Comments on: Ask the Readers: What Productivity-Related Problems Do You Have?

By: Donald Latumahina

Donald Latumahina — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:36:22 +0000

MyPOV,

Items that “slip” by are those that only have consequences to me - exercise, photo organization (huge).

In such cases I think the first thing we should do is to try to eliminate those tasks. Are they essential? Often the things we put off are actually not essential. But if they are, I agree with you, we should schedule them into manageable bits. Just set aside a small amount of time regularly to do them.

By: Learn to Say No And Reserve Your Mental Energy | Life Optimizer

Learn to Say No And Reserve Your Mental Energy | Life Optimizer — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:20:05 +0000

[...] wrote this comment on my post Ask the Readers: What Productivity-Related Problem Do You Have? [...]

By: MyPOV

MyPOV — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:33:34 +0000

I have no problems with completing all tasks or projects related to work, finance, household, kids. Items that “slip” by are those that only have consequences to me - exercise, photo organization (huge). Obviously, the ignored tasks/projects need to be scheduled into manageable bits each day or two. But, other interests take priority when it is time to perform. I’m not especially keen on making myself accountable to someone else on personal matters, either.

By: Donald Latumahina

Donald Latumahina — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 09:49:04 +0000

Martin,
Yes, that’s a sad reality we must accept and you’ve given us clear examples.
I think that’s why many productive people rise early or work late in the evening. They need time of solitude where they can achieve maximum performance and often such time is only available at early morning or late evening.

Kashmira,
The first problem you mentioned looks similar to Martin’s. As someone who loves reading, this is also something I should constantly remind myself of.
The second problem can be solved when we work in the flow state, but achieving it requires practice (and I’m still practicing). I’m now reading a book that has some good tips on it. I plan to write a review of the book this month.

By: Kashmira

Kashmira — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:58:24 +0000

I have the classic problem of “thinking about being productive, but not putting it into action”. I spend a lot of time reading blogs about productivity and self-improvement, but that’s all I seem to do :(

Also, I get distracted very very easily. I cannot focus on one task for more than, say 10 minutes. I keep flipping between work and other “fun” things :(

By: Martin Wildam

Martin Wildam — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:20:43 +0000

I see commander’s problem as a real big challenge as most recommendations tell not to multitask. Unfortunately reality does not really allow single-tasking in a lot of cases, e.g.:
- If I do not take the phone I have to call back maybe then not finding the other person available and until I get in touch a lot more time passes and the cost of the phone call either goes on my company. So it is simply better to accept the phone interruption.
- in a lot of offices there are more people sitting in one room - in my case the room neither has a door so anybody else easily can come in. So disturbings cannot be avoided. And I either cannot place a traffic light on my desk. My boss expects me to be available for him - he is paying me. I either cannot leave office as I am expected to be available - we are not so many people that for everybody there is a substitution.
- Even if I manage to stay on one project for a day, project priorities often change very fasten. I am told to learn APIs from product A and then suddenly gets obsolete and I should focus on product or project B. - I imagine others experiencing similar.
…just to give a few examples.

By: Donald Latumahina

Donald Latumahina — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:17:28 +0000

Thanks for sharing, everyone!

Brian,
I agree that using 80/20 principle is a good way to solve the kind of problem you have. In addition, I think it’s helpful to know what your strengths are. By knowing your strengths, you won’t waste time on things you can’t excel in. Here is an article about strengths: 12 Essential Lessons to Maximize Your Personal Strengths

Justin,
That’s a problem many people have and you’re right that not getting things done is important. I may write a post on it.

Commander,
Your situation is not easy to solve. GTD comes to mind but there’s still something missing. I need to think more about it.

Martin,
That’s an interesting optimization problem :) Often we are obsessed with improving our productivity techniques and tools that we forget to get our real job done. That’s a problem more and more people face and I’m no exception to it.

By: Martin Wildam

Martin Wildam — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:37:31 +0000

I have a similar issue as commander.
I want to improve productivity and I already did with the help of people and blogs like yours.

Unfortunately lately I do have to handle the optimization between optimizing productivity and actually being productive. ;-)

By: Commander

Commander — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:32:25 +0000

I am a software engineer and currently handling mutiple development pronect. I am also providing backend support to the customer support team in my company. The problem I have is how can we be better efficient while switching back and forth between multiple task simultaneously?
I ususally prioritize and schedule my work and do my work as priority but some times we need to take into account other people schedules also as they are also involved in the same project so I have to work on multiple items simultaneously.

By: Justin @ Palmer Web Marketing

Justin @ Palmer Web Marketing — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:27:46 +0000

I’ve found that not getting things done is sometimes almost as important and getting things done in productivity. when people request too much of me, I have a hard time telling them no without killing the relationship. Yet if I say yes to everything, I only hinder my productivity with work overload.