The Biggest Challenges in My Productivity and How I’m Taming the Task Beast
Ever felt a burning need to finish everything on your to-do list before you can even think about sleeping? Feel like you’re trying to do a million things at once and not quite nailing any of them? If that sounds like you, welcome to the club! Let me share my own funny (and a bit bumpy) journey through the wild world of productivity.
Getting to Grips with GTD:
Once, my life was a whirlwind of making stuff, working on projects with buddies, trying to read every book in the world, and loads of other stuff. My brain was like a wild monkey, flipping between different task apps, Trello boards, and an endless list of jobs. But then, I found ‘Getting Things Done’ (GTD) and set it up in Notion. Boom! Suddenly, my whirlwind was more like a gentle breeze. Every part of my busy brain had a place to put thoughts, reading lists, ideas, tasks, and notes. Instead of being tossed around on a sea of jobs to do, I was now at the helm, steering my own ship.
The Tricky Bit: Being Realistic:
With GTD in my toolbelt, I was ready to take on the world! That was until I hit a sneaky snag — being realistic about what I could do. Turns out, I’d been trying to cram more into my day than there were hours to do them.
The fix? Dropping some ‘nice-to-dos’ to make room for the ‘must-dos.’ Using a simple calendar, I started to get a handle on how much time I actually had. Doing a monthly planning, and breaking it to weekly review gave me the clear idea on the time limit.
The Funny Side of Productivity Problems:
On this wacky road to being more productive, I’ve stumbled on three pretty funny roadblocks:
1. The ‘Always-Be-Productive’ Treadmill: This is like running on a hamster wheel. You’re going round and round, but not actually getting anywhere, usually ending up more tired than when you started.
2. The ‘Over-Packed Schedule’: Trying to squeeze more into my day, like I’m in some sort of ‘who can do the most stuff’ race. Spoiler: the prize is usually a heap of half-done jobs and a whole lot of stress with a huge frustration of “I can’t do anything properly”.
3. The ‘Oops-I-Missed-A-Deadline’ Guilt: That sinking feeling when a deadline zooms past. Instead of helping me get things done, this guilt usually just slows me down even more.
So, my journey to being more productive has been more of a wild ride than a smooth cruise. But it’s taught me that being productive isn’t about non-stop work, but finding a balance between getting things done and enjoying a bit of downtime. It is also about focusing on a smaller tasks and making them succeed rather than jumping to everything I can think of.
So, as I keep working on being more productive, with a big helping of humor and a never-give-up attitude, I know I’m getting closer to finding that sweet spot between getting stuff done and still having fun. Remember, being productive is more of a long, steady walk, not a mad dash. So, take it easy, strap in, and enjoy the ride!
Will update more in future blogs.