Tl;dr, whatever keeps track of ALL of the tasks you want to get done is a good tool, and use it all the time.
It’s a struggle to keep a lot of projects going. I personally do too much, but I like taking on many things. I have a wandering mind. What if I spoke a new language? What if I wrote a book, and a movie, and a TV show? And I ran a podcast network? And did a podcast of my own? And volunteered as a youth mentor? And ran? And did woodworking? I try to do it all. But managing time and tasks is tricky.
That’s something I always am trying to improve at. The closest thing I have for a silver bullet answer for you is, I think the most important thing is just making sure you have a place where you reliably keep all of your tasks and your goals and what not. And really ALL of them, not just most. Off loading that mental stress of keeping track of things is important for productivity. When you’re really able to focus on a task without wondering if you’re forgetting another task, things get done faster.
I’ve been bullet journalling lately, and I like it mostly but I’m not quite falling in love with it, which is making it hard to keep up as a habit and make sure everything I have to get done stays in there and gets done. I think with a bit more time it’ll be easier for me.
I used to do everything out of my email inbox, but it was getting cluttered as I was taking on more stuff and became kind of a stress.
Trello, Slack, or any of the other apps or services out there could be very effective if you use it to offload everything. I think if it’s a tool that you can really really rely on to hold all that information, it’s good. But, if you don’t like using it, or you try to get too fancy with it (which I’ve been guilty of with project management apps before), it’s easy to spend a lot of time maintaining and less time doing.
Also, I try not to do anything that some else can do. I rely on people I work with to do their parts when I’m working with them, and don’t work with people who drag their feet or require me to help them a lot, or remind them of their work. This may not be the best strategy, as I’ve built a reputation as a divisive person with these strategies. In 20 years, I’ll know if it was a good idea to be this way or not. I’m assuming it’s probably not a good idea, as it’s a very egotistic way of being, and usually egoism is wrong. Though, I think there may be a way to do this with sugar as opposed to vinegar and come out ahead.
The other part of being productive, and this pro-level productivity here, is not doing things other people can do. I pay people to help out with tasks that could take up a lot of time, but don’t really require my expertise. Example, I have a ton of podcasts I’ve recorded and done, but I need them compressed to keep as an archive but the process is long and has to be one at a time. I’m gonna pay someone to do that. We can’t always pay other people to do our tasks for us, but working where you’ll deliver the most impact will lead you to that type of money and success later. I also think it’s egotistical to think you have to do EVERYTHING that you do.
I can do a lot of things, but I don’t think I should do all of the things. I don’t always live this way, but I aim to only do things that only I can do, things that I can learn from, things that are fun, things that help other people.
Last thing, I heard this quote, and I really like it, you should never be busy. Busy is the result of having a lack of priorities. If you find yourself busy, then reexamine where your time is going, and if that distribution of times is in line with your priorities.
I have a lot of thoughts on this as you can see, and I’m sure nearly none of it is helpful. My main thought on productivity, if you don’t have a place where you’re reliably putting everything you need to get done, and really everything, then do that first, and build that habit. And priorities. What really matters? Do that.
