Productivity Powered By Online Task Management Or How To Get Things Done

This article is about getting things done. It is about adopting a practice that will afford you the ability to work circles around your peers, your partners and your competition. If executed properly you will find yourself with that coveted 'free time' everyone else is always talking about, and not at the expense of accomplishing your objectives. This is not a teaser for some book or seminar. Everything you need to know is in the next 500 or so words.

For what I am about to share, you do need one wired prerequisite. You must be able to change gears easily. If you cannot switch from tactical to strategy, from process to planning, from reading and writing to doing math, it will take you longer to master this process. I would not say this advice is not for you, it just may not have as monumental an effect on your time.

OK, so what is this great process?

1. Well it starts with getting everything you do into some form of online task management system. All your tasks, whether work related or personal must be in a list that you can access at any time from the internet.
2. The next step is making sure you have a way to get online and access it from anywhere you might need to do tasks. Either a smartphone or a netbook, whatever. This is less important if you primarily do things from your office and at home. If you do move around you need to have access to the tools to accomplish these goals (in my case my netbook is my office).
3. Prioritize the list by what you want to do first. Do not think about what is most important or what is fastest. As long as you are within deadlines start with what you desire to do. Initially you will find yourself in crisis mode and be forced to deal with urgent issues first, but as time passes you will empower yourself to have this luxury. This is one of the most important free to-do list and magical changes you must make to succeed in this process. It will be uncomfortable at first, which is ironic because you would think it would be more enjoyable to do what we want not what we must.
4. Start managing tasks one at a time. Do not look ahead to the next task. This is a must. Erase the list from your brain as soon as you are done prioritizing it and with an empty mind begin a task.
5. Once you have completed a task, forget about it. Even if there is another task related to it in the future, remove this task from the now. Right now, the only thing to focus on is the task at hand. If it is related to the previous task, obviously you will keep it in mind.
6. At the end of each day, reorganize your task list to prioritize for the next day. This way you are not thinking about all of your tasks first thing in the day.
7. If you are not in the mood to do something, push it out. Forcing yourself to fight through a task that you do not want to do will waste time. When we are not pumped to do something we tend to move slower. I was supposed to write this article last night, but was not feeling inspired. Today it is flowing from me. If I had written it last night, it would have taken twice as long and not sounded nearly as fun. I am pumped to write it right now and feel the casual voice I am writing it in is well suited for the advice. I would have written in the tone of a sour puss last night.
8. When you are not managing tasks, do not think about them. This aligns with the in the now thing, but time away from work and chores is essential to having high energy levels when getting things done.
9. Distractions are rewards for execution. I am on FB all day long. I check my email 10 times a day, but only after I get 5 small (10-20 minutes) or 2 large (1 hour) tasks done. Then I get 10 minutes to 'play'. These distractions are important because they keep you energized, just don't get lost in them if you have more on your plate than you can manage.
10. Make sure the online tool you use allows you to archive and document everything. This makes it easy to jump around from project or chore to project or chore.