Work is momentum. The problem is setting your force in motion - after that, inertia takes care of the rest. It’s the energy, discipline and focus required to get things moving and whether one has it - that is what separates those who achieve and those who dream.
One of my most effective productivity hacks, aside from using Daily Action Maps, has been the use of RSS Feeds to stay up-to-date with all of my favorite websites. At first, I managed my feeds via netvibes, which is still a great option if you only subscribed to a small handful of sites, however, my list is closing in around three figures now, so I needed to upgrade my feed reader.
This post is for those new to RSS, those who have not fully witnessed the glory of RSS and those who are a little frustrated with RSS. I’ve broken it down into three steps (each with a little video demonstration):
Step One: What is RSS?
Step Two: Great, but which Feed Manager Should I Use?
Step Three: Information Overload! How do I Handle All of these Feeds?
What is RSS?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, but off the bat does not seem all that simple. Rather than writing paragraphs on the technical wizardry behind this fantastic little gizmo, here is a great video tutorial explaining what RSS is and how you can use it:
Great, but which Feed Manager Should I Use?
There is an extensive array of RSS feed managers to choose from and frankly, I would rather not list them all. If you want an overview of all the available feed managers out there, read Mashable’s Productivity God article. Personally, I think the answer is indisputable: Google Reader. Here are just a few reasons why it kicks so much ass:
Again, I have included a little video tutorial to help get you up and running on Google Reader:
To make life even easier, here are some great keyboard shortcuts for Google Reader courtesy of Mashable:
j/k - selects the next/previous item in the list
space/shift-space - moves the page down/up
n/p - in list view, selects the next item without opening it
o - in list view, expands or collapses the selected item
enter - in list view, expands or collapses the selected item
s - stars the selected item
shift-s - shares the selected item
m - switches the read state of the selected item
t - opens the tagging field for the selected item
v - opens the original source for this article in a new window
shift-a - marks all items in the current view as read
1 - displays the subscription as expanded items
2 - displays the subscription as a list of headlines
r - refreshes the unread counts in the navigation
shift-n/p - selects the next/previous subscription or folder in the navigation
shift-x - expand or collapse a folder selected in the navigation
shift-o - opens the item currently selected in the navigation
gh - goes to the Google Reader homepage
ga - goes to the “All items†view
gs - goes to the “Starred items†view
gt - allows you to navigate to a tag by entering the tag name
gu - allows you to navigate to a subscription by entering the subscription name
u - hides and shows the list of subscriptions
? - displays a quick guide to all of Reader’s shortcuts
Information Overload! How do I Handle All of these Feeds?
Subscribing to RSS feeds quickly becomes addictive. I started with around 20 and found myself over reading over 80 different websites within only a few weeks. Although RSS makes information management ridiculously easy, it can put a huge damper on your productivity if you spend all day reading your latest feeds. Here is a video interview conducted by Tim Ferriss with Robert Scoble on how Scoble manages to read 622 RSS feeds each morning:
To add my own little productivity tip on managing RSS feeds, only allow yourself to read them during your 30-60 minute lunch break and DO NOT open Google Reader for the rest of the day. This is very much like only checking your email twice a day, but if you have enough will power, you’ll find that you can still get all of the important news read (even when you have over 100+ feeds).
Well, now you know How to Master RSS in Three Easy Steps! Just remember, reading your Feeds can get very addictive. You have been warned.
The buzz has been crazy around Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek
If you haven’t heard of Tim, you are doing yourself a misfortune. Check out his blog and you will see why. Or if you do know what he’s all about, pick up a copy of his book:
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
I, like many others, have fooled around with quite a few GTD tools out there. Some of them include:
However, each time I venture into using a new digital tool, I always find there is either too much setup time required or it’s simply not accessible enough - having to sign online each time I need to check my todo list, really isn’t productive.
I continually find myself returning back to my legal pad in an effort to organize a solid list of the things I need to do. At times, however, my action items get mixed with my follow ups which get mixed with my notes and so on - the whole thing turns out to be a mess.
So, a solution that I have come up with and that I am continuously developing:
Layout:
I’ve only been using this template for week, but so far I have found it very helpful. Please feel free to download it, give it a shot and let me know your feedback.
Download and customize your own Daily Action Map
I am a firm believer that physical clutter = mental clutter. Having things organized and accessible does not stifle creativity, in fact it allows more ‘room’ in your brain for your productive, creative juices to flow. With that said, I think the ‘clutter free’ ideal needs to be applied to your desktop as well in an effort to enhance productivity.
There are a few guidelines to the ‘productive desktop’:
1) NO DESKTOP ICONS.
2) NO TASK BAR.
3) DESKTOP GTD
I have been using this system for weeks now and have not had any problems running my programs out of the windows explorer. I really like seeing my to-do’s every time I glance at my desktop - it’s all in an effort to focus.
