Spend a lot of time on your laptop? Here's a simple way to 2X your productivity & get **** done!

[Xolorr]

Genius!

Thanks man! Glad you found it valuable ⚡️

 

[DennisD]

I think I have the opposite problem.
I might try this but instead have things like:

• Go outside.
• Spend time with your damn wife.
• This this REALLY need to be done RIGHT NOW?

Roughly 700% of my time is spent working.

I need to justify more relaxation time, which in turn makes my working time more productive.

 

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[LittleWolfie]

So basically Evernote?

 

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[Xolorr]

How can you implement this sticky note system on your phone?

I mean yes we are working away on laptops but when we are going out working on phone is good too.

Any sticky app for iOS?

As far as my iOS App knowledge goes, developers don’t have the functionality to make something “Stick” to your home screen.

I’m not sure how you would implement this on your phone.

Looking at the development of this thread, im definitely considering using something like todoist to ”dump” all of my ideas and tasks, and then select the most crucial ones for my sticky on my laptop. That way I’ll still have some form of reference on my phone

 

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[Xolorr]

I had to pop in to say thanks for the tip! I started using this and it's working for me.
One of my tasks was actually to come say thank you so I am not deviating.

Ok... checking this one off...

So glad it’s made a difference in your life [emoji1430] Please keep me posted with how you like it long term, and any adjustments you make to the system [emoji298]️

 

[Xolorr]

So clever
I'm going to implement it right now.
I've always used To Do List, but I'm out of track sometimes.
I think that having your goals staring at you will increase drastically your productivity.

Yeah!
For me it also helps hugely when I go off track. If I open up a new tab of YouTube for example, it’s very difficult to watch anything when those goals are staring me in the face.

 

[Xolorr]

Nice. I do the same thing but on my pin board (real life physical board, not the website). Definitely saves a lot of time. Surprised so many are Mac users. Am a windows

Yeah! I’m definitely going to get a pin board setup with my longer term goals, motivation, etc. but for me, I’m traveling a lot (don’t let that fool you, I’m not making much money yet), so I need it to be on my mobile work station.

 

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[Xolorr]

Thank you

Rep +++

Thanks for the rep!
How are you finding it?

 

[Bearcorp]

This is great thanks @Xolorr! I keep a note pad next to my computer and have shit written all over the place and things still get missed, exactly what I needed!

 

[Gepi]

If you are more visually inclined, I would like to share something I found originally very useful for digital drawing references.
It works very easy and you can have any picture you like floating on top all the time, of course coupled with screenshots of any text. But foremost it is really very useful for keeping that favorite motivational picture staring at you
PureRef - Download

 

[Shinebabe]

Stickies in Windows doesn't seam to be able to float on top.

Same here

 

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[Shinebabe]

Click in the top left corner of the sticky note (so that the corner has darker color) and it will stay on top. Works in Windows 7.

Thanks would try this on Windows 10

 

[HackVenture]

Interesting idea!

 

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[John Walker]

*Not selling ANYTHING, just wanted to share my new To Do system (Which, believe it or not, you already have installed on your computer )*

"Success is simple. It's making a list, crossing everything off the list, and then making another list."

If you're anything like me, you spend HOURS a day on your computer, but you still struggle to direct all that energy and time onto what actually needs to be done. Nowadays, it is way too easy to pop open a new tab, and spend thousands of your life-rations (Read unscripted again if this doesn't ring a bell!) endlessly scrolling through Facebook and Instagram, or watching your favorite vlogger on youtube, and even this forum if you aren't directing that time towards a specific problem!

It happens to me all the time! I don't even want to know the amount of time I've wasted mindlessly strolling through the internet, even when I know what I should be doing instead!

When it comes to what you should be doing instead, I know the importance of To-Do lists, trello cards, and productivity systems, but I could never seem to stick to any of them, and just kept jumping from one to the other, wasting even more time learning each latest software and building the lists.

Until I found this ridiculously simple method.

I'm going to use the GSD method as the example here, mostly because I LOVE it, and because I'm jealous that I can't use the name. I starting using this a little after I joined the forum, and it revolutionized the way I, well, get sh*t done. It was by far the best To Do list system I've used, and I've used a lot.

The only issue? You can escape it.

