Brad’s Productivity Workflow to Avoid Distractions

One question we get asked often is how we actually work; the things that don't involve putting words on the web. Seeing as this isn't exactly a 'traditional' job where corporate overlords dictate how we operate, the flexibility in how work gets accomplished is up to us as long as the deadlines are hit.

There are two basic forms of communication that nearly everyone uses, email and messaging. I use Newton for my email (side note, they raised the price to $100 a year, it's not worth it) and we are using Skype for messaging.

I follow one simple rule, end every day with zero unread emails in my inbox. At first, this creates a bit of insanity until you develop a workflow that adapts to this style of productivity but once you do, you no longer fear opening up your inbox.

Here's how I accomplish this task.

First, I deal with every email as I read it. This could simply be "I will get back to you on this" or deleting it forever. The key here is that I don't want to read the same email twice which means I must do 'something' with it.

The likely scenario with email is that I create a 'to do' task with the action item. Simply put, whatever the email requires, I open Microsoft's To-Do and create an item on my task list to either research the issue or address the problem. But here's the other trick, I only check my email roughly once an hour.

Email is typically a huge distraction to the task you are trying to accomplish. By turning off desktop notifications and only checking once an hour, it's a chore that must be tackled but when you control your email, as opposed to your email controlling you, it's much easier to plan your days and to carve out time for knocking out key items on your To-Do list.

Prior to using Microsoft's To-Do, I was using Todoist and I still recommend that product over Microsoft's To-Do at this time as it has many more features (although you do have to pay for some). I switched back to To-Do once Microsoft started making a serious effort to rebuild the product and it has come a long way but still has a huge mountain to climb before it will match Todoist.

In To-Do, I make lists around our clients and projects and organize everything into those lists as needed. This is straightforward and To-Do lets you set a reminder and due date for each item which makes this application the central point for my productivity (instead of email). And seeing as I have 100% control over To-Do (no one can add or remove anything from it but me), it makes staying focused much easier, rather than trying to fight the eternal fire that is known as email.

What I am trying to say here is that using email as my to-do list is not an effective way for me to manage my day. Between using a calendar for meeting invites and To-Do, email remains a secondary tool for my workflow.

I have also turned 'off' Notification Center by removing all priority apps and then setting it to 'priority only'; this feature of Windows 10 added more noise to t...

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