Student/User Profile: @MattMurphyMSWym: Inspirational Blogging Jokester

Matt Murphy was always one of our strong advocates, so we decided to interview him, to learn more of how he used and continues to use our services. Matt is an inspirational youth worker by day, and a super blogger/jokester by night! But ah- that didn’t stop him from obtaining his MSW from Adelphi University and a M.Div. from Denver Seminary.

How did Matt do all this?!? Haha, of course with Producteev!

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Pre-Producteev

Before using Producteev, Matt used a combination good old-fashioned pen and paper, and iCal- which worked quite well for him with small projects. As the responsibilities starting piling on, he came to realize that he needed something that would help him organize and make timelines. 

Prior to joining, there were several incidents that took place, which led Matt to realize that he needed to spice things up with his task management. He wrote us, “Once I didn’t realize, but the system had an error and asked me where do I want to sync my tasks and calendar from. I clicked the wrong button and poof!  Right before the busiest time of the season I lost all of my tasks (assignments) that were due in all of my classes then and there. Missed the due date on one assignment, scrambled and had to spend all that time re-entering all my data again.”

Syncing data across platforms and new computers proved to be challenging as time went on, and Matt decided to look for Productivity software on his iPhone. One of his buddies heard of this, and was quick to enthusiastically suggest Producteev. Matt has been hooked since then.

The Awakening

Matt was quick to learn how to maneuver Producteev, and is a fan of each update that is rolled out which is “making it better, not more complicated.” He also appreciated the fact that he could create a workspace for each aspect of his life, “It gives me the ability to see them all or just focus on one task. Additionally, being able to tag and prioritize tasks helped me either do a particular urgency of a task first or find the one that I needed to get done.”
He soon noticed a difference in his execution of tasks, especially those outside of school. He loved that he could set guidelines and timetables to assist him with completion. Matt found that he was able to multitask better across jobs and classes in his seminary. When it came to schoolwork, Matt would “organize using the tags to group by class and then look at everything by date. By noting which ones were bigger (by giving them a higher priority) I knew if I needed to focus on a task later in the calendar first, rather than a task in the immediate future.” As less tasks were falling through the cracks, Matts level of confidence was increasing.

Happy Ending

Matt continues to use Producteev with great success, and recommended it to several people. He even blogged about his love for it! Matt clearly made great use out of what Producteev has to offer through many phases of his life, and it helped shape him to become the inspiration that he is today. That’s right Matt- you keep on #winning!

Productivity Blocker: Family Obligations

You can’t choose your family, but you can choose how you manage their needs when they interfere with your other tasks.
Whether you’re a student, freelancer, or even a homemaker- there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to satisfy the needs of your family, in addition to your professional needs and goals.

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The demands of family have a way of robbing you from time, thought, and energy that could have been placed towards a greater good that would ultimately benefit them. 

Scenario 1: Student and Worker
You’re a student with a job, and you’re living near or with your family. Course load is just as heavy as your workload. But you also have relatives that depend on you for tasks such as pickups/dropoffs, and accompaniment to appointments. As much as you enjoy giving them comfort with your assistance, you feel a mental strain by the end of the day, and you realize that no one could help you with your tasks as you did with theirs. How will you manage?

Solution: Schedule them in as tasks
You can use your free Producteev for Education account to create separate workspaces for school, work, and family. As you add family-related tasks, check on the overview to ensure that there isn’t going to be any overlapping. You should also make sure that you will have at least a few minutes in between tasks for transitioning purposes, because you wouldn’t want to lash out at anyone from being overwhelmed.

Scenario 2: Freelancer
You’re a freelancer juggling several clients. Each client is a drama case of their own. Some overwork and underpay you. Others demand you to work efficiently, but take their sweet time paying you for your services. And then there are those that leave you wondering just how long the assignment might really last. Aside from the tension of your mixed bag of assignments, your family needs you for financial assistance. You don’t want to say ‘no’ to them, but you also don’t know just how much you should stretch each dollar for yourself. Then they figure that since you don’t have a ‘real job,’ you will be able to help them with mundane tasks. What the heck?! How will you manage?

