Productivity 101 handout

5/13/2020
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Jill Hurst-Wahl  Hurst Associates, Ltd.  CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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Type of organization you work in:
• Self-employed
• In-between employers
• K-12 school
• Public library
• Museum or archive
• College or university
• For-profit organization
• Non-profit organization
Productivity. It's important, but we often struggle with
how to stay organized so that we are productive. We
struggle with email, time management, and
managing workloads. We want to delegate tasks,
and even say "no" to some, but we struggle with the
best way of doing that. In this interactive webinar,
you will learn and use methods for these areas, and
become more productive. Both paper and digital
methods will be discussed.
After this webinar, participants will be able to:
• Use effective techniques for organizing tasks
across days, weeks, and months.
• Adopt methods for staying on track and getting the
correct tasks done, at the right time.
• Create communication guidelines that will make
email less burdensome, and a more effective tool.
• Delegate tasks so that the responsible parties can
undertake them without intervention.
• Say "no" to tasks, when "no" is the correct answer.

5/13/2020
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The slides – which have lots of details and
resources – will be made available to you.
Please use 1 sheet of your paper for any ideas or
thoughts you want to remember.
The other 2 sheets will be used in exercises during
this webinar.
Please ask questions in chat at any time.
Getting organized
Conquering your email
Delegating tasks
Saying “no”
Final Q&A
Jill Hurst-Wahl  Hurst Associates, Ltd.  CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Jill Hurst-Wahl  Hurst Associates, Ltd.  CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
What tools do you use to stay productive?
• Paper pad and pencil/pen
• Bullet journal
• Sticky notes
• Digital to-do list (e.g., Trello, Evernote, Todoist)
• Calendar (paper or digital)
• Whiteboard or wall
• Delegation
Write down the to-do list that is floating in your head.
Write it down, no matter if it is personal or work
related, and no matter if it is something for today,
next week, or next year.
Work quickly. Neatness does not count!
Your head is not the correct place for your to-do list!
Remember.
Remember.
What?
Remember. Do this…
Remember.
I forgot.

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Put them on paper (yes, I’m advocating for paper).
Organize them.
Realize deadlines.
Know importance/criticality.
Understand what each to-do’s next action is.
What do you need to do first?
That goes on your to do list!
Use verbs and nouns, e.g., Select book
When does it need to be done? Set a date.
Once you have done that step, put on your to-do list
what needs to be done next.
Future tasks (future log)
Organized by month (next 6-12 months)
Tasks for this month
Tasks for today

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Mark which list your items belong in:
Future tasks by month – for now use June and July
Tasks for this month (May)
Tasks for today
Helps you capture what you have forgotten and get
organized for the week ahead.
Helps you plan for the future.
A huge part of Getting Things Done (by David Allen)
and the fuel behind the bullet journal (bujo).
A time to figure out what you need and/or want to
accomplish in that day.
Time to understand what else is on your calendar
(e.g., meetings, appointments, other commitments).
A time to be realistic.
When?
At the end of the previous day
At the start of the current day

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It takes 21-66 days to form a new habit.
Stick with it, even if you slip.
Put in the time.
No one is perfect.
What are you willing to commit to do?
• Productivity 101: A Primer to the Getting Things Done
(GTD) Philosophy (LifeHacker)
• GTD. Five Simple Steps That Apply Order to Chaos
• GTD Podcast Episode #3 – David Allen guides you
through a Mind Sweep (23 minutes)
• GTD Podcast Episode #7: Guided GTD Weekly
Review (32 min.)
• Ryder Carroll. Bullet Journal Overview. (4 minutes)
• Matt D'Avella. 5 things that help me avoid
procrastination. (10 min. video)
• Andrea Rosen. How Productive Creatives Manage
Their To-Do Lists (Adobe)
• Pomodoro Timer
“Traditional Pomodoro method timer with standard
time periods. Each Pomodoro is a 25-minute cycle
followed by a 5-minute break. After the fourth
Pomodoro, you’ll take a 15-minute break.”
How many emails do you think you receive per day?
• 1-25
• 26-50
• 51-75
• 75+

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What is one thing you wish you could change about
the email you receive?
Email is an integral part of our workday.
It is both communication and delegation tool.
It is useful and it is noise.
If you don’t conquer it, it will conquer you!
What are you trying to communicate?
Is email the correct mode?
Can this type of communication be shifted to
another tool?
Can your team agree on what to use and when?
What other tools could your team use for short messages
or brief conversations? Or to work together?
Lots of options. For example:
• Slack
• Facebook Messenger
• Chanty
• Signal (encrypted)
• Google Chat
• Microsoft Teams
Use a descriptive subject.
Limit your recipients.
Keep to the point, while including enough information.
Provide context by quoting what the other person said.
Make questions [?] obvious.
Limit your humor (and make any humor obvious).
Don’t use email for a conversation.
Proof before you send.
Try to limit email to work hours.

5/13/2020
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Limit the time you spend on email
Delete messages that do not need to be kept.
Only answer emails that need to be answered.
Do not send “me too” emails.
Create and use folders.
Periodically clean out your inbox.
• Guy Kawasaki. The Effective Emailer
• Alexander Skogberg. Writing emails people will
read, understand and reply to
• Sarah Begley. The correct way to email
• GTD Podcast Episode #40: Best Practices of Email
Communication (29 minutes)
• Tiny
• Tedious
• Time-consuming
• Teachable
• Terrible at
• Time-sensitive
• Communicate the task.
• Furnish context for the task.
• Determine standards.
• Grant authority.
• Provide support.
• Get commitment.
• Genevieve Conti. How to Delegate Tasks
Effectively (and Why It’s Important)
• USC Price. 5 Delegation Guidelines when
Delegating Tasks to New Employees

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• Be direct.
• Do not offer an explanation or apology.
• Do not lie.
• Put the question back on the other person.
• Practice saying “no” so it becomes comfortable.
• Be selfish.
• Also – Limit how much you volunteer!
You are saying “no”, so you can say “yes” to:
• Activities that relate to what you do
• Work that you care about.
• Tasks that use your knowledge, skills, and abilities.
• Jonathan Alpert. (2015) 7 Tips for Saying No
Effectively.
• Chantalle Blikman. How to Stop Saying Yes When
You Want to Say No.
• Vanessa Van Edwards. How to Say No: 3 Steps for
People Pleasers.
• Danielle Droitsch. (2022) How to Say No When You
Feel You Can Only Say Yes.

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