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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.
Spend 15 minutes, every day, learning one of these things:
Your tools
Get better at the tools you use to refine…
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.
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
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
Alfredapp.com
Launchy.net
LEARN THESE TOOLS!!!
They do a lot more. Form fill, button clicks, e-mail, notes…
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)
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
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)
No task is larger than one sprint.
Tool: Todo.txt
Stores everything in text.
Works across devices.
Never obsolete.
(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.
(I like kids and puppies, too. Mostly.)
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
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