September 29, 2009

I have been struggling with creating a trusted workflow system since 2004, when I started to read David Allen's book, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.

As a small business owner with plenty of entrepreneurial ideas, juggling many projects at the same, it’s hard not feel stressed now and then. The main goal is to develop a solid method that will help you to have a  "mind like water," instead of keeping all your mental stuff in the "RAM" (Random-access memory) version of your brain. The problem  kicks in when you have about five different things to take care of at the same time or several things that you are trying to remember and keep in storage for a longer period of time.

I want to point out that the most important thing is to focus on how you could come up with your own personal productivity game plan, not to play around with new fancy tools and gadgets in order to get things done in a smart way. I think that David Allen's latest book is declaring this in an eloquent way. You should strive to have control and perspective of both your work and life situation. David Allen says that it takes about two years to "learn to play banjo, dance tango, and speak Spanish." It is the same time effort if you want to create and implement a new way of organizing your workflow process. It has taken me a longer time than a couple of years, but I am on my way nowadays.

Here is a list of tips, tools and resources to help you in your small business and spare time. Please feel free to add your favorite tools and tricks to the list:

Have one dedicated place, for a physical inbasket on your workdesk. Why not get a fancy "bucket" which stands out and gives you a reminder of the importance of why you should process all your stuff through one unique "pipeline". After you have put every thing (documents with your thoughts and to-do stuff) in your inbasket, you could start the process and ask yourself if it is actionable or not. I recommend you to study David Allen's workflow diagram.

Strive to get down to an empty email inbox on a regular basis. I have struggled with this for a long time. I used to search after things in my inbox, instead of labeling and giving description of the individual email messages. I have added GTDInbox to Google's Gmail program. 

Get a clear overview of what is going on by using a visual tool like a mindmap. I am playing around with a program called GoalEnforcer at the moment.

Cut and chew your workload in smaller pieces by pointing out what should be the next action in every project. You could do this by writing down bullet points in a document or use a specialized software program, e.g., a project management tool. I will test out a web based program called Gtdagenda.

Have some kind of tools handy so you could take down notes in order to remember things when you are moving around. I will go back to a low-tech solution, with formatted to-do note cards, a notebook, a pen and a Filofax. I am thinking of getting the new version of iPod Nano with a digital recorder for "notes to self" messages. If you have an iPhone or smartphone, you should take a look at Evernote. Read Guy Kawasaki's post, 14 Practical Ways to Use Evernote, for more information.

Use a Kaizen mentality, continuously improving and developing your work by having reviews and brainstorming sessions on a regular basis. I am writing a weekly review, using a digital pen with a special "dotted" paper called Pulse Smartpen.

For inspiration and more know-how material, please check out:

Moleskine: The Guide by Nick Cernis.

Weekly "structure" tips by David Stiernholm.

Thinking Skills with Jean Moroney.

The Best Sounds for Getting Work Done by Kevin Purdy.

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 About the Author: Martin Lindeskog is a “trader in matter & spirit” and a small business entrepreneur in Gothenburg, Sweden. He is a board member of the Swedish National Association of Purchasing and Logistics (Silf, Western Region). Martin also writes a long-standing blog called Ego.

Join the conversation ( 2 )

• Martin Lindeskog 2 years 3 months and 14 days ago

  

  Anita,
  
  It is a challenge to get down to an empty email inbox. It is a good idea to set up special folders as you say. You also put labels on your incoming email messages and then sort them in different categories, e.g., in contexts (at office, home, computer etc.), projects, references, next actions, waiting on and someday.
  
  The goal is to get a clear overview of your incoming messages and to achieve a mental notion that you have control of the stuff coming at you.
  
  I have too much email in my inbox at the moment and I think the only solution is that I take care of the messages at least once a week during my review, in order to prevent the mailbox to pile up again. I will start to experiment on how often I will check email during the day. Timothy Ferriss says that you strive for checking your email twice a day in his book The 4-Hour Work Week.

• Anita Campbell 2 years 3 months and 28 days ago

  

  Martin, good article! I have tried, but I find it impossible to a zero inbox -- or even close to zero, say 30 unread emails. Unfortunately, my unread emails number in the 3-figures or 4-figures. Of course, most of those are monitoring emails, such as Google Alerts, or newsletter subscriptions, or email notifications about comments on my various blogs. I've tried setting up special folders and automatically pushing certain emails to those folders so I can review them later. That helps. But even so, unread emails just accumulate in my inbox. Then eventually they get archived, and that helps keep the numbers down. Of course, my business is mainly Web-based and 99% of everything we do involves email. But I wonder if others have the same problem? -- Anita