I use Omnifocus or Things ). I always work my 80/20 shit first before my 20/80's or other non money making activites and out of those I also do the Frog first.

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mr doodles70

i like concentrate better than focus booster for pomodoros. my productivity 'setup' is concentrate + omnifocus. i'm trying to get in the habit of doing two hours of straight to-do planning before going to sleep every night.

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webetricky

This is great, +rep. Had to google a few things here but looks like a good process. Why doit.im over one of the (many) other similar tools?

Did anyone learn any of this stuff during high school? I never heard a word of this in school (maybe a little bit in college during organization classes but nothing nearly this practical) and frankly I think it is fucking ridiculous.

eliquid

I used it because for the most part at the time, I wanted something that was web based AND desktop based.

Everything else is either all desktop or all web, and this fit into both nicely. It was also very very easy to use.

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Fresh2Death

this

galacon

I'm really having a hard time getting my head around this...

One post n00b fucktard resurrects 3 month old thread and a bunch of veterans waste time answering the little cunt instead of tearing him/her/it a new asshole...

In a "Time Management" discussion thread, no less.

Hmmm...

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jorarulit

There are 4 basic types of people:

manifestor
generator
projector
and reflector.


First two, manifestor and generator have the actual energy and capacity to do things.
The different between manifestor and generator is that manifestor knows exactly why he's doing a certain thing while the generator just does shit. Manifestor has vision and is a go-getter, the other one needs to wait for an invitation and then figure out if it's the wrong or the right thing to do.

The majority of people on earth are generators, followed by manifestors and projectors. Reflectors are about 1% of total population.

The deal with projectors is that they can intuitively recognize the strengths of other people and build amazing teams, knowing exactly how to direct the people. However, projectors do not possess any energy of their own, so they need to get permission to use other people's energy, which comes naturally to them.

That's why this time management shit doesn't work for everyone, but only for certain types.

So if you're a no-energy type (reflector or projector) then managing your time and actually doing certain things from day to day will ultimately make you unhappy and bitter. It'll feel like you're fighting an uphill battle. (I'm a projector so I know)

You can figure out which type you are by going here -

Jovian Archive - so far, all my shit has been right on the spot and has helped me tremendously.


/voodoo shit

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AddisonDomains

I use a combination of my phone's calender and an actual datebook. Nothing like writing it down to help remember it. You also can't press the dismiss button on a datebook...which I do a lot with my calender on my Droid

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