What I did today…

Recently, Lorraine suggested that I write down what I’ve done for the day, as an exercise in productivity. If you recall my Top Ten Productivity Tips I always have suggested to write down what you’re going to do the next day and prepare that way for the work day. I will fully plead guilty that I sometimes keep that list in my head. Most of the times, though, I add it to Tasks either on GMail or on my iGoogle page.

I think Lorraine’s idea is actually a very good one. It helps people who do freelance work and/or consulting projects (as I do) maintain a record that allows to track productivity in a meaningful way. For example, this past Sunday I cleaned up my apartment. I live in a fairly modest/small place that doesn’t have a full-fledged home office (contrary to, for example, my home-office in Mexico). I don’t actually need a home office since I have one at The Network Hub, but it’s kind of important to me to sometimes bring work home and thus I need a clean space to work on.

I grew frustrated with my apartment’s messiness (I recognize that for a cleanliness freak like me – I’m a Virgo – the range of clutter that can be considered messy is substantially different from that of other people) and started cleaning, most of Sunday. I did write a bit, and dealt with stuff that I had promised Mom I would help her deal with, but for the most part, I cleaned my place. And it feels now way more livable than it did before.

Would that considered be productive? I believe it should. Once I wrote down ALL the stuff I did (including dealing with emails from people who ask me to review their products, attend and write about their events, startups, etc.) I almost went “phew – and this is even BEFORE I get into my research work!”

Related posts:

1. Out with the old, in with the new
2. Keep your desk organized at all times
3. Devote one day to organization and cleanup
4. On working from home and multi-tasking
5. Tip # 2: Don’t go to bed without having a “next day” plan