To-do: Buy more post-its
I have a confession. I suffer from a slight case of ADHD.
In addition to that, I am scatterbrained to the umpteenth degree.
From the outside looking in, many people perceive me as a successful individual.
I run a financial planning practice; I run multiple websites; I have a huge family.
Oftentimes, people wonder how I pull it off – and to be quite frank, sometimes… I have no idea!
I am always looking for ways to increase productivity, and today I wanted to share four methods that have dramatically increased my productivity by 7000%.
How did I arrive at that number? I have no clue. It just sounded really cool for the article title. So, maybe it’s not 7000%, but I assure you, it is a lot!
1. Keep a Notepad and Pen With You at All Times
There is some statistic out there that claims that people are more likely to complete a task if they write it down than if they didn’t write it down at all. I couldn’t agree more with that – but the problem is, I am not a Type A personality like my wife. She keeps more lists and to-do lists than anyone else I’ve ever witnessed. I’m just horrible at it.
Recently, I started carrying around a notepad where I write down my HIGH FIVE™. My HIGH FIVE’S™ are the five most essential things that I need to do the next day. I write these five things down on a notepad and carry it with me everywhere I go.
Just forcing myself into this habit has had a dramatic impact on getting stuff done.
***You might be wondering why the ™ after HIGH FIVE? Just in case I want to trademark it, I’m starting early. Just remember where you saw it first. 
2. Use Tasks in Gmail
Gmail Tasks - Pure Awesomeness!
I have no idea how I stumbled upon this, but one day I was messing around on my Gmail account and I found “TASKS”. I felt like I was in heaven.
While the notepad has been extremely helpful, I must confess, in my ADHD-like behavior, I tend to misplace my notepad at some point during the day.
Having a to-do list that you can’t find doesn’t help you get stuff done!
By adding TASKS in my Gmail account, every time I go to check email, I see the tasks I need to get done. Since I’m like everyone else out there and check email several times a day, it is a constant daily reminder of what I need to get accomplished.
There is nothing more satisfying than checking the box when the item is done!
3. Use Reminders on Your iPhone
I have the iPhone 4 and recently updated the software to iOS 5. Whenever I did, I noticed a new icon named “Reminders”.
I didn’t pay much attention to it until one day, I started messing around. I was even more excited with this than when I discovered TASKS in Gmail.
Reminders allows you to do your HIGH FIVE™ list each and every day; and also put in reminders or alerts to remind you to get the task done.
Once it is completed, you have that awesome check box that gives you the satisfaction of accomplishment that’s needed when get something done!
What’s also cool is that the iPhone reminders system keeps an archive of what you’ve completed, so you can always go back to each day and see the tasks that you needed to get done.
If you want to get even more Ninja with it, you can add notes to the task in case there are any intricate details that you need to remember. I am fairly positive that Android has a similar feature on their phone, and I suggest you take advantage.
4. Use a Transcription Service
Writing with no typing necessary
This is the mother of all productivity tools for me, and of the 7000%, I can allot about 6900% from the use of a transcription service!
Mobile Assistant is the company that I use currently to transcribe blog posts, letters to clients, reminders that I want emailed to me, responses to emails when it is much easier to talk than type, and also for mailing out letters.
In fact, I am ‘writing’ this blog post by using my transcription service. How freaking cool is that?
This has literally saved me hours upon hours of writing blog articles, remembering important notes that, had I not had the service, I would never get a lot of this stuff done. If you are a blogger or a business that requires a lot of letters and client notes, I strongly suggest trying the free trial of Mobile Assistant.
What tools do you use to help increase productivity?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Great tips, Jeff! …and I thought I was the king of post-it notes….
@AverageJoeMoney Haha! Maybe not. You should see my desk!
Great post and suggestions, Jeff.
If you haven’t already, you might want to check out an email-based service called Nudgemail (http://www.nudgemail.com/). It’s free and simple to use – you don’t even have to register. Just star using it.
I use it to achieve (or get close to) inbox zero on an ongoing basis. You can forward emails to nudgemail and specify pretty much any time period (hours, days, weeks, months) and nudgemail will automatically send the email back to you at the time you requested. You can also use it by CC’ing or BCC’ing an email to a client to automatically schedule a reminder in the future to follow up on the email, etc.
Can’t tell you what a productivity enhancer this is. Followup.cc offers a similar service, but I’ve been using Nudgemail for about a year and am a very happy user.
When I started blogging last year, I carried around a notepad and pen everywhere I went, so I could jot down blog ideas and notes. Now I use the notepad on my iPhone/iPad instead, and use the built in calendar for reminders and appointments. For me the biggest productivity tip is having all that clutter out of my mind, and onto the “paper”. Of course I get way more done, and forget things a lot less, but it’s also more relaxing to not always be worrying about remembering everything.