I’ve been reading a couple of Productivity Books lately and they have been focusing in on a theme- Do important things rather than just keep busy doing tasks.
Reading “Eat That Frog!” by Brian Tracy has helped me to focus on the big things that I need to do rather than the meaningless things. This is especially true when the important tasks I need to complete are “Ugly Frogs”.
I’m also reading “The 4 Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferris. In this book Tim makes a case study out of a person he met named Charney. His life changing challenge for him was to simply “At least three times per day at scheduled times, he had to ask himself the following question: Am I being productive or just active?” And the result? Within 5 weeks, Charney cut his work hours from 40 hours/wk to 18 and was producing 4 times as much as before.
That one question was able to keep Charney focused on important tasks and refocus when the tasks became busywork.
So I wondered if something in my tech life would help me to do this. My solution was a great App called Due.
Due is the best app to create reminders at certain times or after an interval of time. It’s like setting Due Dates for yourself.
So I created a reminder three times a day to ask me that question in my own words, “Are you just busy or are you productive?”
I set these reminders to occur at 10am, 1pm, and 3pm everyday. I feel these are the times I want to check my focus. It’s because I can start my day strong and focused, get reminded after a couple hours of work, get a second reminder after lunch to check my productivity, and once again in the afternoon when my attention and energy may be waning.
So, we’ll see how this experiment goes. I beleive I will be much more focused and mindful about what I’m doing throughout my day.
What do you think? Have you tried this? Got anymore tips for us? Leave a comment below.