Simple Tips To Stay Productive and Organized

For a while I’ve been experimenting with different ways to stay productive and organized as a DevOps Engineer, Manager and aspiring Start-Up Founder.

As one would have it, there are many guides, books, tutorials, walk-through’s and even videos around the topic of self organization and productivity.

However, I’ve found a handful of points that have personally helped me stay organized and just that bit more productive over the last few weeks.

1. Never procrastinate, do what you can do today, today.

Famous wise words that I’m sure we’ve heard from our teachers, mentors, parents, and senior figures in our life, but there is so much to gain just by following this tiny piece of wisdom. If you think of the time you have in a day as a finite resource, the picture becomes a bit clearer. If you’ve only been given 24 hours worth of time for today. Anything that you can accomplish today but choose not to, will be borrowed out of tomorrow’s 24 hours of finite time. I’ve found that choosing to go out of my comfort zone and doing tasks today instead of pushing them to tomorrow, has given me not only a fuller feeling of accomplishment, but also has allowed me to have more time to complete more the next day.

2. Do one thing at a time.

This sounds counter-intuitive but it actually works a great deal. Focus only on the task or problem at hand. You will actually achieve more and complete it at a higher quality, than if you were multi-tasking on multiple tasks and problems. Take time out, put everything else on hold. The world will not end for the 30 minutes or so that you’re going to spend focusing on one task. I also find that this enhances my concentration and focus in general for the day, and that I’m very “switched on”.

3. Have less things.

If you didn’t wear that jumper for the last four years, then I think it’s safe to say you won’t be wearing it for awhile. Throw it out. Do not become a hamster. If you don’t use something and haven’t for a while, archive it, and then throw it away. Both digitally, and physically. Doing this helps your mind to declutter, it makes it much easier for your personal workspace to fit inside your head. My room has gone through three “declutter sessions” along with my email and filing systems. I can easily tell you where everything is, and how much of everything I have at the drop of a hat. It also means I’m more prepared and my brain is readied to take in new information, tasks, problems most of the time.

4. Keep It Simple

Borrowing from the KISS principle, keep everything simple. Don’t over-think, over-organize, over-estimate. Keep all workflows, ideas, workstreams simple and easy to understand. If your kids or other children can’t understand what it is you’re doing, chances are it’s over-complicated. Simplify it.

5. Use one tool only for organization and note-taking, and make sure it is always accessible.

Be it pen and paper, a whiteboard, trello, evernote, JIRA, Outlook or Google Calender. Use one tool and make sure that it is always accessible and to hand. Get in the habit of making it second nature to make a note of things to do. This tool must become an extension of your brain. Once it does, time-management, resource management, priorities all start to fall into place, as you are constantly evaluating use of your time and energy and are keeping it in check.