Solution: Schedule them in as tasks
Create a workspace that is a combination of family-related tasks, and family-related finances. You can set reminders for next month about your cousin Joey borrowing $500 from you, saying he will pay you back by then. You can also plot in having to help little Sarah with her science project, but consult the overview to make sure it doesn’t conflict with the designs and updated spreadsheets you promised the MegaClient.

Scenario 3: Homemaker
You’re a homemaker, and face it- you’re under-appreciated! A lot of the work you do goes unnoticed, because everyone in the household seems to take it all for granted. Only you truly know how time-consuming it is to complete each chore, especially with little to no help. In the middle of sorting through tasks, your family comes up to you, and asks you to make time for buying clothes and gifts for an occasion. Or maybe they want you to bake a lot of cookies for little Dannys class party. But who is going to help you with your tasks? No one. You have to do all this on your own. How will you manage?

Solution: Schedule them in as tasks
Once you plot in your daily tasks for ‘home,’ you will be able to see openings for ‘family misc.’ So let’s see… while the clothes are in the washer, you could bake the cookies for little Danny. By the time the cookies are done and cooling, you can place the clothes into the dryer, then go online and browse through stores to shop at for the upcoming occasion.  By the time the clothes are finished drying, the cookies have fully cooled, and you will know which stores to target. Fold the clothes, pack up the cookies, and head out! Hooray for multi-tasking smart with Producteev! 

How good are you at balancing family obligations with your professional tasks/goals?

 

Procrastination: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly. #TaskChat Recap 9/27/11

The Twitter #TaskChat on procrastination this past Tuesday, Sept 27th was a raging success! The party was jamming well past the 1-hour mark! Everyone’s still talking about what a blast they had while exchanging humorous tid-bits on instances they procrastinated, and why they did so.
Here are all the questions that were asked, followed by entertaining collections of groupings of answers:

1) Which aspect of your life do you procrastinate on most?
 
@LeslieAJoy: I’ll procrastinate work with household chores.
@ABurgerADay: So does my wife! 
@Bydahway: I procrastinate on putting away folded laundry.
I also am told regularly that i procrastinate on settin aside time for myself- one day i’ll get to it
@Aaronrcouch I just realized my laundry is still in the wash from this morning but I’m currently in a Skype call

@aaronrcouch: What’s the difference between “forgetting” and “procrastination”?
@LeslieAJoy: HAHAHAHAHA. Forgetting is well, forgetting. Procrastinating you remember, but put it off. 
And “accidentally-on-purpose forgetting” is a hybrid of the two.
@RealSecurity: Forgetting is just forgetting. Procrastination is putting things off.
2) Are your tasks too boring, or are you THAT sure of yourself that you will get them done when procrastinating?

@Bydahway: I’ve had experiences with both. But usually if its boring I just want to get it over and d one with.
@Tushark:  neither. I’m taking a big risk by procrastinating. If it’s not imp, it isn’t worth procrastinating!
@Cygnoir: I am overconfident, sadly.
@RebeccaH83: I procrastinate at anything data-entry based…but only if I KNOW it can wait. 
@LeslieAJoy: Neither. I’m just really easily distracted. My procrastionation tends not to be intentional.
@FarhanaRahman: How long on average would you say you tend to lapse away from tasks?
@LeslieAJoy: Anywhere b/t 15 minutes & 2 days. I’ve worked at keeping it down to a 30 minute avg though.
@ABurgerADay: The problem for me is that the tasks aren’t TV/movies or video games.

3) How often would you say procrastination benefited you? How exactly? 
@FarhanaRahman: It ised to help me out in college, because I ended up putting more effory into my work to cover procrastination.
@Bydahway: I used to for school projects and they usually ended up kickA$$ cuz i’d really throw myself into it 
@RebeccaH83: I never procrastinated on college course work. I was the one that had the paper written a week early.
@RebeccaH83: Hey! That’s just how I roll when it comes to papers/writing/ projects. I live to problem solve. 
@Bydahway: Procrastinated on ordering clothes online for my family & ended up w/ a 30% off discount code for the order!!!

