Get more done by automating your life

I’ve always been focused on personal productivity, and have frequently searched out ways to save time and energy and get more done. It’s bordered on an obsession sometimes, to be honest, and I have often wonder why use such shortcuts at all. And then, three big projects hit at once… and I thank my lucky stars that I did the “prep work” to squeeze as much out of my day as possible.

(A quick sidenote: This posting is inspired by the “How I work” series on Lifehacker, and I highly recommend that you check it out here).

Use a “ubiquitous capture device” to keep your mind focused: Part of how I can get stuffs done is by not getting distracted. I prevent myself from getting distracted by keeping my mind clear and uncluttered. I keep my mind uncluttered by “dumping” stuff that comes to mind into what productivity guru David Allen calls a “ubiquitous capture device.” Many people use a notebook for this, I use an iPhone app called Simplenote, that syncs across devices and platforms.

Use smart mailboxes and mailbox rules. Manage your e-mail communication automatically with e-mail rules, and set up smart mailboxes to aggregate certain types of messages. More on this here, here and here.

Sync everything you can. Use Dropbox or other cloud services to sync your documents and working files. Use iCloud or similar services to sync your personal information. Use Notational Velocity to keep your writing synced between all your computers (it also integrates with the aforementioned Simplenote).

Use keyboard shortcuts (on steroids): Apps like Alfred allow you to quickly do things on your computer or on the Internet (like Google searches), and Text Expander lets you prefill preset content by just entering a simple keyboard shortcut.

Build your own personal newspaper(s). Use Paper.li to find content you like (and share it with the world). Use Zite and Flipboard to aggregate stories in areas you like to read or learn about. And use Instapaper or Pocket to save web articles and stories for off-line viewing at your convenience.

Keep organized with Evernote. If you use Evernote, I don’t need to say anything. If you don’t… well, try it. You’ll be impressed.

Go digital for all magazines and books. The new Next Issue app features a Netflix-like “All you can eat” model for magazines. For either $10 or $15 a month you get access to a huge selection of magazines such as Entertainment Weekly, Popular Mechanics, Sports Illustrated, Vogue, Time and more. And of course the Kindle apps and the iBookstore allows you to download books so you can have a whole library of titles with you at all times.

There’s an app for that. There are some great apps to keep you organized and on track of things. I use OmniFocus to track my projects and Fly Delta to check-in when I travel for business or pleasure. I use White Noise to help me sleep at night. And so on. Spend a few minutes exploring the app store for your device, and I daresay you will find at least one app that will make your life just a little bit better.

Automate social media: I use If This Then That and TwitterFeed to automate messages and respond to various things. It also posts links that I “star” in Google Reader on a regular basis, so I can share what I find interesting with my (thousands of) Twitter followers. (You have to be careful not to overdo this, though. Twitter is an interactive medium, and you have to spend time there to get the most value out of it… You can’t just “phone it in.”)

Get the most out of your smartphone. Don’t have time to answer a call? The newest version of the iPhone operating system allows you to ignore the call AND send a text message. Want to use your phone as a remote control? As noted above, there’s an app for that. If you have an Android phone that supports Near Field Communication, you can use apps like Tasker to automate things with a tap (you can program an NFC tag in your car to turn on hands free when you tap your phone against it, for example).

That’s all I can think of for now, but as I mentioned when I started this post, I’m always looking for more ways to get more done… so stay tuned.

Comments are closed.