I want it to be a blog mostly about programming but let me start
with productivity first. Since I have been struggling a lot with this
topic at the beginning of my programming “career”. Spoiler alert: I
guess I found my way – at least for now.
I’ve always had big issues with getting stuff done. There is always “later”.
“Do the dishes!”
“Later!”
“Do your homework!”
“Later!”
“Do (blah blah blah)!” … Guess my answer.
And I know I’m not the only one.
Unluckily, I have never had any troubles with studying, it was just enough for me to sit down in the class and memorize all the information needed to get at least the “Satisfactory”. It’s unfortunate because I have never had to work on my planning skills before.
And then 3 years ago I started university, moved out 100 kilometers away from my hometown. My life became harder. I had to prepare my food, tidy up my apartment, study, clean after my (ex)boyfriend, do the laundry, groceries… The list goes on…
I’m not saying there is anything special in it. I had to start dealing with the ordinary, regular, adult’s life.
First, I was making hundreds of to do lists, adding events to my Google Calendar. Reading the whole Internet (okay, maybe not so much) on how to be productive, motivated, get all the stuff done and do more programming. I didn’t have enough time for it because there was always something that was driving me from coding.
I’ve almost read Getting Things Done by David Allen and tried to implement the GTD method in my life since about 2 years – using OneNote, Evernote, Remember The Milk, WunderList and few apps more. Then I read Zen To Done by Leo Babauta. It was way simpler but still not so easy to apply.
And after reading many books and articles on GTD, ZTD and a lot more on productivity in general (oh, my procrastination!) I couldn’t find my way to get the stuff done.
I tried to use one rule after another. Learning new habits like cleaning everything just after I finished some activities, planning what to do next and writing motivational quotes on the wall. Still I can’t figure out exactly how to make my planning 100% work. There is always something that makes my plan fall into pieces. And very often it’s me.
One of the reminders that is currently on my wall to help me with getting stuff done you can see right below. This applies also to solving programming problems but it’s another topic.
After all, I was spending more time on categorizing tasks: adding
them to my lists which I had an excess, thinking of where to put them
than actually doing it. I don’t need that many categories to get my
stuff done but I still need a place for my all tasks to-be-done and one
for my ideas. I have many ideas and even more since I’ve been writing
them down. I want to do a lot more than coding for all my life like i.e.
knitting, playing the guitar or interior design. And all I want to
do interfere with my programming practice. 24 hours is not enough time
to accomplish everything so we need to choose wisely what to spend time
on.
So my issue was that I was being too focused on how to manage my tasks than to deal with them. And then I saw the presentation of GMD. And thas was finally IT.
Here’s the video on GMD that actually made me finally decide “I’m starting a blog”. The presentation is given by Polish programmer Maciej Aniserowicz. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any version with English subtitles but big part is used by me so I’ll write more on this topic down below.
Before applying GMD I’ve been using OneNote mostly because it is a great desktop app. I had a quite big notepad with sections:
Categories? Forget it. I added descriptive titles or subtitles. I wrote few keywords in note’s title or first line that I might use in the future to find it later. One great feature of OneNote is that it indexes every note, even pictures but I haven’t test it yet, and I can find everything so easily! For example some note with useful software looks like this:
In conclusion, I’m not saying that any of the methods is wrong and you shouldn’t use it. I do recommend you to read both Getting Things Done by David Allen, Zen To Done by Leo Babauta or other books you might find useful on this topic. For me it just didn’t work and I was too stupid to think of an easier method myself.
What is your algorithm for planning? What is your method?
I’ve always had big issues with getting stuff done. There is always “later”.
“Do the dishes!”
“Later!”
“Do your homework!”
“Later!”
“Do (blah blah blah)!” … Guess my answer.
And I know I’m not the only one.
Unluckily, I have never had any troubles with studying, it was just enough for me to sit down in the class and memorize all the information needed to get at least the “Satisfactory”. It’s unfortunate because I have never had to work on my planning skills before.
And then 3 years ago I started university, moved out 100 kilometers away from my hometown. My life became harder. I had to prepare my food, tidy up my apartment, study, clean after my (ex)boyfriend, do the laundry, groceries… The list goes on…
I’m not saying there is anything special in it. I had to start dealing with the ordinary, regular, adult’s life.
First, I was making hundreds of to do lists, adding events to my Google Calendar. Reading the whole Internet (okay, maybe not so much) on how to be productive, motivated, get all the stuff done and do more programming. I didn’t have enough time for it because there was always something that was driving me from coding.
I’ve almost read Getting Things Done by David Allen and tried to implement the GTD method in my life since about 2 years – using OneNote, Evernote, Remember The Milk, WunderList and few apps more. Then I read Zen To Done by Leo Babauta. It was way simpler but still not so easy to apply.
And after reading many books and articles on GTD, ZTD and a lot more on productivity in general (oh, my procrastination!) I couldn’t find my way to get the stuff done.
I tried to use one rule after another. Learning new habits like cleaning everything just after I finished some activities, planning what to do next and writing motivational quotes on the wall. Still I can’t figure out exactly how to make my planning 100% work. There is always something that makes my plan fall into pieces. And very often it’s me.
One of the reminders that is currently on my wall to help me with getting stuff done you can see right below. This applies also to solving programming problems but it’s another topic.
So my issue was that I was being too focused on how to manage my tasks than to deal with them. And then I saw the presentation of GMD. And thas was finally IT.
Here’s the video on GMD that actually made me finally decide “I’m starting a blog”. The presentation is given by Polish programmer Maciej Aniserowicz. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any version with English subtitles but big part is used by me so I’ll write more on this topic down below.
Before applying GMD I’ve been using OneNote mostly because it is a great desktop app. I had a quite big notepad with sections:
- Inbox
- Next tasks
- TODO later
- Delegated – which I’ve never used
- Projects – many-step to-dos
- Work
- University
- DIY
- Thesis
- Archive – here was a bunch of information with separate sections like: work, uni, DIY or student associations. Those information were just reference materials. I could take a look on them in case of “emergency”. It was something I didn’t want to trash but now I don’t need to use so often or just stuff that might be useful one day.
- TO-DO
- Ideas
Categories? Forget it. I added descriptive titles or subtitles. I wrote few keywords in note’s title or first line that I might use in the future to find it later. One great feature of OneNote is that it indexes every note, even pictures but I haven’t test it yet, and I can find everything so easily! For example some note with useful software looks like this:
In conclusion, I’m not saying that any of the methods is wrong and you shouldn’t use it. I do recommend you to read both Getting Things Done by David Allen, Zen To Done by Leo Babauta or other books you might find useful on this topic. For me it just didn’t work and I was too stupid to think of an easier method myself.
What is your algorithm for planning? What is your method?