@SilverSteelWolf: I wouldn’t call intentionally putting things off procrastination. 
@FarhanaRahman: Well what would you call it? 
@SilverSteelWolf: Postponing something?
@AskMarkHamilton: It made me realize that if you push things off long enough, they eventually become irrelevant enough to not do them
@SilverSteelWolf: Yes, that’s true. And it has burned me in the past, unfortunately.
@AskMarkHamilton: More importantly, it made me figure out what I could cut from my to-do list, and what made me suffer when I skipped it.
@LeslieAJoy: Same here!
@SilverSteelWolf: Ahh, that’s a good point. The stress of having things hovering over my head is something I always struggle with.

@AaronRCouch: a computer class I took bored me. I spent class time doing more advanced things then did all the work the last day it was due. 
@FarhanaRahman: How did that turn out?
@AaronRCouch: Aced the class!

4) Give an example of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ procrastination.

@SilverSteelWolf: Good: Intentionally moving a noncritical deadline to clear up time and mental energy for more important tasks.
@FarhanaRahman: Good: When you end up putting in more effort, no harm done. Bad- When it harms workload/colleagues/deadlines
@AskMarkHamilton: Bad- Anything that will cause disruption the next morning has to be done the night before. I have a routine! Good- Putting off stuff I know needs to get done to spend time with family :)
@Bydahway:  i agree-if its not critical & I’ll still have time til the deadline to get it done than family first 
@Cygnoir: I suppose ‘good’ procrastination can occur when you need more input to do something properly, vs. just doing it.
‘Bad’ procrastination occurs when you delay completion of tasks simply because they are tedious or discomforting
@LeslieAJoy: Good: Using procrastionation to ram through to-do list since you don’t want to do something on it. Bad: Fake breaks
@FarhanaRahman: I took countless fake breaks in college.

5)How are you (trying) to procrastinate less? 

@Cygnoir: Phone calls. I hate playing phone-tag! If I could handle everything via email, I would get so much more done.
@AaronRCouch: ditto. Email is way better IF its used correctly on both ends. But I do prefer phone for just talking 2 ppl Im close to.
@RebeccaH83: Oh, I completely agree! Email is the way to go 
@LeslieAJoy: I used to hate phone calls till I started working home. Now sometimes that’s the only voice I hear day
@AskMarkHamilton: there’s no single trick that works consistently every time to get myself to do things. mood changes from day to day, and sometimes you just don’t feel like doing stuff.@SilverSteelWolf: That’s the hardest thing to defeat. “Just not feeling like doing stuff.” 
@AskMarkHamilton:  it’s not always the hard to do tasks, but hard to start tasks as well. 

@RebeccaH83: I have to make lists. I start out every day with a list of what I need to work on.
@ABurgerADay: The best solution I can come up with, is to shun all technology and turn off the twitter. 
@SilverSteelWolf: That’s why I have @producteev!

 

Geek Rendezvous Game Night # 2

Attention old school gamers & geeks! We’re co-hosting our second Geek Rendezvous NYC meetup with Loosecubes next week. That’s Monday, October 10, 2011 7-9pm. 

Come hang & win! Geeks who attended the last rendezvous and played charades had an absolute blast. Twelve of them actually *won* something, and the next winner could be YOU!

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In it to win it

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Strategizing is serious business

Now if only our upcoming Game Night coincided with Comic-Con! That would make it even more awesome :D

Photo credit: Eva Blue

Artificial Intelligence School Implements #ProducteevEDU to Take Over the World

A team of students in the School of Computational Information Systems are thrilled to install and “get the ball rolling,” so to speak, with ProducteevEDU. 

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The institute is based in Col Fabriciano, Brazil, and the educational initiative provides free premium accounts for online task management to any individual associated with higher learning (students, faculty, staff).

The campus’ Laboratory of Computational Intelligence (LIC) now has students, volunteers, as well as a lab coordinator and teaching assistant managing tasks on the platform agnostic collaboration tool.

