Personal Productivity Update 2021

I believe I may have done one of these far back, but since then a lot of things have changed personally and for us all. To be more specific, I have changed my methods of productivity several times as well. It has overall become more simplified. I am not using as many apps and services as I was at the time time. The upkeep was pretty demanding at the time and I found it to be a bit overly complicated. Below I will share my current system.

1. Calendar - Google Calendar. This is where I keep my events and activities. I do fill up every space of every day, including sleep. I am not as detailed as I once was. For example, instead of getting as detailed as a 2 minute segment to brush teeth, activities like that are lumped into a larger segment so the calendar is less cluttered. This is also easier for when things go off track which they most often do. Google calendar is free to use, syncs across every device I use, and is easy to use.

2. To Do List - Nozbe. I use Nozbe for all of my to dos. It syncs on every device I use as well. I can use it for reoccurring events and I can schedule things out. Tasks can be marked as priority for extra focus and also can be viewed in calendar form. Tasks can be organized in categories and projects. I have been using it since 2016 and has kept me productive and on track. Nozbe is a paid subscription app - you can find more about it here https://nozbe.com/?a=michaelszubrowski

3. Time Tracking. Now I use ATracker for all my time-tracking purposes now. I track every activity with good detail still. As far as time budgeting is concerned, there are goals in that app that can set up to either limit or set a goal.

4. Goals. I have shifted my goal methods the most. There were times where I wasn't even having much of a goals. Now I use Nozbe to track goals and have reminders to set them up. This is also a paid app, but the price is low and is worth it.

5. Life Plan. In 2016, I made a life plan which I review monthly. The life plan is a high level and more general. I look at the main areas of my life from what you would call a bird's eye view.

That is how my productivity system works now. I find this system to be very effective for me and I am hoping to stick with it for quite a while. I wish the best for your productivity system as well. Thanks and stay well.

You can be productive, or you can not

Needless to say the last year hasn’t gone as planned. A trap that I fall into is to not bother being as productive when things go off track. It is a bad habit to fall into, because things often do off track. This is where we are faced with a choice as simple as whether we are to be productive or not. There are many things that get in the way of things going in as planned, so we can still choose to be as productive as we can be. Here are a few tips that I find helpful.

1. Keep updating your schedule. We can make a schedule for the whole day, week, month, etc. Especially longer term schedules are likely to change. Even a schedule for the day will change. When things go off track, it's best to adjust it to get back on track. As a caveat though, It may be counterproductive to constantly update your schedule obsessively.

2. Build in flexibility. Plan for things to change. Build in extra time here and there. No matter how good you are at estimating time for tasks and planning, things will go off track. Don't expect things to go exactly as planned.

3. Don't give up completely. When things go off the rails, don't throw up your hands in the air and just give up. Even if that means just crossing off or rescheduling tasks. One of the biggest temptations is to just give up and do whatever until the next day. That will almost never be the best solution.

4. Re-evaluate your method. If you find yourself going off track frequently, it may be time to consider another method. It is possible that you are just planning too much or too rigidly. Give yourself some room to have some fun and for things to go off track.

I know the past year has been even more difficult to stay on track. As our lives adjust and change, we should update our methods to best server our circumstances currently. It will be more helpful to stay on track the best we can than not at all. That is the method I can take now.

A great time to get reorganized

Many of our lives have been all over the place. Now would be a great time to sit down and take inventory of things in our lives. It is definitely a great time to look at our productivity. Here are just a few thoughts and ideas that we can consider now.

1. Organize our to do list and goals. This is a great time for many of us to organize our goals and our to do list. It’s probably cold where you are at and right now is not an ideal time to be out and about for various reasons. However this is an excellent to work on the things we wanted to do an d couldn’t get to for a while, and perhaps start something new.

2. Get Reading. Whether you are like me and have 20 books that I still haven’t gotten to or you want to read new books. Perhaps you don’t read much. Either way, now is a good time to read and get caught up on your reading lists.

3. Learn something new. There are so many things we can learn to do. Find something different that we enjoy to do to shake things up a bit.

