On Productivity

What is the definition of "a good work day"? To some that may be getting into the office early, working late, killing yourself to get things done to get a promotion. To others it may be putting in the bare minimum, getting in at 9 and taking off right at 5. To me it has much less to do about the amount of time spent at work, and much more to do with the quality of the time. Jason Fried put it best in his book, Rework.

Workaholics aren't heroes. They don't save the day, they just use it up. The real hero is already home because she figured out a faster way to get things done.

Planning Your Day

You'll never be able to get anything done if you don't even know what you're doing. Having a plan is one of, if not the, most important part of being productive. If you have a plan you can force yourself to follow it, if you don't then you have nothing to keep you accountable to getting things done.

Start by writing down the things that need to be (and can be) accomplished in that day. Think big picture. Something like this.

1. Design Homepage
2. Design Subpage
3. Code Homepage
4. Code Subpage

That is obviously very basic, but you get the point. You only want to write down the big tasks, the most basic description of what needs to be done by the end of the day. If you get into writing down things like design button, code hover state, make repeatable background, etc. you're going to spend your whole day planning what to do instead of actually doing it. You should be competent enough in your field to understand that all of those things need to be accomplished for the accompanying "big task" to be completed. There's a fine balance between the two, and you're going to have to find out where that is for you, everyone's different.

Write Things Down (You won't remember)

Got a notebook? Good. If not, pick one up, they're cheap. I try to always keep a pen and notebook right next to my computer. Writing with pen and paper creates the least amount of friction to get your thoughts out. Nothing beats it. You can sketch out ideas, wireframe a module, write down a task list, the possibilities are endless.

This has helped me most for remembering small things such as numbers, times, notes from meetings. Things that in the moment you think you will be able to remember, the reality is you won't. Your short term memory will only be able to hold on to details like that for a few minutes. If you write it down quickly it'll be there until the ink fades away (never). It also removes the stress of trying to remember too many things, write it down and forget it. You can come back to it when you need it.

Acknowledge Your Distractions, Then Deal With Them

...little impromptu get-togethers may seem harmless, but they're actually corrosive to productivity. Interruption is not collaboration, it's just interruption. And when you're interrupted, you're not getting work done. - Jason Fried, Rework

You're not getting anything done if your being constantly distracted. Tweets flying in, instant messages popping up, emails (I get 3 audible notifications for every email I receive, all on different devices, all at different times), phone calls, text messages, and then there's the physical things around you. People talking, doors opening, and people walking over to you to ask you a question.

Before you can deal with these distractions you need to acknowledge them for what they are, distractions. You need to be aware of how much time you're actually spending on Twitter, checking Dribbble, reading email. When you're doing those things you're not getting any real work done.

Limit Yourself

Set aside times during the day to check Twitter, catch up on whats going on, etc. These things aren't bad, they just distract you from getting things done. They have their place, and its not for when you want to get work done.

Try setting aside a few 15 minute breaks in the day. This is your time to do with how you would like, without feeling guilty about it.

Check Things Off

You wrote down the big things to get done for the day right? Good. When you get it done, cross it off. Keep working through, one by one, until everything that you needed to get done for the day was done. Don't stop until everything you wanted to finish is completed. And when you're done with that, then you're done for the day. If it's 3pm, congratulations, you got done early. If it's 9pm, what could you have done differently? Did you spend too much time distracted? Did you have to many things that needed to get done? Adjust accordingly. If you got done early, add a few more things to your list so you can get more done the next day. If you didn't get done until late at night, take a few things off and see where that gets you.

Anyways, my allotted break time is over. Back to work.