Prof_reinaldo

“Producteev is simply great! Over the past several weeks, it has transformed the daily lives of students and helped to better facilitate teamwork and communication!” remarked Dr. Francisco Reinaldo, instructor of engineering, artificial intelligence and programming languages. “I’m really looking forward to Producteev making all LIC work processes better.” 

This semester marks only the beginning, as the school’s smooth transition to an online project solution makes everything from building complex algorithms to sophisticated software programs to even *bots* more manageable!

In a short amount of time, Producteev just might enable this determined set of students to take over the world!

3 Keys to Relationship #Productivity

The secret to flawlessly complete your tasks while in a clingy relationship, or even a clingy friendship, is to (secretly) treat it as a task!
Relationships are great for all the sunshine and butterflies that they offer. But in reality, they are quite up there on the Productivity Blocker Totem Pole. Have a look at the fun infographic below, and you will see that even long-distance relationships have proven to be major time-suckers since the invention of the telephone!

Longdistrel

Each of us has demands to give-in to, such as work, school, finances, family obligations, household duties, etc. A lot of these duties have little, to no room for error. But when you are faced with a partner or friend that is too clingy, too emotionally dependent, or just plain annoying at times while they are demanding more time with you- handle them as you do everything else! Schedule them in as tasks!
Tips on managing to give your partner/friend the time they crave:

Consistency: Schedule time to have small-talk with your partner/friend on a daily basis. Try to make it around the same time each day, so they know they have something to look forward to a little after lunch, or right before dinner, etc.
A Little Goes A Long Way: Carve time for coffee, or short breakfasts together- or even a simple phone call helps. For those addicted to texts, message with weekly greetings, or morning greetings saying “Hey! Have a great day!”

Weekly Evenings: Try to schedule one evening each week for a hot date. Even if it is brief, it is still something. While you’re at it, maybe you can let your partner choose what they would like to do each week for the hot date between a set time bracket. Or take turns planning it. It’s a win-win cause hey, you might get lucky. ;-)
Points to consider while prioritizing relationship-related tasks:

What is urgent and important?
What is not urgent and important?
What is urgent and not important?
What is not urgent and not important?
You can even let your partner in on prioritizing (if they won’t mind of course), and they may appreciate your efforts in trying to make it work.

Do you know of any apps that could help one out with relationships/friendships?
Sound off in the comments below, or tweet us and let us know what you think! 
This post is part of a new weekly series called “Productivity Blocker!”

 

Breaking: #gtd toddler spotted in Vancouver, demonstrates 4 Stages of GTD

Bobby Travis is a family man, a top notch blogger, and knows how to kick GTD’s ass.

In addition to potty training his his little one, he’s also taught her David Allen’s personal productivity techniques. Below are what I refer to as, The Four Stages of GTD Proficiency:

Game face
initially settling upon the seemingly overwhelming methodology

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So far so good
coming to the realization that this GTD stuff’s not so bad 

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Practice makes perfect
reinforcing positive habits leads to growth each day

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I am the champion!!
thanks, Dad, for always believing in me & helping me succeed 

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Our special thanks to the Travis family for making productivity fun again :)

Staff Picks: Banish the Evil Forces and Get Things Done!

It’s easy to be productive! Check out the links below to learn simple ways of dealing with pressure, stress, procrastination, and other evils that are trying to steer you away from getting your stuff done!



Producteev Helps you Make it Rain $$$ with your Side Job!

Things get pretty hectic when you’re a student that is struggling to balance course work on top of a side job. But with  Producteev for Education, you’re in luck! 
Step One: Create separate workspaces for your studies, and your job. 

You must must MUST designate a workspace exclusively to your job. It’s up to you if you would like a separate workspace for each of your classes, or just one for all classes. For the sake of organization, it would be most helpful if you can view all work-related matters in one glance. So if you’re using one workspace, organize projects/aspects of your life with labels. If you’re using several workspaces, the overview will show you all tasks across all workspaces.
Step Two: Plot, Prioritize, Organize Tasks

Let’s assume that you’re using one workspace for any side jobs. Labels will basically serve the purpose of colored tabs and organize your to-do list by category. 

