Tag: Productivity
Stress-free Productivity at TEDx
In 2012, David Allen discussed the “art of stress-free productivity” in a TEDx talk at Claremont Colleges. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHxhjDPKfbY] For additional discussion, see Allen’s Getting Things Done and related posts here.
Technology and Distraction
Tristan Harris, former design ethicist at Google, discusses at TED the interplay between technology, attention, and distraction. For additional discussion of this TED talk, see Alexandra Dempsey’s post on the Freedom blog. For additional discussion the significance of focus, the importance of guarding it, and a helpful tool to that end, see Focus—there’s an app for…
Scheduling focus
The folks at Freedom have a helpful tutorial about “how to be more productive in the afternoon.” The same principles, though, will apply also to the mornings or whenever one’s preferred time is for focused work. For additional discussion of Freedom, the significance of focus, and the importance of guarding it, see Focus—there’s an…
Ode to to-do lists
Kristina Malsberger discusses managing oneself and one’s commitments amid what can be a hectic whirlwind of incoming information and requests. According to Malsberger, there’s a simple, centuries-old solution: the daily to-do list. Sure, checklists have their detractors—folks that claim they constrain creativity or induce undue guilt—but when done well, a to-do list functions like a…
Reading for writing
Cal Newport outlines the basics of how he reads when working on a project. According to Newport, The key to my system is the pencil mark in the page corner. This allows me later to quickly leaf through a book and immediately identify the small but crucial subset of pages that contain passages that relate…
Focus—there’s an app for that
For various reasons, focus can be difficult in a whole host of contexts—at work, at home, or during recreation. One contemporary culprit that can all too easily hamper efforts to “lose” oneself in the “play” of the real world are the digital devices and media with which some of us are constantly surrounded. As a…