Hermes T knows you don’t just want one life. You want nine. You want to be a lawyer by day, a party animal by night, a family man, an artiste. Maybe even a dog. The point is you want it all. But man is there so much to do. Never fear – Hermes Technologies is here. Learn how to get shit done so fast that even Kimbo Slice couldn’t take you down.
1. Use prioritized to do lists
The Toyota Lexus of productivity. Beware. Try this for even 30 days and you might find yourself drowning in a salty sea of free time.
At the end of every day write out a list of things you need to do the following day. Now look down the list and decide which task is the most important to you. What single task will go furthest towards reaching your goals? It could be finishing an essay, finding an apartment or making 100 cold calls. When you figure out what task will help you reach your goals the most put the number 1 next to it. Now find the second most important task. Put the number 2 beside it. Continue all the way through the list. Now rewrite your list of to-dos this time in order of priority. This is the order in which you will tackle the tasks the next day.
You will almost always find that the task labeled “1″ is the most complex, time consuming and difficult. Thus there is a strong motivation to put it off and do an easier, lower priority task first. This is exactly the wrong thing to do. You must work through the list in order of priority. Even if it takes you most of the day to get task 1 done, that is still time better spent than a day wasted doing unimportant tasks.
A great resource that expands on this idea is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Lameass title aside, the book is full of great information and I couldn’t recommend it more highly.
2. Google how to do any task before you try it yourself
I got called “Google kid” for years cuz of this one. (grr) Here’s the theory: the Internet gives you instant access to all the information in the world. Now chances are somebody out there in the cloud has written a guide on how to do whatever you are currently wrestling with. Why not tap into this knowledge by doing a quick search? Instead of labouring to get increased traffic to my blog using my limited knowledge I should look up “most effective ways to get traffic to my blog” and then apply this knowledge. Chances are that 1 minute of searching could spare you 6 hours of time if you find a proven shortcut.
It still amazes me that more people don’t do this.
3. Work alone in long uninterrupted blocks
You get the most done when you work in sizable chunks of uninterrupted time.
You get into focus-zone and work hyper effectively. Things get done fast and you don’t feel time passing. It’s just like taking Adderall, except without the illegal drug taking part.
If, however, you are interrupted, you are thrown out of the focus-zone and it can take a few minutes to climb back into the cockpit again. For this reason it is crucial you minimize any possible interruptions. You need to create an interruption proof fuck-off-field around yourself.
I like to work in 40 minute uninterrupted blocks. I pick one task and zero in on it. I get away from my co workers since It is impossible to work and talk at the same time. No Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter (joking about Twitter – I would never use that horseshit). No interesting trans-humanism articles. No. Not even the Onion. No incoming email. Don’t respond on Skype. If a friend calls, tell them you are busy and will call them back in 40 minutes. They understand.
If you stay in the zone you could easily write six or seven novels in one week*. It’s that effective.
*Gareth Marenghi once did
4. Use Iterative Techniques
A great idea that hardly sees any application outside professional writing and high level software design. The principle here is that you rapidly produce a first effort and then modify and improve this again and again across a number of consecutive iterations.
One of the big advantages of iterative techniques is that they prevent performance anxiety related procrastination. Often you leave off a task because you feel you don’t know how to do it. The solution: do it anyway. Tell yourself you are just making the first draft. You are allowed to fuck up. Start writing / designing / coding / strategizing / whatever and do your best. Do your best, but get it done. You’ll notice two things: your efforts weren’t too bad at all and you will feel very relieved as, hey, it’s nearly done now!
Once the first iteration is done examine it and think about how it can be improved. Taking these lessons into account create a second iteration . Keep iterating this way until you are happy with the results. And done!
I’ve use this technique on almost any sort of creative exercise – whether it’s designing the information architecture in a piece of software, a thesis for an argument or a nasty way to get back at your ex, iterative techniques are always helpful.
5. Finish things completely before moving onto something else
The weight of unfinished tasks hangs over you until those tasks are completed. Finishing a long overdue task is every bit as satisfying as a slash first thing in the morning after a heavy night at a musical festival. It’s practically destiny.
From a productivity standpoint it is far better to have one thing finished than 5 things half done. This is because there are often secondary dependent tasks which require the current tasks to be finalized. These must be put on hold whilst the original task is unfinished. Also you can sell a finished product and make money but you won’t make a cent with 5 unfinished products (unless of course your Microsoft).
The lesson here: Don’t multitask. Do one thing at a time and finish it completely. You’ll thank yourself.
An important but not always obvious facet of this idea is that you quickly make decisions. An unmade decision is simply an unfinished task. It creates a roadblock in your projects. The gears grind to a halt until a decision has been made. The solution: get into the habit of making decisions and getting on with things. Quickly weigh up the points for and against then dive in, moving quickly. A reasonable decision, even if wrong, allied with fast action is always better than endless inaction.
Daily Lol:dumb ass cats
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