Home Office Productivity

GooToDo – a remarkable To-Do list tool.

GooToDo – a remarkable To-Do list tool.

I don't often get terribly excited about new software or services.

But last night I retired my old To-Do list software and started using GooToDo.

It is a web-based tool and very simple. Just add tasks for the days when you plan to do them. Re-order them if need be. Mark them as completed when you're done.

Pretty ordinary, eh?

But it has one more feature that is simply remarkable.

You can forward emails to your To-Do list.

So if I receive an email from a client today, which relates to a project I am working on next Tuesday, I simply forward the email to that date.  How does that work? In my Outlook (or any other email service) I click the Forward button and address the email to tuesday@gootodo.com ...and send it.

Their server looks at the "from" field in the email, identifies my account and adds the email to the day or date specified. The email subject line becomes the name of the task.

Or let's say I get an email from a software company saying my subscription is going to expire in 90 days. Well, I don't want to pay them 90 days early. But nor do I want to forget. So I forward the email to a date about 85 days from now. I simply forward it to april10@gootodo.com and I'm done.

Pretty cool eh? It means you can clean up your inbox and forward items to the days and dates when you actually need to address them.

Maybe you'll receive a newsletter on Tuesday that relates to some personal interest of yours. No time on Tuesday to read it? Simply forward it to Saturday.

It's cool. And it's also a great way to manage your emails and increase your personal productivity.

Check it out. GooToDo.com

A good reason to keep your desk area tidy.

The first good reason, quoted by everyone, is that a tidy desk helps you find what you need in order to complete the tasks in hand.

A second reason given has something to do with "an organized desk equals an organized mind."

That second reason may be true, but it doesn't tell the whole story.

The thing about being surrounded by clutter and piles of papers is that it signals to your brain that there are a dozen other things to do.

While you are trying to focus on the job in hand, a part of your subconscious mind is devoting itself to every other incomplete task you have on your plate, both personal and business.

This is why dealing with the paper on your desk needs to be part of your productivity planning.

Once every piece of paper is in its proper place, your mind can relax and focus just on the task in hand.

Some of that paper needs to go into the trash. Some of it needs to be filed. Some needs to be out in your "to-do" tray.

It's only when everything is in its place that your mind can relax in the knowledge that it now need focus only on the job you are working on right now.

The power of breaking projects down into tasks.

As home office workers we have to be skilled in time management. For most of us, there is nobody else who is going to do that for us.

Time management is a huge topic and central to productivity.

One tool we use to manage our time is a daily To-Do list.

Daily To-Do lists can be a fine thing. But they can also work against us.

One key is to ensure that the tasks you add to your list really are tasks.

What do I mean? I mean that sometimes we add a task that isn't a task at all – it's a project.

And then we wonder why that "task" is carried over from one day's list to the next.

It never gets done, or even started on, simply because it is too big.

And the longer it stays on the list, the more discouraged we become by our inability to get the job completed.

The trick here is take that project off your list, break it down into bite-sized tasks, and then add the tasks to your daily list, one at a time.

Suddenly, the impossible has become doable.

And we feel a lot better about the progress we are making.

Save time by speaking instead of writing.

One of the things that slows me down is that I'm a two finger typist.

In a way this is ridiculous, because so far I've written over 500 articles, a business book and a 75,000 word copywriting course.

At some point, I should have learned to touch type.  But I didn't. 

To speed things up, I'm now experimenting with a program that allows me to speak, and then it simply transcribes my words into a Word document.

In fact, this post is my very first try of the software.  It's called Dragon Naturally Speaking. 

This document seems to be going okay so far. 

I don't know how well this would work for everyone else, but for myself, my writing style is very similar to my speaking style.  So I think it may turn out to be a pretty good fit.  And I imagine I'll be able to get a lot more done this way.  I'm thinking in particular of writing quick e-mails, writing out to-do lists and maybe even writing whole articles this way.

(Confession: This post didn't work out perfectly, so I had to do a little editing with my keyboard. But I think with a little practice, the need for editing will be minimal.)

Using Mind Mapping software to better visualize your plans and goals.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am getting started on writing a fairly long guide to improving one's home office productivity.

There will be about eight or nine chapters, each of which will have a number of different sections and sub-sections.

In the past, when planning the structure of a new book or course, I have used either pen and paper, or a Word document for this planning and structure stage.

Recently I changed that and started using Mind Mapping software. The one I use is MindJet, although there are plenty of other choices out there.

You may want to try one of them. It makes a big difference. It makes it easier to visualize and organize each project, and much easier to add and edit your entries.

I also use MindJet for planning and managing large consulting projects with my clients. I simply invest some time up front in typing up the various stages and tasks involved, and then check in daily to mark my progress and see what I have to tackle next.

Mind mapping is also great for managing group projects, so everyone can see who is responsible for what, and also track everyone's progress.

Here is my unfinished Mind Map for the Home Office Productivity guide. (I'll probably spend another few hours on the mind map before I get started on writing the first chapter. I know that the better I plan the entire guide now, the faster I'll be able to write it when I get started.)

 

My Resolutions for the New Year

This has to be a record for bad blogging practices – a full six months without a single post. My apologies. In my defence, I have been very busy on a number of projects. I know, that's not a very good defence.

It's time for me to make a resolution or two on this, the first day of the new year.

Here they are:

1. Starting today, I hereby commit to posting to this blog at least two or three times a week.

That shouldn't be too much of a struggle for me, as it dovetails nicely with my second resolution...

2. I'll dust off my notes and start writing my 30,000 word guide to working from home, and complete it by the end of May 2008.

I don't know whether it will be 30,000 words. Maybe more, maybe a little less. But I have that figure as a target. In other words, this won't be a "weekend e-book". It will be a substantial, useful guide, focused on home office productivity.

While I'm writing it, I will have plenty of material to blog about. And I'll also have plenty of questions. So if anyone is still checking in on this blog, I'll be grateful for feedback and suggestions.

That's it for today. And now you really can anticipate another post within the next day or two.

Happy New Year!