Example Jobs:
Babysitting- Got a lotta clients with pesky kids? At least your workspace can stay neat! Assign a different colored label for each client. Or if if only have one or two clients, you can assign a color for each major task, such as yellow for picking kids up from school, blue to drop off for piano lessons, and red to help them with a school project.

Dog Walking- Same as above, you can assign a color for each client. Or you can assign different colored labels for different routes- purple for ‘around the block,’ orange for ‘through the park,’ and green for ‘past the arcade-where-the-cool-geeks-are.’
Step Three: Let Producteev Make Decisions Easier For You

Once you have tasks plotted and starred, take advantage of the ‘sort by’ feature to decide on what to check off next. You can sort by: deadline; date created; label; last changed; manager; priority; and title.

If you wanna geek out and learn about GTD (Getting Things Done) labels, see the following posts:

A Dating To-Do List: 12 Important Considerations on How to Flirt via @URwingman

Producteev can be used in all sorts of unexpected ways including - as soon to be described here - a to-do list on How to Flirt!

Don’t let your dating game lead to Game Over! Take it from Thomas Edwards, a successful, professional dating coach and satisfied Producteev user, and turn your night out into an awesome action plan.

Your absolute to-dos are simple:
Compliment

Tease

Touch

In greater detail, our advice goes a little something like this:
Compliment your date. But don’t just compliment them for the sake of complimenting. Only compliment when it’s detailed and specific. This gives your words more meaning and makes you more believable. For instance, you can compliment your date on his/her personal style. In addition, you can shower dates with intellectual compliments. Geeks out there - this may mean telling that special lady friend how cool/sick she is for using a hot new new geo-location app. Don’t hold back! Complimenting shows that you’re thoughtful and that you notice details. With first impressions, this matters!

Tease your date and show him/her your playful side! Think of that time you were 5-years old and on an elementary school playground. Teasing actually offsets your compliments and keeps your date in full anticipation. It also keeps excitement running high that evening. But play nice when teasing! Your goal should always be to make your date laugh/smile by sharing something silly or surprising. The last thing you’d want to happen is to embarrass them. When at a loss for bright ideas, casually throw in a “that’s what she said” into the mix. This could work for ladies, as well as gents. Just make sure your interjection makes sense in the stated context, wouldn’t want to toss innuendo that’s inappropriate for the current convo. ;)

Touch your date to reinforce complimenting and teasing. This will likely be the hardest aspect to do well. However, try to make touching a natural part of your interaction. Suggestions in case you’re struggling include: *accidentally* brushing against your date’s arm when handing him/her a beer, or placing your arm on his/her knee when talking and leaning in. Still unsure what this should look like? Pay attention and people watch in a crowded bar or other social situation, and if someone looks like they know what they’re doing, they probably are. Don’t be afraid to ask them, how do you do it?! They probably won’t bite (though we can’t really guarantee anything here!). The bottom line is, touching amplifies not only your connection but also intensifies interactions.

Recap of essential flirting to-dos:

  • Recognize your date for his/her style
  • Stroke their intellectual ego
  • Notice details OTHER THAN purely physical ones and say nice things about them
  • Make your date laugh/smile
  • Throw in one or two “that’s what she said(s)”
  • Find a natural way to touch your date’s arm or knee
  • Don’t be shy to ask pro’s for further advice
  • For personal assistance, enlist a wingman (like Thomas!)
  • Get your dating to-dos on Producteev, available on multiple platforms and every device

Above all else, enjoy. Have fun on your date, that’s the entire point! Disclaimer: excessive alcohol is not recommended, particularly in initial stages of a romantic relationship.

For maximum efficiency and increasing the likelihood of a “win” or taking your date to the next “level,” alternate between the above to-dos and set them to recurring. ;) Before you know it, you’ll be flirting like a champ!

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Thomas Edwards is the founder of The Professional Wingman. Deemed the real-life “Hitch,” Thomas helps singles find relationships and lead fulfilling lives through personal development. His unique approach focuses on dating strategy and lifestyle development. Thomas has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Fox Business, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Ebony Magazine and many more. You can follow him on Twitter.