Productivity Systems

The tools and techniques that I've tried but don't work for me. Maybe they work for you.

    • Emacs PlannerMode

    • Don't Break the Chain e.g. http://dontbreakthechain.com/

      • didn't feel the need to keep streaks alive

    • GTD

      • weekly reviews, which I thought would be useful, never caught on as a habit

  • RescueTime

      • tracked applications running on the computer, gave a score based on what you thought were productive/unproductive (specifically applications and websites, if not necessarily tasks)

      • may come back to it, though I was very much discouraged by the removal of tagging

Unsure about

    • More than one monitor

      • do I just open more windows and run out of short term memory (in my brain, that is) about what I was doing?

    • "Read later" systems

      • do I just shift from starred items or tabs to the 'read later' pile (currently Instapaper)

Why Didn't They Work?

    • systems not customizable enough

    • don't help me do what I want

    • I don't know what I want to do to begin with

    • I don't really want to do anything

      • of course that's not true. There's lots I want to do. There's just much that I do that I resist.

      • often means more work for others

      • doing stuff can be tiring

      • if I have to remember to do it, I must have some resistance against doing it