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I am a small business Conversation Consultant and public speaker that uses the power of the internet to leverage your success. Productivity in Context is a web magazine focused on Productivity and tools for organizing. Make this your headquarters for improving your life and work through increased mindfulness, education, and workflow practices.

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Today’s post is from Mike St. Pierre of The Daily Saint

Open loops drive me crazy.  There, I said it.

It often goes like this:  I’m in a meeting and someone, not writing anything down, will say something like, “we should really think about doing that” or “I’ll take care of that”.  MyGTD radar kicks in and I start placing mental bets on whether Person X will really do what he said.  Or, I wonder why we don’t just decide then and there what the absolute next action is on the project in question.  Ah, the frustrated life of a GTD practitioner…

As a refresher, an open loop is some aspect of a project that is left undecided, un-taken-care-of or just neglected. Sadly, these open loops can wreak havoc on productivity.  They are the reason why the office building down the street is not quite finished.  Open loops are the cause of the ABD (all but dissertation) professor.  An open loop is a fancy expression for “unfinished business”.  We put up with them all the time, but why?

I suspect that our too-often habit of not looking for next actions may have something to do with it.  Or, it might be due to the frenetic pace of work.  A third option might be due to a lack of a weekly review to see what details were missed in the course of a week.  Whatever the cause, the open loops hang around and like a boomerang, come back again and again. 

Here are some simple steps towards banishing these little buggers so that your productivity can soar:

1. Keep a capture tool with you at all times. A PDA, small notebook (my favorite- a $.99 notebook from Staples!) or pad of paper will do the trick.  If you need to remember it, write it down.  Don’t trust your memory- write it down.
2. When around those who have a habit of putting up with open loops, move them towards next action steps.  Ask, “What’s the next action on that?”  You could also ask, “What can we do today to keep that project moving forward?”
3. Set a good example. You don’t have to be perfect but consistency is a must.  Practice your weekly review.  Get things out of your head and be a person of action.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/68qdwp. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

Sorry for lack of posting, I have been been very busy with offline work. I had a little time this morning and wanted to share with you an interesting post by Jared at Technotheory.com - Should “productivity” play a role in your friendships and relationships?

When it comes to friendships and relationships, is it fair to apply principles of productivity…or is it not only a waste of time but perhaps even harsh and potentially damaging?

I say if you’ve got a system that works for you, then by all means apply it to the people in your life, too. It’ll not only help your sanity but your relationships.

Read it and leave a comment.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/5rncpz. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

Today’s post is from Mike St. Pierre of The Daily Saint

Remember bands like Phish and Guster?  With cultlike following, these musicians travelled each summer to the delight of thousands of fans.  Their appeal was almost mystical and while devotees couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment of attraction, they would travel far and wide to see them in concert. 

Then, quietly, something happened.  They went mainstream.

So too with David Allen and Getting Things Done.  Don’t misread me- I’m not lamenting this.  Only putting words to the obvious- GTD is going mainstream.  Consider the following as noted in a recent article in Business Week:

• The David Allen Company is now an $8 million enterprise
• Allen’s third book will come out in December of ‘08 and is sure to be a smashing success
• Big box stores like Staples will soon be selling DAC co-branded products
• The GTD Global Summit will most likely become huge success in March of ‘09, much like the TED conferences have become for creative and design folks

None of this is a bad thing.  In fact, it’s probably a natural progression from the early days of GTD. It does however mean that GTD will no longer be a fringe band like Phish and Guster.  As the start-up “feel” of GTD evaporates, practitioners will have to maintain its raw and timeless spirit- get it out of your head, tools matter but not so much as habits, what’s the next action, etc. 

Time will tell as to how GTD shakes out over the next few years.  The 7 Habits of Stephen Covey morphed into a line of products and moderately successful stores but now seems so mid ’90’s.  Will GTD stand the test of going mainstream?  As they say, time alone will tell.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/55g7h4. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

I just found a list of 100+ motivational techniques for students at Smart Teaching. I believe that many of these are of use to anyone, not just students:

Here are 100 or so suggestions of ways that you can make your classes more engaging and encourage your students to work harder at learning.

General

Here are some basic ideas to consider when motivating your students.

1. Encourage internal motivation. While some students may need a great deal of motivation from you, your ultimate goal is to get them to motivate themselves. Encourage students to provide their own motivation for getting things done rather than relying on you to motivate them.
2. Prepare students to learn. Before you begin teaching, make sure that students have been prepared and are in the appropriate mood to sit down and learn. Those who feel uncomfortable for any reason will feel much less motivated to pay attention.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/6d7dc3. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen