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A Simple and Dynamic Method for Consistent Productivity

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Re: A Simple and Dynamic Method for Consistent Productivity

#3
I like the method but for me personally as a young unexperienced person, the problem usually lies in evaluating whether a task is possible in a day.

I tend to be overly excited and thus think that I can finish something that takes a week in a day. Then when I give myself more time for something I finish it more quickly...

Re: A Simple and Dynamic Method for Consistent Productivity

#4
I find if I write down 5 tasks and cross them off one by one, I will gravitate to the short easy ones first for instant gratification.

Completing larger tasks gives a much deeper satisfaction yet despite a long time trying to teach my body/brain this, it still craves the easy path instant gratification.

So one thing I do is split up the big task into lots of small tasks so I can cross more off and get the gratification hits. This helps my brain prioritise those over other small tasks.

Re: A Simple and Dynamic Method for Consistent Productivity

#5
Interesting. This is similar to my current system. I've been using github "projects"# (a kind of kanban) with a column for "doing now" (shouldn't have more than one activity), a column for "next", column for "done" and so on. Like the author I add tasks for crappy things like "delete email".

#In a private repository, obviously.

Re: A Simple and Dynamic Method for Consistent Productivity

#6
I have been doing something similar this past year and it has really boosted my productivity. I start the day by writing down things I want/need to do that day. Generally things like 'fix test on failing pr', 'reply email from Dave', 'process feedback on design document'. As the day goes on the list grows, and I rarely finish everything. The next day I start by copying undone items from the previous day. The key for me is to use pen and paper. I had tried various todo, time and project management apps, but it somehow always felt like a lot of overhead and I could never get it into my workflow. Pen and paper is so quick and easy to use, and there is something strangely satisfying about crossing an item off your list compared to dragging an item in trello/jira.

Re: A Simple and Dynamic Method for Consistent Productivity

#7

I like the method but for me personally as a young unexperienced person, the problem usually lies in evaluating whether a task is possible in a day. I tend to be overly excited and thus think that I can finish something that takes a week in a day. Then when I give myself more time for something I finish it more quickly...

Everyone started out like that, so don’t get discouraged.

The key is to excercise the estimation muscle.

Keep logs about your estimations and how long it actually took.

Then think through periodically what caused the big differences.

This way in the long run you’ll be able to precisely estimate tasks you’ve sort of already done in the past, and can estimate a reasonable low/high time range to finish tasks which you’ve never done before.

Re: A Simple and Dynamic Method for Consistent Productivity

#9
> 2. Only do one thing at a time, and log what I’m doing as I go.

Time tracking accomplishes something very similar. Its main benefit isn't necessarily the log that you're creating to review later but the fact that when you have a running timer labelled "doing x", it's much easier to focus just on x and nothing else.

Re: A Simple and Dynamic Method for Consistent Productivity

#10
post #6

I have been doing something similar this past year and it has really boosted my productivity. I start the day by writing down things I want/need to do that day. Generally things like 'fix test on failing pr', 'reply email from Dave', 'process feedback on design document'. As the day goes on the list grows, and I rarely finish everything. The next day I start by copying undone items from the previous day. The key for…

I prefer pen and paper because it is meditative. But markdown files in my text editor of choice is fast, easy, and simple. Both blow the doors off of Trello/Jira.
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