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Giving praise to my speedy friend Alfred
If you want to spend as little time as possible on performing routine-tasks and having as much time and energy as possible for your most important tasks, then allow me to introduce my new-found friend Alfred.
A most discrete launcher
Alfred is a little application launcher that is always operating in the background as I work on my computer. When I want to, Alfred starts programs for me, finds files and runs automatized scripts at lightening speed.
Has a cousin for Windows
When I used a Windows-computer (until March 2010), I greatly enjoyed the little program Launchy, but when I switched to using Mac there was no equivalent. But a few weeks ago I was reminded of Alfred, and since then I enjoy the fact that it is now much easier and quicker to work on my computer.
Launches, finds and does the job for you
Alfred finds documents and files significantly much faster than the built-in search-function Spotlight. The program also learns what documents I prefer and display these as the first search-results. I terminate all programs with a keyboard shortcut and just as easily start the programs and checklists I need to get going in the morning using another access key. I have downloaded templates of workflows from Alfred’s digital forum that will switch on and off the wifi, create new to-do-tasks no matter what program I am working in, and much more.
Alfred has saved me time, but more importantly it is wonderful that more of the small tasks I need to do during my workday now practically do themselves.
You will find Alfred (OS X) here and Launchy (Windows) here.
David Stiernholm is a consultant who creates good structure and efficient work procedures for organizations and their people.
You can get his book “Klart! – Bli superstrukturerad på 31 dagar” here.
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The Perfect Schedule
We often talk about the best ways to use our time in the goal of being more productive. We believe this will lead to a happier more balanced life, where time isn’t wasted on small distractions or worrying about the stress of deadlines. Once you’ve learned how to get the most out of your schedule, the next question should be, what are you going to do with all the extra time?
Researchers at University of Bremen in Germany and Georgia Tech have joined forces to build what they call is a “happiness optimized schedule.” Rather than looking for happiness cues based on people’s living conditions, they focussed on the time spent on things that make people happy.
While the one flaw of the study is the assumption that most people view work at a negative thing, pushing it to the bottom of the list, its no surprise that sex, hanging out with friends, and relaxing are at the top.
Check out the study for yourself, once you realize what the perfect schedule really looks like, you might start practicing more productivity techniques.
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26 Time Management Hacks
Sometimes starting new habits of time management can seem pretty daunting. The thought is, if you did things a certain way before, there must be a reason, right?
If you find yourself not sure where to start on the path to using your time more effectively, check out this cool slide show we found that gives 26 tips to help you on your way.
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Crowdsourcing Productivity Tips
Everyone has their own methods of staying focussed. As we’ve discussed before, one of our favorites is timeboxing – using Mutewatch’s timer to set intervals dedicated to a single task. However, timeboxing is only one method; there are many other ways to keep yourself focussed to get the most out of your time and your brainpower.
To get a look at some of the creative ways people manage their time, we turned to one of our favorite places to be distracted: Reddit.
Among the treasure trove of memes and funny videos, we found a subreddit dedicated to productivity tips. This forum features a variety of techniques and tricks to help you keep on task. Some are a little more practical than others, but they are definitely worth a try – we’re especially intrigued by the hammock technique.
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How Bluma Zeigarnik can help us focus
Petri dish painting by Klari Reis found here.
At the moment my mind keeps going to a certain Bluma Zeigarnik. You see, she was fascinated by the phenomenon “loose ends”. If there is something that easily gets to me, it is loose ends. Something isn’t finished properly, is still pending somehow, or someone has not been given clear directions on what responsibility they have in making something progress.
Like a fly buzzing against a window
These loose ends are left unfinished and lie nagging in the back of our mind. This results in difficulties to focus on the tasks we really want to focus on right now, since the loose ends are distracting us and keep making our minds wonder elsewhere.
Either finish it up or make a plan
The Russian woman Bluma Zeigarnik drew the same conclusion from her research in psychology at the University of Berlin in the 1930s. It is easier to remember (and more difficult to let go of) non-completed tasks, than the tasks we are done with. A positive finding from more recent research is that we do not have to complete the task entirely in order to let go of it mentally, making a plan of action outlining what we need to do next, and simply determining the next concrete step to take, will suffice.
Let it go easier
Therefore there is something very easy you can do to make your work-day flow smoother if you should feel bothered by too many loose ends. Make it clear to yourself what these loose ends are, for instance by writing each one of them down on a PostIt-note, and thereafter determine what the smallest next step you could take towards completing each one is. Add these next steps to your to-do-list as tasks and enjoy the great feeling of having done something about your bad conscience.
David Stiernholm is a consultant who creates good structure and efficient work procedures for organizations and their people.
You can get his book “Klart! – Bli superstrukturerad på 31 dagar” here.
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What’s In Your Portfolio Career?
Photo from Flickr User CalEvans
Part-time work has never been so profitable. More and more professionals are skipping the ubiquitous 9 to 5 jobs of previous generations in favor of a flexible career with multiple sources of income. This trend, which was recently highlighted in a LearnVest article, is being called a “portfolio career.” In the article they speak with a reporter/photographer/teacher Russ Juskalian, who explains how he finds the time to have three completely separate careers.
“My schedule varies dramatically from week to week, month to month,” he says. “Because I have so many competing things going on—writing, editing images, pitching, preparing for upcoming classes, grading student work—I tend to compartmentalize my time, so that I have a series of tasks that I must get done before moving on to the next ones.”
