1. Amy's Stupid-easy
(but massively effective)
productivity hack
by Amy Lightholder

2. The Basic Concept
1.
1.Prioritize
2.Record
3.Review
4.Repeat

3. 1a. Open a rich text document
worknotes August 8 2011
I use Microsoft Word, but whatever
writing program you're comfortable
in will work.
I always saved such documents as
"worknotes [date]" but use
whatever format works for you.

4. 1b. Make a list of everything you need to do
worknotes August 8 2011
post ad for old laptop on Craigslist
make food for week
log weight in diet log
call mom
apply to 5 jobs
update LinkedIn profile
follow up w/ potential employer #1

5. 1c. Sort what you need to do by value
worknotes August 8 2011
update LinkedIn profile
apply to 5 jobs
post ad for old laptop on Craigslist
follow up w/ potential employer #1
make food for week
log weight in diet log
call mom
In this example, my #1 goal was
to find a job.
Since I worked in tech, every
employer was going to look at
my profile before deciding
whether to interview me. So that
was the most important.
The second most important was
to send out applications for
jobs.
How you define "value" is up to
you. Don't spend too much time
on this, just get it as right as you
can. You'll have plenty of
opportunity to re-prioritize later
:)

6. 2a. As your day progresses, update!
worknotes August 8 2011
update LinkedIn profile
apply to 5 jobs
post ad for old laptop on
Craigslist
follow up w/ potential
employer #1
make food for week
log weight in diet log
call mom
• italicized means done
• strikethrough means
something that didn't need
doing after all. (For example,
suppose your friend buys
your old laptop, then you
wouldn't need to post an ad
for it on Craigslist)

7. Stuff will come up. This is totally normal.
worknotes August 8 2011
update LinkedIn profile
apply to 5 jobs
post ad for old laptop on
Craigslist
follow up w/ potential
employer #1
make food for week
log weight in diet log
call mom
Life pretty much doesn't go
according to plan, ever. Stuff
will come up that you
absolutely have to do. Let's
say, for example, I get a call
from a job I'd given up on
who's had their #1 fall
through and wants me to
come in for an interview
NOW.

8. Just put whatever comes up on your list.
worknotes August 8 2011
interview for hot job prospect
update LinkedIn profile
apply to 5 jobs
post ad for old laptop on
Craigslist
follow up w/ potential
employer #1
make food for week
log weight in diet log
call mom
Since my #1 goal is getting a
job, and this interview
represents the best opportunity I
have at that moment, I'm going
to choose the interview over
everything else I have on my list.
I'm going to write that down at
the top.
Usually I'm going to italicize it,
because it's one of those things
that is done or "sure to be done"
by the time I have an opportunity
to write it down. The point is to
have a record for myself of what
I did.

9. It doesn't matter whether it is good or bad
stuff.
The important thing is to have a
worknotes August 8 2011
got food poisoning :(
update LinkedIn profile
apply to 5 jobs
post ad for old laptop on
Craigslist
follow up w/ potential
employer #1
make food for week
log weight in diet log
call mom
record for myself of what I did.
Maybe instead of a hot
interview, I got food poisoning.
Good or bad doesn't matter, only
whether or not it affected my
plan.
In this example, I consider food
poisoning an emergency
interruption. I'm emphasizing it
on my notes, because I'm trying
to catch the attention of my
future self later. The interview,
OTOH, was the sort of work I
might ordinarily do anyway, so I
didn't do anything special.

10. 5. Each morning, hit "save" and then use "save
as" to make a fresh copy of your notes.
worknotes August 9 2011
got food poisoning :(
update LinkedIn profile
apply to 5 jobs
post ad for old laptop on
Craigslist
follow up w/ potential employer
#1
make food for week
log weight in diet log
call mom
You'll want to change the date,
of course :)

11. 6. Move yesterday's stuff out of today's list
Stuff you completed yesterday gets
moved to "done" and "unnecessary"
lists at the bottom of the page.
worknotes August 9 2011
The reason why you keep these
things is that in the long run, it's
helpful to keep a list of what you
John (recruiter for Oracle): 650 786-0907 accomplished, as well as the sort of
login for new job site: mylogin/ mypassword411
work that goes on your to-do list and
done
interview for hot job prospect
turns out to not actually be that
update LinkedIn profile
important.
apply to 5 jobs
follow up w/ potential employer
#1
make food for week
log weight in diet log
call mom
unnecessary
post ad for old laptop on
Craigslist
Stuff that went wrong
got food poisoning wednesday :(
Sometimes I include other stuff: notes
I make for that day (phone numbers,
lists) or extra categories ("Stuff that
went wrong") but simpler is usually
better.

