Productivity System Meta Log

Mind Dump.txt v3

Version 2 of the Productivity .txt file

This is my .txt productivity log. Keeps track of my list per the different projects and activities I have to do. Also helps me write down all of my distractions, and emotionally process and prepare for difficult activities.

It combines some of my Focus System with some of the principles and ideas from this Hacker News forum on .txt productivity systems. I have done my best to document the aspects and features of it below:

Terminology

Missions ~ Broad, ongoing goals or services that direct your professional or personal life.

Projects ~ Initiatives that cannot be completed in a single session and are often subsets of larger missions.

Tasks ~ Initiatives that can be completed in a single session, often part of a project or mission.

Principles

"Strive to reduce your obligations to the point where you can easily imagine accomplishing them with time to spare. Leverage this reduced load to more fully embrace and advance the small number of projects that matter most."
~ Cal Newport, Slow Productivity [8]

"Don't rush your most important work. Allow it instead to unfold along a sustainable timeline, with variations in intensity, in settings conductive to brilliance."
~ Cal Newport, Slow Productivity [8]

"Obsess over the quality of what you procedure, even if this means missing opportunities in the short term. Leverage the value of these results to gain more and more freedom in your efforts over the long term."
~ Cal Newport, Slow Productivity [8]

"The only way to be sure it will happen is to do some of it today, no matter how little, and no matter how many other genuinely big rocks[projects] may be begging for your attention."
~ Oliver Brukeman, Four Thousand Weeks [9]

"Fix a hard upper limit on the number of things that you allow yourself to work on at any given time. Recommended no more than three items at once. Once you've selected those tasks, all other incoming demands on your time must wait until one of the three items has been completed, thereby freeing up a slot (It's also permissible to free up a slot by abandoning a project altogether if it isn't working out.)"
~ Oliver Brukeman, Four Thousand Weeks [9]

"Make a list of the top twenty-five things you want out of life and then to arrange them in order, from the most important to the least. The top five, should be those which you organize your time. The remaining twenty should be actively avoided at all costs. You need to learn how to start saying no to things you do want to do, with teh recognition that you have only one life."
~ Oliver Brukeman, Four Thousand Weeks [9]

Procedure

This is something that I am actively working on improving and 'getting right'. My goal is to have something that will let me utilize the foundational principles of a 'Pull System'[8] and living with a finite amount of time[9].

Deciding Which Projects To Actively Focus On

Does this project align with the top five priorities of my life, or is it one of the remaining twenty that should be actively avoided to ensure I am focusing on what truly matters?
Does this project push you out of your comfort zone and promote growth?
Are the productivity and performance standards for this project achievable and realistic?
Does this project diminish you or enlarge you in terms of personal and professional growth?
Does this project align with who you are, rather than an idealized version of yourself?
Are you holding back on this project until you feel more prepared, or is it actionable now?
Would you approach this project differently if you didn't care about immediate results?

How To Handle Active Projects

Completed Projects: Removed from the Active List, freeing up space for new projects.
Paritally Completed Projects:
- If I can't stick to this task, what makes me think I'll stick to the new one?
- You're allowed to switch out this project, but you aren't allowed to go back to it. It must be destroyed.
Delayed Projects: Set a reminder, calendar event, or scheduled email to check back in on the progress of the delay. Move to the hold of the holding tank in the mean time.

Daily Procedure

Morning:

Review calendar and Today's note for tasks for the day.
During The Day:

Record ideas, thoughts, tasks, cool urls, and potential projects to 'dump'

Add completed tasks or projects to 'Done'

Add any timely events, tasks or projects to calendar
After Work/Before Bed:

Update Holding Tank with new tasks or projects from dump/email .etc

Update project progress in the Active List

Create tomorrow's 'Today List'

Add scheduled events to Schedule section of tomorrows 'Today List'

.txt Features

There have been a lot of inspirations of the specific features and capabilities of this text file. This discussion[1] sparked many of them.

The Holding Tank

The portion of my text file where ideas and potential todos are stored

Things don't necessarily start here, but this is where a bunch of projects and tasks go to rest.

The Active List

The portion of my text file where active projects are stored

Today's List

The Daily Slip v28

Version 26 of the Daily Slip

The Daily Slip is a 1/3 piece of paper that I carry with my throughout my day to remind me of what I have to do to take the best care of myself. It can fold up and fit into a wallet if necessary and contains todays to do list, a daily journal, and habit/routine tracking.

I have been using the daily slip system everyday for almost a full year. The secret being that every time my routines change, I change the daily slip. Everytime I get bored of what I'm doing, I change the daily slip. Everytime I learn something new and want to apply it, I change the daily slip.