As Juskalian points out, finding time to do everything you want to do requires keen time management. We’ve discussed the benefits of time blocking many time on the blog for one reason — it works. Each day, we use our Mutewatches to set timers and reminders that help us know how long to work on a specific project, and when it’s time to move onto the next.
If you’re looking to take the step towards a portfolio career, try out the pomodoro technique and see for yourself how much more you can finish in a day.
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Watch your computer write what you think
Picture from but does it float.
My latest favourite tool for simplifying my workday does some of my writing for me. I can watch my computer write what I think and what needs to be written, but I do not want to write myself. I save time and energy and effort. And so can you.
If you haven’t already, download a text expansion tool now. I use TextExpander (OS X) and for Windows, there is i.e. Phrase Express.
All those phrases, descriptions, hard typed words, answers to recurring questions and sentences that we find ourselves typing over and over, we can enter into the text expansion tool. We attach an abbreviation to each text and as soon as we type the abbreviation, the tool changes that to the full text in question (while we watch and enjoy not having to type).
It is as easy as that. Unless you never type the same things twice, you should try it.
David Stiernholm is a consultant who creates good structure and efficient work procedures for organizations and their people.
You can get his book “Klart! – Bli superstrukturerad på 31 dagar” here.
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The Passing of Seasons
It’s the same story every year, for me and people around me.
Along with the end of Christmas, a few weeks into the new year, it dawns upon the Swede that even though the days might have become a bit longer it’s still awfully cold and the, once so bright, Christmas snow has gotten itself into an on again off again relationship with the underlying frozen dirty ground, leaving behind it an eyesore of a slushy mess.
Every year we ask ourselves, why? Why do we keep up with it, is it worth spending the better part of our lives living in cold trying to protect ourselves from the wet and the darkness?
When people in warmer climates say that they miss having real seasons, do they really know what they’re asking for?
Either way, the argument often ends with the conclusion being drawn that even though the thought of eternally warm and sunny weather, without the need to wear layers of protective clothing, may be nice, it’s still pretty great with all the benefits that home has to offer and when that first day of spring finally arrive it was all worth the wait!
Right?
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Different times
Black marble by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
One sort of time can be so different from another.
Just because we have plenty of time, this does not necessarily mean that we get done what we want or need to do. We might spend lots of time by the computer, but still find it difficult to make time for those important calls we need to make. We might have many “free” hours while driving, but still have to work late at night to send that e-mail that needs to be sent today.
I am in the process of reflecting on if there is balance between all the different sorts of time I have in my life. Do I have enough time in privacy when I can make my phone-calls? Do I have enough time without distractions by the computer? Am I close to a printer often enough? Would I need to have more lunches and coffee-breaks with interesting people when we can reflect and brainstorm just the two of us?
I am finding that I have too little of the two last types of time mentioned. I want more of them next year.
How is your time spent?
David Stiernholm is a consultant who creates good structure and efficient work procedures for organizations and their people.
You can get his book “Klart! – Bli superstrukturerad på 31 dagar” here.
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Was life more quiet in the old days?
The site of Thoreau’s cabin marked by a cairn in 1908.
When I speak to people about structure, they sometimes say “Isn’t it so that there is more of everything nowadays; especially since you are expected to be available at all times?”. From time to time even I refer to studies that show how we for example are exposed to more distractions in our everyday lives.
But, how was life in the past? Was it better? Did people live quieter lives?
I wonder.
Right now I am reading Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden”, a tale somewhat critical of civilization about the two years the author spent in the woods, written in 1845. Amongst other things he writes: “Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life? We are determined to be starved before we are hungry. Men say that a stitch in time saves nine, and so they take a thousand stitches today to save nine tomorrow. … Hardly a man takes a half-hour’s nap after dinner, but when he wakes he holds up his head and asks, ‘What’s the news?’ as if the rest of mankind had stood his sentinels.”
Before the summer I received an e-mail from Stefan Ekström who had come across a copy of the Swedish war-time magazine “Allt” (“Everything”, in English; a very non-presumptuous name, wouldn’t you say?). In number 3 from 1945 an article on the topic “Increase your work capacity!” can be found. Amongst other things it includes the following excerpts:
-“Even if the work capacity is by nature subject to some variations, a substantial number of people can, if they analyze their own abilities, find that they without significant effort can increase their work capacity and efficiency considerably.”
- “You can make better use of your time if you really want and make the effort to do so.”
- “No matter what you are doing, concentrate only on this! Let nothing irrelevant distract you. Doing this, both rest and work will be efficient.”
- “Do not scatter yourself or your attention! It will only decrease your capacity. Remember that your work capacity will only be optimal if it is directed towards completing a single task on which you focus.”
So, at least both these writers felt that people needed to hear what we today still are in equally great need of hearing.
But, presumably there were less e-mails and phone calls both in 1845 and 1945. How come they still experienced that their lives were stressful?
What do you think?
David Stiernholm is a consultant who creates good structure and efficient work procedures for organizations and their people.
You can get his book “Klart! – Bli superstrukturerad på 31 dagar” here.
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Authors
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Andrew Rozas
Latest post: More Great Press - FAQ Magazine
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Mai-Li Hammargren
Latest post: Mutewatch goes to Coachella
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David Stiernholm
Latest post: Giving praise to my speedy friend Alfred
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Oscar Ritzén Praglowski
Latest post: Mutewatch Social Media Show Off
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Malin Spjut
Latest post: Happy New Year!
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Johan Thelander
Latest post: Why some Watches stop charging
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