12. 7. Add new stuff to the list and prioritize
worknotes August 9 2011
send thank you note to
interviewer
ping references
make food for week
log weight in diet log
call mom
done
interview for hot job prospect
update LinkedIn profile
apply to 5 jobs
unnecessary
post ad for old laptop on
Craigslist
Stuff that went wrong
got food poisoning wednesday :(
Since I had that interview
yesterday, I have a couple of
new items related to it. It
went well, and is probably
still my best bet. On the
other hand, I didn't work on
my diet yesterday and that's
pretty important to me too,
so I'm going to make sure I
log today.

13. During the week, add/re-prioritize as needed
worknotes August 10 2011
send thank you note to interviewer
write back to recruiter
ping references
log weight in diet log
follow up w/ potential employer #1
buy frozen dinners
done
interview for hot job prospect
update LinkedIn profile
apply to 5 jobs
impromptu lunch w/ mom
unnecessary
post ad for old laptop on
Craigslist
make food for week
call mom
Usually, I'd get several new
items to do per day. I'd just put
them on the list where I felt
they belonged.
Sometimes during the day I'd
get stuck or lose focus. When
that happens, I go back to my
list and say "What's my goal for
today? What's the most
important thing to do in the
next hour?" Editing/rearranging
my lists helped me get
unstuck.

14. 8. At the end of each week, review!
review August 13 2011
log weight in diet log
follow up on new job lead
write article for trade publication
done
interview for hot job prospect
update LinkedIn profile
apply to 5 jobs
impromptu lunch w/ mom
send thank you note to interviewer
write back to recruiter
ping references
buy groceries
clean interview suit
unnecessary
post ad for old laptop on
Craigslist
make food for week
call mom
Stuff that went wrong
got food poisoning wednesday
computer crashed - had to restore
from backup
By the end of the week, you
will have a list of
accomplishments,
unnecessary work, and
problems - a reflection of what
really happens in a given
work week
Now you have a pretty fair
idea of what you can get done
in a day. (It is almost always
less than you thought it was!)

15. Reviewing is the most important step in this
process
- Without an accurate accounting of what you did and did not accomplish
in the past, it is impossible to make an accurate prediction of what you
will accomplish in the future
-Without recording and reviewing the things that went wrong and got in
your way, you don't have much chance of preventing or recovering from
them next time
- A clear, conscious record of your progress is both humbling and
empowering.
- Another benefit is confirmation that you generally have good judgement.
Most people forget what caused them to put something off, but it is
almost always the best decision at that time.

16. 9. Each week, start with a clean slate and do
it all over again.
worknotes August 15 2011

17. 10. Every few weeks, review your reviews
After a couple of weeks, a number of
patterns will become apparent. You'll find
log weight in diet log August 20 2011
out what kind of problems tend to block or
review
follow up on new job lead
write article for trade publication interrupt you, which kinds of chores linger
log weight in diet log
done follow up on new job lead for weeks without getting done, and which
review August 13 2011
interview for hot job prospect
write article for trade publication
update LinkedIn profile
almost always get accomplished right
apply to 5 jobs log weight in diet log
done
interview follow job prospect away.
for mom
impromptu lunch w/hotup on new job lead
review August 27 2011
update LinkedIn interviewer
send thank you note to profile trade publication
write article for
apply recruiter
write back toto 5 jobs
impromptu
ping references lunch w/ mom
done
send thank you note to job prospect
buy groceries interview for hotinterviewer
write back to recruiter
clean interviewupdate LinkedIn profile
suit
unnecessary apply to 5 jobs
ping references
post ad for old laptop on
impromptu lunch w/ mom
buy groceries
Craigslist send thank you note to interviewer
clean interview suit
make food for week to recruiter
unnecessary
write back
post
call mom ad for old laptop on
ping references
Craigslist
buy groceries
Stuff that went wrong
make food for week
clean interview
got food poisoning wednesday suit
call mom
unnecessary
computer crashed -post to restore laptop on
had ad for old
from backup that went wrong
Stuff
Craigslist
got food poisoning food for week
make wednesday
computer crashed - had to restore
call mom
You'll also, with a few week's sample, have
a fairly accurate measure of what you can
get done in a week. This will make you
massively more effective, because you'll be
able to budget your effort with real
information about how much you have to
"spend".
from backup
Stuff that went wrong