For the last few weeks, I feel like I’m on a productivity plateau, or maybe even stalled.
I can see things slipping through the cracks, and have a sense of unease that I just haven’t been getting through what I previously was getting through.
I haven’t been feeling as fulfilled at the end of each day.
I realise that I’ve fallen off the wagon.
Hmm. Not good. I’m still doing some good things, like running each morning (that’s a real habit now). I’m still keeping email closed (most of the time) and I’m 2.5 weeks into establishing a brand new habit, which I’m pleased with. But my working day is not feeling like it should.
So I traced this back to where I think it started, and where it started was when I relinquished my tablet PC to someone at work who needed it more, and returned to a desktop PC.
How is this relevant? Well, ALL of my project and action management is kept in a piece of software that I’m writing. It has everything in it. When I switched to the desktop PC, I had to install a second instance on my home PC. The upshot is that I no longer have a single place to organise my tasks. This was the beginning of the productivity leak.
My pocket notepad started to fill up, as I slipped the habit of updating the system and tearing the page out. As a result, actions started to mount up. My paper in-basket was full, and my email Inbox had filled to about 45 items (which I realise isn’t bad compared to many people).
It was back to the GTD fundamentals for me.
- Get the collection process going again (pocket notepad). Check
- Process the items into projects and actions. Check
- Process my email inbox and paper in-basket. Check
These have been the high priority tasks for the last 2 days, and I’m happy to say that I’m feeling better already. Having done these and removed the guilt, I could then prioritise my actions with greater clarity and purpose.
Feeling much better!
I’ve concluded that I agree with David Allen in that it’s easy to fall off the wagon, but it’s easy to get back on again quickly.
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