I’ve found it increasingly difficult to focus when working from my laptop. I want to focus on creating, writing, etc., but I’m tempted to check email, the latest internet news, twitter, etc. So, I went looking for help.I found help. I found SelfControl, a free app that blocks access to the things that distract you for a predetermined amount of time.
SelfControl is simple. You click the SelfControl icon and set the amount of time you want your access to particular websites/email servers restricted (I set it to block all internet access). Then, a small timer appears on your desktop and begins to count down.
I’ve been using SelfControl for three weeks now. I love it. I typically set the timer for 1 hour chunks, position the timer in the right hand corner of my desktop, then crank away at my work. I’m noticeably more productive and focused because of this handy little app. Go get SelfControl.
I was recently thumbing through an old, out-of-print edition of Letters of C. S. Lewis (Edited, with a Memoir, by W. H. Lewis) that I found tucked away at an old antique furniture store (for Linda). And, in it, I came across this little gem – a letter that Lewis wrote to a girl in America who wrote asking him to give her advice about writing. Here it is:
1. Turn off the radio (substitute in computer, iPod, T.V., etc.).
2. Read all the good books you can, and avoid nearly all magazines (I wonder if he’d include blogs in that, as well. Hmm…)
3. Always write (and read) with the ear, not the eye. You should hear every sentence you write as if it was being read aloud or spoken. If it does not sound nice, try again.
4. Write about what really interests you, whether it is real things or imaginary things, and nothing else. Notice this means that if you are interested only in writing you will never be a writer, because you will have nothing to write about…
5. Take great pains to be clear. Remember that though you start by knowing what you mean, the reader doesn’t, and a single ill-chosen word may lead him to a total misunderstanding. In a story it is terribly easy just to forget that you have not told the reader something that he wants to know – the whole picture is so clear in your own mind that you forget that it isn’t the same in his.
6. When you give up a bit of work don’t (unless it is hopelessly bad) throw it away. Put it in a drawer. It may come in useful later. Much of my best work, or what I think my best, is the re-writing of things begun and abandoned years earlier.
7. Don’t use a typewriter. The noise will destroy your sense of rhythm, which still needs years of training.
8. Be sure you know the meaning (or meanings) of every word you use.
Through great blogs like whatsbestnext, I have been learning invaluable lessons regarding management, leadership, and most recently productivity.
One of the most helpful productivity tools that I’ve learned (hence, the title of the post), has been time-blocking. I honestly wish I had learned about this earlier. But better late than never, right?
But basically, it’s a method that people use to fight an “interruption-driven culture” where the average person is interrupted every 11 minutes by emails, phone calls, taps on the shoulder, etc. This results in work being pushed back, which further results in higher stress levels, which further results in numerous health problems (e.g. hypertension, high blood pressure, etc.)
I’ve been using this method for the last few weeks now and – take it from one who probably should be diagnosed with A.D.D. – it works. My productivity level has shot up dramatically (Why do I feel like a sleazy infomercial salesman right now?)
Anyway, here’s a video clip of Gina Tripani describing this method in more detail. She comes at it from more of a business-world perspective, but, trust me, it can be applied to any situation (e.g. student, pastor, etc.)
More productivity lessons I’ve learned coming soon…