I constantly had to remind myself to load up the webpage that has Trello on it, and then reshuffle all my tasks to keep track. It was so out of the way that I eventually just stopped using it. As soon as you can escape it, it is less effective. Out of sight, out of mind.

I realized this, and tried to find a way to change it. Pinning it to cover half of my laptop screen, and a bunch of other stupid ideas. Untill I found this.

View attachment 21087

Stickies? Yeah. These things are a LIFE saver, and as far as I know, they come installed on all computers. (Don't leave yet, I promise it works)

SO, my system:

Step one:
You need to open up the program and create two new stickies. I like to keep mine around the same size, and two different colors.

View attachment 21088

Step two:
Write at the top of one sticky, in bold, GOALS, and at the top of the other, TO DO.

View attachment 21089

Step three:
As the names would suggest, you should fill the GOALS segment with your goals. Give your road a destination. THIS IS OF VITAL IMPORTANCE. If you don't write down your goals, this system will NOT work at cutting out your procrastination, as I will explain later.
If you don't write down your goals, this is the perfect time start. Make sure they're big and scary, and they're what you actually want.
It should look something like this:

View attachment 21090

Step four:
Write down your to-do list. Now here's the important part, this isn't the "Go to the grocery store" "get milk" type of list. (I mean if you need to remind yourself, it's a great way, but that ain't the point.) Every action on your to-do list HAS to line up with one of your goals on the sticky next to it. It pays to be specific here. Instead of putting "Billionaire by 14" as a goal, you should put "Grow my lemonade stand empire to 5 billion" WHY? Because now you're limited to focusing on what's actually going to get you there. Suddenly all those fly-by-night business ideas don't work, because they don't align with your goals.

View attachment 21091

This streamlines what you do. If you're even thinking about doing something, write it down and compare it to your goals. Does it help you get there? What I also like to do is make important tasks bold. All you do is highlight the task and hit CMD/CNTRL + B. Now you know what to prioritize at a glance.

Step five (The Magic):
See that toolbar at the top? You're going to want to open the "Window" tab, and hit "Float on top". Viola.

View attachment 21092

Make sure you do this to BOTH of your stickies, and you're golden.

Nothing happened?

Try open something on your computer.

View attachment 21093

You now have the full functionality of your computer and any software, with your to do list and goals staring you in the face THE ENTIRE TIME. They are now the most important thing on your computer, and they get treated like it. It gets really annoying sometimes, they end up in akward places covering important parts of your screen, and you have to shift them around a lot, but that's why it works.

It becomes ridiculously hard to watch a vlog, netflix, or scroll facebook, with those two huge reminders of what you're MEANT TO be doing and where you WANT TO be hovering above your Game Of Thrones.

This has worked WONDERS for me over the past month, and I hope it helps you too! There are a million variations of this, but this is what I've found works so far.

K.I.S.S.

Drop any feedback, ideas, improvements below! Let's build a kickass system ⚡️

I found the idea very interesting, I suffer from the same problem, I start to build the system, after a few days I forget that it exists and I lose focus, I have already used several applications to build my task lists and I always see myself deflecting the focus on them and not feeding them anymore.

Are you using this system for task list, but do you also use a schedule? I have difficulty separating tasks that have date and time to happen, if everything gets mixed up I get confused at the execution and I lose time. How do you handle tasks with dates and times? Do you use another application?

 

[Edwin Fernandez]

Thanks for the tip. I had the same problem with the other time management tools, never stuck with them.

I did it, it is a little annoying because the notes are taking up screen space, which is the whole point, right.
Let's see how this goes.

 

[Xolorr]

Hi Xolorr,

That valuable post took time, I'm assuming; thanks a lot for caring to share!

I might give it a try for a week or two. Mind you my good ol' fashion pen and notebook have worked really well for me for the last 18 months, but I may incorporate the "GOALS'' concept.

The goals factor is really the biggest for me!
Glad you're giving it a try

 

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[CaioSakai]

That's a very interesting idea OP, I'll try it out.

 

[ellepro]

Yeah! I’m definitely going to get a pin board setup with my longer term goals, motivation, etc. but for me, I’m traveling a lot (don’t let that fool you, I’m not making much money yet), so I need it to be on my mobile work station.

what do u do?