Mark on Personal Productivity

Well worth a read. A do most of these things and find they work great.

1. Dump all tasks in to Outlook - three categories
1. Must Do Now
2. Do Later
3. Watch & Tickle Later
2. At the end of each day list on an index card the key priorities for the day ahead - do everything to get that list done
3. Don't answer the phone - everything goes to Voicemail
4. Do email three times a day - early AM, mid-day and end of the day. Leave the inbox empty. File email in the same way as you file tasks
5. Unlike Mark I keep a schedule - but I manage it myself.
6. Commit. Don't Commit. Move on. In other words, make decisions about what you are going to do and communicate the decision. Create standard "no commit" templates in Outlook - it'll help. As Mark says, "Only agree to new commitments when both your head and your heart say yes".
7. Structured Procrastination is a good thing.