Protocol 80 Productivity Blog

I’m on a new upsurge of blogging right now, doing lots of posts, and more comments in other places. It’s easy to see I’ve had surges of posting in the past, but they fizzle out, so I am making a marked effort this time to keep the flow of output.

There are a few things I’ve done this time I haven’t done in the past to keep me going. Continue Reading »

InspireMe.org’s Two Tips To Make Your Productivity Soar deals with one critical time consumer, staring at a screen wondering what to work on next. They recommend that if you find yourself with an empty to-do list (You do use a to-do list right?) you get up right away, and go and think about what you need to do next.

I’m not sure you even need to go that far, this last week rather then poke around waiting for RSS feeds to update or a new email to drop in searching for some inspiration, when I’ve been at home I’ve stopped, and gone to read a book for a bit, and come back later. And while the actual amount of things I’ve managed to contribute to my various projects on-line has remained pretty much the same, I’ve managed to fit in finishing a book along side. Essentially, rather then worry about not doing anything, I’ve embraced the quiet moments and do something fun. In turn when I get back to working on something more “productive” I  generally feel all the better for the break, and am able to think about things more clearly.

There are no shortage of ways you can constantly tweak your personal time management, and if you’re trying for that 2% more productivity per week, every little can count.

So these three things put forward by Work Place Life aren’t anything amazing on their own, but they can still have an impact when you add them all together, or perhaps give some inspiration as to how else you might shave off some lost time, even if just by a little.
Here’s three more you might try

1. Stockpile Stationary
   Keeping a collection of various bits of stationary you need in a draw can save you a fair amount of time. If you suddenly find yourself in need of something you don’t want to have to get up mid-flow and trek of to find a stapler or something.  For items in limited supply like staplers, keep two - one in common use that you don’t mind lending out. One you keep hold of no matter what, that you only ever use if the common one is AWOL.
2. Send Your Personal Mail Via The Company “Out Box”
   Firstly I’m not saying the company should pay for your personal mail, but my company is fine with accepting people’s personal mail, stamped as normal and dropping it in the Out Box for collection by the Post Office directly. Which saves me 10 or so minutes each time I want to post something because I don’t need to go out of my way to the postbox.
3. Buy Your Lunch
   Sure, it costs more to buy lunch if you look at the just the costs of material. But for me, it’s easier to buy a sandwich from the guy who delivers to the office, then it is to make my own. To make a basic sandwich is fairly quick, but the end result isn’t very interesting, and as soon as you start to make it interesting, the cost raises pretty close to what I’m paying anyway, only I have to spend the time putting it together. In other words, as with any money saving exercise don’t forget how much your time is worth.