Tips on staying focused with your tasks, projects, and life in general for creatives.

1. Productivity, Productivity, Productivity
BY FABIAN ALCANTARA
@FABULOSO
Tuesday, October 2, 12

2. Tuesday, October 2, 12

3. Are you feeling
productive lately?
Overwhelmed
Facebook with work Not motivated
Determined to
watch all of
Not enough
sleep Not eating right Game of Thrones
before new
season starts
Tuesday, October 2, 12

4. Tuesday, October 2, 12

5. Its all about setting actionable
and maintainable goals so that
you can feel confident that you
can tackle anything.
Tuesday, October 2, 12

6. Projects & Tasks
Where to start?
Tuesday, October 2, 12

7. Pareto’s Principle - 80/20 Rule
80% of your work will come from 20% of your
effort.
20% of the functionality and features in any
one environment will be responsible for 80%
of the results.
Pick 2 tasks for each project that will give
80% of the work completed or close to it.
Tuesday, October 2, 12

8. More Tips
Handling New Tasks.
Rephrase all your tasks as actions (one action
at a time).
Set your to do lists all in one list (Work Projects &
Life Projects).
Make time to review your to do list at end of
the day & end of week.
Monthly Review of tasks
Tuesday, October 2, 12

9. Software to keep you organized
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10. THINGS 2
A Task Management Tool
It sort-of follows the Getting Things Done
(GTD) Strategy
Great User Interface
Feels natural how to separate things your
tasks and projects
Tuesday, October 2, 12

11. Demo
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12. OmniFocus
God’s Gift to Getting Things Done Software.
Transparent with the MacOS.
A steep learning curve to use the software.
User Interface can be better.
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13. Demo
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14. TEUXDEUX
A browser based to do app.
Dead simple to use.
It can be use on a mobile device.
Not the best tool for doing GTD but its doable.
Tuesday, October 2, 12

15. Demo
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16. Other Tools to try
Paper version of Getting Things Done
Planner with Sticky Notes - controlled chaos for
me.
Tuesday, October 2, 12

17. E-mail
Tuesday, October 2, 12

18. Inbox Zero
Goal is clean out your inbox.
Follow a push system
approach.
Goal is to use your inbox as
staging area.
Create folder for projects.
Create Action Labels
Empty your spam folder
Tuesday, October 2, 12

19. More E-mail Tips
Unsubscribe to mailing lists, or newsletters.
Use RSS feed.
Software to help you:
http://www.activeinboxhq.com
http://www.clearcontext.com/gtd
Tuesday, October 2, 12

20. Decluttering your desk
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21. Tips
Buy a cabinet
Go wireless
Use floating shelves for
additional storage.
Clamp the light
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22. Staying focused on your task
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23. Things to consider
Decide what tasks from each project to do
each day.
Time Killers
Facebook
Photo taking, organizing, uploading, &
posting
Momento gathering
Tuesday, October 2, 12

24. Pomodoro
Technique
“Time management philosophy that aims to provide the user with
maximum focus and creative freshness, thereby allowing them to
complete projects faster with less mental fatigue.”
Helps you get shit done.
Helps you be less tired mentally since you take breaks.
Helps you control your obsession on your social life online.
Tuesday, October 2, 12

25. How it Works
Start to to work for 25 minutes.
Each 25 minute work is called a pomodoro.
Then take a 5 minute break.
After four sessions (‘pomodoros’) have passed, take a 15-20 minute
break.
About 100 minutes of work time with 15 minutes of break time.
Keep track on the number of times you had an impulse to do
something else on each session.
Tuesday, October 2, 12

26. Interruptions
Walking & Talking Interruptions
Let your team know you are working and NOT TO F**K WITH
YOUR TOMATO TIME!
Get some headphones
If you get interrupted and is urgent, take care of the task
immediately. Restart the pomodoro, and note interruption.
If you get interrupted and it’s not urgent, add it to your to do list
for later, continue pomodoro, and note interruption.
Tuesday, October 2, 12

27. Why it works
Frequent breaks keep your mind fresh & focused.
Watching the time helps you wrap up your task quicker.
Spreading a task over two or three pomodoros can keep you from
getting frustrated.
Constant timing of your activities makes you more accountable for
your tasks.
Keep in mind how long you may want to work on a project’s task
for the day.
Tuesday, October 2, 12

28. Other things to help
Check your emails three times a day.
Close Twitter, Facebook, Reader, ...
Put your phone on vibrate, and hide the
screen.
Set treats for completing an important task.
Tell everyone you are working on something
Tweet it!
Tuesday, October 2, 12

29. References
http://www.slideshare.net/dneighbors/gtd-101- http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-
getting-things-done declutter-your-desk-in-121984
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/02/ http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/
the-8020-rule-applied-to-web-design/ top-20-time-wasters-and-top-5-worthwhile-
activities.html
http://lifehacker.com/5321180/turn-gmail-into-
your-ultimate-gtd-inbox http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/can-
an-ios-6-device-be-your-entire-personal-
productivity-system.html
http://assets.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/
2012/09/LH-CppBa.png?61fe91
http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/
http://inboxzero.com/video/
http://cherry-tomato.googlecode.com/files/
pomodoro-technique-illustrated-in-flowchart.png
http://www.activeinboxhq.com/
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/
http://www.clearcontext.com/gtd/ 6065/6103473185_db67d652d9_b.jpg
http://www.hawkwings.net/2005/11/18/got-some- http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/the-
things-done-with-apple-mail-pt-i/ pomodoro-technique-is-it-right-for-you.html
Tuesday, October 2, 12

30. Thank You
Fabian Alcantara - @fabuloso
Tuesday, October 2, 12