4. Back to the basics. Many of us have been off of whatever our regular routine was for a while. Even if our lives look a lot different now, we can still hold on to the productivity techniques that worked well for us before.

I am hoping to be more regular again with my posts like I used to. I hope you are well as you are read this. If you have a lot of snow on the ground like I do, enjoy it while it’s here. If you don’t snow, remember it will melt away. Thanks for reading.

It's been a while

There is no need to say that 2020 has been a crazy year for everyone. I decided to take a break for a while. I took this as a time to reflect upon many things, and for me that included Time is Me. I know we had many things on our minds for a while now and productivity may not have been the top priority. However, I did give more thought to Time is Me and topics that I would like to discuss. I also am working on putting together some informational videos as well as finally launching the podcast and the book. It is a new year and while a lot of what happened in 2020 is still impacting us now, this is still a good time to take inventory of our lives as well as how we are spending our time. It is a great time to look at our goals, make new goals, and scrap goals that no longer apply. Life is always crazy to some extent, some times are far crazier than others, but all times are a good time to move forward. For Time is Me, 2021 will be a time to get back on track regarding the blog as well as the other goals.

I want to hope any of you reading this a healthy, hopeful, and prosperous new year. Please feel free to suggest any topics you would like to see covered in the future. Thanks again for reading. Stay well!

Productive Alternative to Stress

In a time like this, I think this is an excellent time to continue a series of how to keep up your productivity when you have difficult emotions. My last post was about anger and what productive alternatives could be. I can speak personally about stress as well. I have had found myself in truly stressful situations, whereas other times I have manufactured the stress by making something a much bigger deal than it actually was. We all fall into this trap. I have commented on stress before and stress can kill our productivity. This is definitely the case when we stress more than we should. So when you find yourself getting stressed consider the following.

1. Stop what you are doing and do something else. It is a good time to get your mind off of whatever is causing you stress. Even if it's something that you need to think about, just getting your mind off of it from time to time will do you good.

2. Do something that calms you down. Whatever you do to unplug for a bit and get your mind off of something, you will need to do this periodically to keep yourself calm. This will help you when you come back to the activity or thought that stresses you out.

3. Keep active. If your stress is being cause by an overactive mind, then keeping busy and active will help you keep your mind off of it. However, if you are like me, many times I was stressed because I was too busy and active. Even so, being active with the right things will give you a sense of purpose and less time to stress.

4. Have fun. Even the situations in life that aren't fun can be made fun to an extent. Set a goal or target for yourself and give yourself something to reach for. While life should be taken seriously, there should be enough fun also. There needs to be a balance to maximize productivity. That is why they say "work hard and play hard."

I hope this helps in these stressful times. I know this is advise I can use myself from time to time. It is much more difficult when you are under stress to realize this, but it is at those time when it's the most important. Thanks for reading and I hope you don't have too stressful of a week.

Productive Alternatives to Anger

I have a history of getting angry easily. This is not to mention that there are different kinds of anger. You can get angry quickly and get over it really quickly and forget it. You can be angry about something for a long time and become bitter. This is not to mention that all anger is a bad. There is a good anger, for example against an injustice and having enough anger for you to make a difference in a situation. With that being said, there is always a reason to be angry, but more often than not it is not the productive path to take. Anger can suck up a lot of our time, energy, and ultimately our productivity. Here are a few alternatives we can choose when we find ourselves angry.

1. Do something fun. As much as I would like to say you should do something productive, when you are angry, something you enjoy is the best way to calm down.

2. Do something relaxing. Taking a walk, watching a show you enjoy, talk to a friend, do something that relaxes you and calms you down.

3. Exercise. Physical activity is a great way to deal with anger. Get your blood pumping and heart rate up in a healthy way.

4. Regroup your thoughts. Whatever you are angry about, put it aside for a while and then come back to it. When you come back to the issue, you should have a clear mind and can act more rationally. 

