no bullshit guide to productivity rules & nifty tools

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3E6699 The no-bullshit guide to productivity rules & nifty tools Ian Lurie @portentint CEO, Portent, Inc. www.portent.com (for marketers)

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3E6699

The no-bullshit guide to productivity rules & nifty tools

 Ian Lurie  @portentint

 CEO, Portent, Inc.  www.portent.com

(for marketers)

 I’m Ian.

 I run an agency called Portent, Inc.

 I’ve run it for 21 years.

 I’ve remained (somewhat) sane.

 This is a little slice of how I do it.

 This is not a philosophical discussion.

 It’s not about Pomodoro versus Getting Things Done

 or calendars versus todo lists.

 It’s about tools you can use, right now.

 You can find me at @portentint, by the way.

Rule #1

 Make time for productivity.

 Time management is a skill.

 Learn it.

 Spend 15 minutes, every day, learning one of these things:

 Your tools

 Get better at the tools you use to refine…

 Your techniques

 Your routine

 THE TOOLS YOU USE EVERY DAY.

 When you have a problem in MS Word,

 learn to solve it, not hack it.

 When one Powerpoint slide looks wrong,

 learn to use Masters, don’t manually fix it all.

 Learn macros.

 15 minutes on one thing in this deck. Every day.

Rule #2

 Dump the mouse.

 Using your mouse wastes time.

 A lot of time, as it turns out.

 Reducing mouse use saves me

12 hours per month.

Fast application switching

 [COMMAND] [TAB] (on OS X)

 [ALT] [TAB] (on Windows)

Fast application switching

Switch between windows in one application

 [COMMAND] + “`” (on OS X)

 Windows…?

Tool: Shortcat

 “Click” buttons, menus using your keyboard

Tool: Shortcat

 [SHIFT] [COMMAND] [SPACE]

Then start typing

Tool: Shortcat

 Also prevents repetitive stress injuries.

 Shortcatapp.com

 Windows…?

Tool: AlfredApp or Launchy

 Keystroke app launching and workflows

Tool: AlfredApp or Launchy

 Set a key combo to launch the launcher

Tool: AlfredApp

Tool: AlfredApp

Tool: AlfredApp

 Alfredapp.com

 Launchy.net

 LEARN THESE TOOLS!!!

 They do a lot more. Form fill, button clicks, e-mail, notes…

 Remember rule #1

Rule #3

 Reduce keystrokes, save (brain) storage.

Tool: Text Expander

 Turns keystrokes into longer stuff.

Tool: Text Expander

 .gi [tab]

 turns into

 www.google.com/insights/search

Tool: Text Expander

 hubfwd[tab]

 123124k235.forward.hubspot.com

Tool: Text Expander

 thisinvite[tab]

Tool: Text Expander

Tool: Text Expander

 Hi Bartleby,

 Please come to my party.

 Thanks!

 Ian

Tool: Text Expander

 ;pavuk [tab]

 ./pavuk -cdir /Users/foo -progress -dont_leave_site -slogfile /Users/foo /log-log.txt -logfile /Users/foo /log-biglog.txt -identity thisCrawler -mode dontstore -retry 4 -noread_css -maxsize 400000

 (OK, that last one was showing off.)

 Textexpander.com

 aText.com (alternative)

Tool: 1Password (or LastPass)

 Secure password storage (and other things)

Tool: 1Password (or LastPass)

Tool: 1Password (or LastPass)

Tool: 1Password

 You can generate unique, hard-to-guess passwords. Store them.

Access them with your central password.

 (My passwords are harder to guess than three words.)

 1Password.com

 Lastpass.com

Rule #4

 Sprint

Whatever length of time works

 Work on the task

 Then check e-mail, messages, etc.

 Work on the task

 And so on

 I find 45 minutes/10 minutes works best.

 Put on headphones.

 Put up a sign.

 Train your co-workers.

 “I’ll talk to you in a half hour.”

 I used to use all manner of fancy stuff. Egg timers, Pomodoro Technique…

 Now I use my phone’s stopwatch.

Rule #5

 Use todo lists.

 (unless you don’t)

 Atomize tasks.

 No task is larger than one sprint.

 Prioritize.

Tool: Todo.txt

 Stores everything in text.

 Works across devices.

 Never obsolete.

Tool: Todo.txt

 (I don’t have a boa constrictor. I like mice.)

Tool: Evernote

 Easier to use.

 Works across devices.

 Can store other stuff.

 Can set reminders.

Tool: Evernote

 (I like kids and puppies, too. Mostly.)

Tool: Evernote

 OR

 Use your calendar and schedule everything.

I mean everything

 Todo lists were trendy.

 Now calendars are trendy.

 Next year, maybe legal pads.

 I dunno.

 The important thing is to have a system.

 AND TRUST IT.

 A system only works if you trust it.

 Use the one you trust, and stick with it.

Rule #6

 Get rid of distractions.

Wait! Don’t go!!!!

There are real things to do here.

Tool: The Email Game

I was skeptical.

Then I cleared my inbox in 45 minutes.

I’m no longer skeptical.

emailgame.baydin.com

Tool: Noisli

 Background noise generator

Tool: Noisli

Tool: MyNoise

noisli.com

mynoise.net

(I like the thunderstorm background.)

Rule #7

 Make. Time. For. Productivity.

That’s it.

 Ian Lurie  @portentint

 CEO, Portent, Inc.  www.portent.com