Need Help: Productivity, GTD, Time Management

Those of you that do a lot of stuff like building links, coding, coming up with strategies, manage multiple sites, and maybe even have a job... I need some help.


I have been reading a ton of productivity books, and all of them say to FOCUS and not multitask. Well, I can appreciate that. The most recent book I read was the 12 week year. Very good, recommend to all. Anyway, it talks about completing stuff and treating each day as a week, each week as a month and accomplishing a lot.


My problem, however is not focus. My problem is not stopping. I need tips on how to stop and go on to something else. Like today I was analyzing some data. I was really focused, pushed everything aside to do it, but I didn't get anything routine done. I focus so hard that I literally don't eat, don't even think to stop to think is there something more pressing I need to do. Sometimes I am so focused many hours pass by and I don't even know it.


Things that are repetitive that I NEED to do daily, I can't go for more than a day without forgetting because I get so caught up in a single task. I have tried using Outlook Calendars, alarms on my phone, using the action machine and Pomodoro type techniques, tangent logs. Every time a timer goes off the though that goes through my head is I need to finish this. Or I am nearing completion. Sometimes I attribute it to a gross error on estimation of time to completion, sometimes I take on something I think is going to be pretty quick but then all these ideas flood on how to improve it so I am coding them all. I think even some of the things I have tried could work if I could just get myself to stop for a few days. It's the old will power adage. I can do it for about a day (timing everything in outlook worked Monday), but then something comes up and I don't have faith anymore.

I read in the 12 week month that you need to plan a day on paper because if it doesn't work on paper it won't work in the real world. Totally true. Planned Monday on Paper and stuck to it pretty good. Planned Tuesday on paper, got an interruption that was sort of urgent, went to work on that, took longer than I thought. It inspired another idea so I worked on it, that ended up taking all afternoon. Before I knew it nothing I planned got done, even though all those timers went off. Only what I got stuck with that day got done.


I do this when coding new sites, observing analytics, doing keyword research, etc.


Does anybody have suggestions on how to stop in the middle of something and get yourself to move to another task? This is killing me there are two things I can't get done now:

1. Anything that I want to do daily like write 2 articles for my BLOG.
2. Anything I don't get done that comes up today. For instance if I think of something today and write it down for tomorrow, chances are I will not ever get it done because I will never have time to go back to it.

I am really looking for some good ideas here if anybody has any.

The first thing I would recommend regarding productivity is making sure that you aren't stretched so thin. I do take on more than I can handle at most times - which is a good and bad thing. Over the years, I've gotten used to it.

It seems that you are inefficiently processing some of your tasks - I would consider outsourcing some of your easier work so you can focus on the big picture things that matter.

I plan my day out each morning and try to stick to it. I don't necessarily finish everything on the list, but I come within 1-2 goals each time (usually out of 8-10) and those get finished the next day.

I believe in finishing the task at hand while you're focused because you do it better and do it at a higher quality. However, you need to learn where "good enough" is compared to perfect. I'd rather have 10 things done at 90% quality than 2 at 100% quality...you can always tune as you go.

I would suggest hiring an online secretary out of Asia for cheap.

In my experience, this is an issue that fundamentally comes down to money.

The things that get pushed down the to-do list are always the things that are mind-numbingly boring. I just don't want to do them. So I outsource them. But if you aren't making enough money to justify outsourcing, that's a problem that needs to be fixed first.

Burnett is right on. Some of the mind numbing things are dollar productive, if that's the case suck it up. Here is what works for me;

break down all the tasks that need to be done (repetitively)
prioritize this list with dollar productive stuff at the top (generally that is going to be generating traffic in IM)
Of the dollar productive tasks which is the one you like the least? Put that one at the top of your list of dollar productive activities.
Schedule time to complete these tasks, this is the part you are struggling with. When time is up, move on to the next thing.

You'll never be done, there will always be work to do. For the mind numbing stuff you can find contractors with experience on just about anything on odesk

do you use any services that helps with this? If not - try, it really works, in you strongly interested. I'm using:
basecamp as project manager or you can try asana
evernote as note
wunderlist as to-do

don't like them? Find other services. Write there, note there, use them for a few weeks and it will help you! don't forget to install mobile versions on iphone)