What I did today…

Raul — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:02:26 +0000

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!”

Raul’s Top 10 Productivity Tips – The Return!

Raul — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:44 +0000

Some people ask me how do I find the time to blog, Twitter, write, do research, consulting, socialize, organize meetups, etc. (AND look for more work!). Well, there is an answer to that. Without tooting my own horn too much, I am pretty organized. Moreover, I am pretty driven. I *love* doing things, and I love being good at them. I can’t be static at all.

The period from 2004 to 2006 was definitely one of my most productive periods. I think that overall, I published 3 journal articles per year, wrote 3 conference papers, wrote one book (single author), attended 8 international meetings, gave between 12-16 talks (all academic) and supervised and graduated an undergraduate honors student per year. That’s decently productive by academic standards, I think.

My 2007 and 2008 productivity are most definitely lower than that, but I can safely say that I feel now like 2009 will be a very successful and productive year. In writing about this, I thought I’d share some of the tips that made my 2004-2006 years so successful and in doing so, I hope to take this as a self-reflective exercise that allows me to further my career.

So, in the next few days, I’ll be publishing one blog post a day giving a productivity tip. Maybe you’ve heard about these tips elsewhere or read them on the Internet. That’s ok. I am just sharing my own experiences. I hope you like the series. I am hoping to keep these posts interspersed with other content, so you won’t be bored

Have a nice weekend everyone!

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What I did today…

Raul’s Top 10 Productivity Tips – The Return!