I understand these are challenging times and there is a lot to be angry about. We all need to remember that when we are angry, we are using our energy on something that will probably not benefit us. We should conserve our energy in our own personal growth and maximum productivity. I will be exploring other emotions we are most likely experiencing during these challenging times in future posts. I wish the best for you and hope that you stay well. Thanks again for reading my blog.

3 year anniversary

Last week on July 3 was the three year anniversary for this blog. For those of who have been reading, I want to thank you. A special thanks for those who have been with me since the beginning. If you are a new reader, I encourage you to explore the various topics that I have explored. Earlier on, I was more focused on the technical strategies of productivity such as time budgets, detailed scheduling, and avoiding being too busy. Later on I got more into the other concepts such as different productivity methods, how to work with others, and how to work in different situations. Last year I focused more on ADHD, and I do intend on keeping that the focus moving forward, as it speaks to my personal experience. As Covid-19 came more about I got more focused on how we can navigate that and stay productive. I understand that we all have been and are being impacted differently by this and I hope the best for you. 

Looking forward, there will be more content regarding ADHD, productivity methods, as well as more topics that may arise from events as well as any requests. I have had a goal of taking this forward and into a business, and have had that on the shelf for longer than I had planned. Given recent events, it was better to put off that for a bit longer. As the appropriate time arrives, I will finish my book. I also have a plan to have a podcast and possibly even live videos and more. I will get more into that going forward. Next week, I will continue this blog with many more years to go. Thanks for reading as always.

Productivity in Incredibly Difficult Times

This is a very challenging time. Given all that has been going on, I felt it was appropriate to take a few weeks off from the blog.  In times like this, it can be very difficult to even think about productivity. It is a time where maximum productivity is not the main focus and priority. My personal comments regarding the recent events can be found on my personal Facebook page on Sunday, May 31, 2020. To comment briefly here I want to say that black lives do matter and should continue to matter even if the conversation fades to other topics. We must remember how much we do need each other to achieve our goals and work together. Here are just a few quick thoughts on how to view productivity in a time like this.

1. Take a break. This is different kind of break than the break to avoid burnout. This is more so to collect your thoughts, emotions, This is why I had taken a few weeks off as well. When you need to concentrate on something, you should focus on what the main priority is at the moment.

2. Take time to think. We need to take time to think through whatever difficult situation is at hand. We have many things going on right now that require our thoughts and how we should go about it, and a lot of thoughts and emotions to sort out. This is of course not to mention anything personal going on as well. Our personal situations and issues haven’t taken a break just because things are happening on a larger scale. If you are reading this sometime in the future, you will still be able to relate in some way.

3. Adjust to a new pattern. This could be a temporary new pattern. If you are burdened under something you need to make a schedule and pattern that is manageable at the moment. Most likely the events of the past several months have changed your pattern in some way as it is. This is an opportunity to hopefully fix some things in our schedule that we didn’t like before.

4. Develop an new sense of hope. During any difficult time, it is difficult to have hope. We have all been there one way or another. However, hoping for a brighter future and better days ahead will improve your mood, and ultimately your productivity. While it is important to keep your expectations realistic, being positive and hopeful will help you and your productivity.

I want to thank you for reading. I hope you have been doing well and that things have been doing better for you. We are approaching the three year anniversary of this blog, it is hard to believe it has been that long already. I will reflect more on that next week.

What Your New Normal Should Be

As we are all aware of the crazy times we live in now, we hear all kinds of different things about what things can look like after the worst is over. There is much talk of a “new normal.” While this post is not a discussion about how we expect the current pandemic to affect temporarily vs permanently. However, we can consider how our new normal should become. Any disruption is an opportunity for change and as this is a major disruption overall. While much in this life is out of our control, and even more so in a situation like this. There are however things we can control.

1. Our attitude. We can choose the attitude we have about anything. While it is certainly easier to have a positive attitude about something when it is going better, we still do have control over it. A positive attitude can ripple out further to other people. Someone with a positive attitude is more productive than someone with a negative attitude. I can say that from personal experience. 

2. Our productivity methods. Since what we are doing to stay productive has changed, what we do to stay productive will change also. If what we were doing to stay productive before still works now, then I’d recommend sticking to those methods. It is however likely that we will have to change our methods. With that being said, our new normal should include a heightened sense of productivity to get to our whatever our adjusted goals end up being.

