Can we discuss productivity apps?

A

amorph

New member
Sep 22, 2009
152
2
0
My business hasn't grown the past few months like it should because I'm becoming less and less disciplined and more and more complacent. I'm also increasingly overwhelmed by the amount of tasks to be managed.

I've been looking for an iOS or OSX app that somehow combines time tracking or some sort of pomodoro functionality with a daily schedule and a task list. But it seems most stuff just fulfills one of these functions. I'd like to be able to jot down a daily schedule to which I can add individual tasks as they come up, then get reminders during the day of which period is starting, and ideally it should also let me track the time spent on tasks while I'm doing all this, and make some shiny statistics out of it.

Is there something like that at all? I've been searching to no avail. There's Producteev, Wunderlist and all that, but it doesn't have the time tracking functionality.
 


NO.jpg
 
I lock myself in a room with a physical notepad, adderall and shotgun.


I also use: Tasks and Evernote for Android
 
There's no magic app that's going to instantly make you more productive. You're not going to have Tiger Woods skills just from using his golf clubs, they're just tools. Anyways here's a really simple plan.

Block websites with SelfControl | Steve Lambert.

For a to do list use Omnifocus. This is where I keep all my to do list items organized.

Next is the actual "doing." You see your to do list with 25+ items and you feel overwhelmed aka analysis paralysis. What we're going to do EVERY MORNING is only take the top 3 most important things you have to do that day.

So an example for today:
- Launch a Facebook Campaign
- Write a Blog Post
- Book a flight to San Diego

Write this on a post it note on your desk, or a sticky on your computer.

As far as pomodoro, dude it's just a timer that counts to 25 minutes.

focus booster - home; try the pomodoro technique

Start on task 1, set timer for 25 minutes work.

Take a 5 minute break, either finish task 1 or move to task 2.

Don't even bother with time tracking, you're making this shit more complicated then it needs to be. Instead I track my pomodoros. I work in 50 minute pomodoros so my goal each day is to have at least 8 full pomodoros (100% completely focused).
 
I highly recommend Self Control, as above. I used to use Vitamin-R, but nowadays I find paper notepads are best, although I do have TaskPaper on my iPhone and Mac as an electronic support.

TaskPaper

Have you read, Getting Things Done, by David Allen? That's pretty bloody good, certainly as you describe yourself as being someone ripe for his methods.

If you want to track everything, down to apps used and websites visited, regarding time and monitor your actual productivity, try RescueTime.

Time Management & Productivity Tracking Software (Mac/PC/Android/Linux) | RescueTime
 
Dr_Ngo said:
Don't even bother with time tracking, you're making this shit more complicated then it needs to be. Instead I track my pomodoros. I work in 50 minute pomodoros so my goal each day is to have at least 8 full pomodoros (100% completely focused).
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I've been doing for a couple months. I may have gotten the idea from Dr_Ngo, I don't remember. It works because I can look at all of my work periods and no for sure how much focused time I put it in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom