Here’s a simple way to boost your productivity: Have a simple, small todo-list on a piece of paper.

It looks like this:

That’s my list for today. As you can see, most of the items are crossed out, of course meaning I completed the task, and one item is changed (from “Django” to “Javascript”).

I am not telling you to skip all your fancy tools for time management. Only partially anyway. I can’t speak for all, but personally I’ve found that I am productive with a list like this lying next to me at the desk (as the only thing). It doesn’t get much faster, or more visually appealing than this. It doesn’t get much simpler either. A lot can be built in a web app with fancy AJAX calls and everything, but nothing beats the speed, and especially, the versatility of a tiny todo-list like this one.

Purpose of it

The purpose is this:

• It simplifies things, and has no way for you to hit refresh, play with check boxes, or anything like that.
• It makes what you need to do, visual.
• It creates a place for you to jot down ideas as they pop up, so you can instantly forget them again and focus on what you’re doing.

How I work with it

You can work with it in several ways. Here’s how I do it.

The list is created the night before. I move over whatever I didn’t do from the list the day before, and try to go into specifics about especially my studies.

I write general terms on the front (Wash, study, check email, food, etc), together (if needed) with a specific time period that I will spend on it. (Good for reading, answering mails, etc). Then on the back, I go into a bit of detail. For instance, on my note above, it says “½ bachelor” (“½” = half an hour), but no specifics. On the back, I have it set in stone what needs to be done (more on this in a later post).

I cross out items as they are completed.

I carry it around with me, and things get added to it, as they pop up in my head — even during other work. At first I didn’t allow myself to look at the note while for instance studying; but if I just write things that pop up in my head down (uncritically), I can let it go, and concentrate on what I’m supposed to be doing. This, however, is the only distraction I allow myself.

At the end of the day, I move over things I didn’t have time for (if there are any), and throw it out. I don’t save it. It’s a work tool, and it has served its purpose beautifully.

Try it

You probably came here to see if you could pick up some golden bullet for becoming instantly productive; and I gave you an easy to do idea. It’s easy to follow, easy to implement, doesn’t require that you change to a different operating system (although I can recommend Linux), or anything of the sort. It’s easy in every sense and you have nothing to lose.

Try it for one week. Half a week. One day. It doesn’t matter that much for how long you try it, as long as you do try it. Just remember to keep it simple.