3. Our goals. We can set new goals. Depending on how our lives have changed, we can develop new goals to adjust to whatever our new normal is. Most likely we will have to adjust our goals and shift them to what our lives look like now. 

4. A new hope. It may be very difficult to have hope in this season. However, it is important to have hope. Hope will get us moving towards whatever our new normal is going to look like. When we are hopeful, we can be more productive as we work towards what we are looking to.

Right now we don't know what the new normal is going to look like. We all have to make our decisions about what we need to do to get the maximum productivity out our time. We may have things that take higher priority at the moment that we haven't had planned for. With that being said, we need to reevaluate and work towards a new normal that is hopeful better in ways than before. 

Adapting to Change in the Pandemic

It is needless to say that right now is still a crazy time for all us. We are all being effected one way or another. My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones, jobs, and events that they were looking forward to. It is also needless to say that this has bean a time of massive change. I know that most people don't like change in general, while I have always been in the minority that does. Of course this depends on what kind of change we are talking about. No one is happy about the change we are seeing in ways of more death and sickness, economic loss, and loss of hope that we may be experience. However, there is and will be positive change to come out of this as well. Let's think forward a bit and focus on how we can see positive changes from this moving forward. Here are just a few changes that we can adapt to now and going forward.

1. Working Remotely. Many people and companies did not work from home simply just because they didn't want to change. Despite the fact employee satisfaction could be higher and costs to employer could be lower, many companies did not want to become more flexible. With the pandemic, this became and forced necessary change. This will change the culture in a positive way with increased flexibility and job satisfaction. Of course there is no guarantees and none of us know for sure how people will react once this subsides, but at least we know we can function more than we thought we could remotely. Personally, I have been working remotely for a few years to some capacity and always have found it productive, often more productive than in the office. Every situation is different and some jobs can't be done remotely, but this at least should definitely be a shift in the positive direction. Miss going into the office? I'm sure most people will still have the option to go in for the most part, and like me, two days in the office and three days remote seems to be a very happy medium. This should also decrease traffic and time wasted commuting. So ultimately, this puts points on the board for productivity in the long run.

2. Meeting Virtually. On a similar note, we can have other types of meeting virtually as well. While this should not be a replacement for meeting in person all the time, this again can save time. Why drive to a meeting that can simply be done virtually, even without a pandemic. When it is safer to have gatherings in person, they will and should come back as we need to have human contact. However, logistically, we can get more accomplished by meeting virtually and saving on transportation time for some meetings. This is not to mention the ease of having online training and seminars. Why fly across the country if you can have the sessions virtually. Don't get me wrong, networking in person is still valuable also but won't always need to take place in person. This could save a lot of time and costs and allow you to have more time to do other things. With so many people now more more comfortable with this type of technology, this will be possible.

3. New habits. Whenever there is disruption, we have an opportunity to develop new habits. We may have a clean slate because our own schedules and those around us are also having their schedules and routines disrupted. On the dark side of the coin, we could develop or strengthen bad habits. It is up to us on how we want to handle this wave of change. Let's make it an opportunity for positive change and new habits to bring us into our next season of life to a much better pattern.

4. More community and propensity to help other people. Whenever a tragedy hits, people tend to come together. May we put our differences aside and come together and help each out. We all need what others have, and right now maybe we shouldn't do that in person, but we can later and now we can still reach out to each other through calls, text, video chats, emails, etc. May we remember each other when this is over as well. People were in need of encouragement and in other ways before this, and will be afterwards as well. Let us help others reach their maximum level of productivity as well. Life is about more than just ourselves.

5. Save Money. I will comment on this briefly, as I know this is a tough economic time for many. However, this will force all of us to consider spending our money more wisely and budget. We should budget our money just as we should budget our time.

Thank you for reading this blog and I hope you are doing well. This is a difficult time and as many are saying, we are in this together and will get through this together. Let's make it that we get through this together more productive then we have ever been before.