The Simplest Home Office Productivity Method

Productivity is one of the single most important concept in today’s day and age, especially because of the countless distractions and things we have to do on a daily basis. Our to-do lists can quickly get out of hand, our desks can easily be full of clutter and sticky notes to remind you on what you need to do. We may even have multiple places where we input reminders but remembering all those locations can ‘do your head in’ on its own.

There must be a simpler way - one that you can trust and put your mind at ease. In addition to customizing your home office organizers, we will need to tackle and conquer the '800 lb guerilla', the to-do list. The method below will seem simple - and that’s the way it should be.

There are countless productivity apps out there to stay organized and it can be challenging to know which one will work best for you. Some are complicated and some are too simple to accomplish your specific types of tasks. To know where to record your action items so that it will be used and not just become another piece of sticky note that covers your desk, you’ll want to assess the type of tasks that you have.

You may find that some tasks have deadlines and some do not. Some are urgent, and some are just important and needs to get done some time, but you know that if you leave an item in the cumulative list and never get around to it, it may never get done. Some items can be done within 2 minutes and some items may contain many subtasks. Here’s how you can easily separate your tasks.

1. Use a Calendar and whenever a task comes out that has a deadline write it in there immediately. If you’re using electronics, you may want to set an alert or notification.
   
2. If the task doesn’t have a deadline but deemed important, have a place to list them either in an app or on paper. Non-important tasks are optional to put on this list because if they’re neither important nor urgent, why should they take priority over your endless other priority items? When they become important, you’ll know to add them to the list.
   
3. If the task needs to be done today, have a daily to-do notepad so that you don’t get distracted by looking at the countless to-do items you have.
   

When the next day comes, check your calendar and the ‘no-deadline’ items list to see if you have to add any of them to the TODAY’s Action Items list. Wala. Now you can sleep better at night ;)

Have you ever added something into your to-do list just to find out that it’s not a task you can just check off? The reason why is because they are classified as “projects” instead of tasks. Projects consist of multiple tasks and tasks is a one-off item that can be checked off when completed. Projects can only be checked off once all of the subtasks are completed. Therefore, when you add action items to your to-do list, make sure they are Actionable.

In the case that you have many Projects that have many steps to completion, you may want to separate the project into another location (app or paper) with all the tasks listed, grouped and prioritized vertically.

To ensure that you’re on top of your workload without feeling overwhelmed, you must check all of your lists on a daily basis, even if it just means a brief 90-second overview. For instance, check your calendar to see if there are any urgent tasks that need to be done first, check your non-deadline action list to see if there are any you need to add, check your projects to see if they need to be updated, and then prioritize your Daily action list. This way, you can trust that you have all your ducks in a row and your mind can truly rest at night, knowing that everything is accounted for.