Daily Distractions I Must Fight

5 comments:

1. On September 1st, 2006 at 2:12 pm, Dave Seah wrote:

   Heh, I seem to have the same problems as you! Thanks for sharing, and good luck!

2. On September 1st, 2006 at 6:30 pm, Chris wrote:

   Wow - I use the Emergent Task Timer at work and was just showing it to some of my co-workers!! I’ve been using it for about a month - it’s great. A comment from Dave Seah is like one from a movie star as far as I’m concerned ;-) Have you tried using it yet?

   Another idea - have you tried the “invisibility cloak” greasemonkey script for Firefox? You can block sites during certain hours of the day (e.g., photojojo, flickr) so you can focus better.

3. On September 1st, 2006 at 7:00 pm, Maria wrote:

   I learned about Dave early this week, while checking the 9rules Personal Community. In his interview for 9rules, Dave mentions the “Printable CEO”, so I went and checked it out.

   The tool that caught my attention was the list of tasks worth doing (I’m not sure if that’s the same tool you’re talking about). Although not all of his tasks and points match mine (obviously), I thought it was a very good visual reminder to keep close at hand.

   I haven’t created my list and I’m not filling out the progress chart yet, but the overall concept is genius. I mean: If you’re seriously driven by goals, it’s all about providing yourself a measurable incentive system that matches your work/business/productivity goals… Such an “MBA-ista” concept.

   It does not surprise me that you already knew about this…

4. On September 1st, 2006 at 9:00 pm, Chris wrote:

   I’ve been meaning to get back to his site to check out the other pieces of the “Printable CEO” series. The specific tool I use right now is this: http://davidseah.com/tools/ett/alpha/ - it allows me to track what I am doing and how long I spend on it, while sounding every 15 min. to remind me to stay on task. I do a better job of noting what I am doing (I have a lot of different projects going at once and struggle to write down when I switch between tasks when recording on paper) and at the end of the day I know I have a “scorecard” waiting for me - it works for me.

   I also started using Wallnote at the same time to keep my to-do list (with Windows you can integrate it into your desktop)…I’ve tried a number of tools (Backpack, Orchestrate HQ, Google, etc.) so far and haven’t stuck with one long enough yet to recommend it.

5. On September 1st, 2006 at 11:56 pm, Maria wrote:

   Cool – and beautifully designed – tool, indeed.

   I keep track of my time and activities in a spreadsheet. I used to track each project separately for billing and analysis purposes, but finally moved to consolidate all data (including project summaries) in a single place, so that I can use it later for scoping. After more than a year, I have now enough detail on what different activities usually take me, so scoping and quoting a project for a client is a lot easier than it used to be.

   For my to-do list, I use my Mac’s calendar application (iCal). It gives me everything I need: notes, deadlines, priorities, and reminders (email, system message, or sound)… Lately moving towards email because popup reminders are just irritating and completely distracting.

   I was telling Joey… Once I start the timer on a project task, I can go undistracted for hours. The “challenge” is getting me started in the mornings. That’s when posts and comments are fresh, and if I don’t stop myself, I can spend a lot of time browsing and reading. That’s where Dave’s list of worthy tasks is a great idea, and the 15min buzzer from the ETT should also help a lot. I’m thinking I’m going to use the ETT tool to track the time spent on GUILTY PLEASURE activities… Should act like a nagging parent asking me to stop.

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