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Best of Productivity

The Printable CEO™

About the Series

  1. 2005.11.12 - The Printable CEO Series

High Level Goal Setting and Tracking (CGT)

By keeping a short focused list of "worth doing" items and tracking them daily, progress against an abstract goal becomes measurable.

  1. 2005.09.23 - The Printable CEO
  2. 2005.09.25 - The Printable CEO Remixed
  3. 2005.09.30 - The Making of the Printable CEO
  4. 2005.10.19 - The Printable CEO for PocketMod Hack
  5. 2005.11.13 - Task Progress Destruct-o-Matic
  6. 2005.11.17 - Cool PCEO Feedback
  7. 2005.12.07 - The Printable CEO: PowerPoint Editable Version
  8. 2006.01.10 - Cool Printable CEO Adaptations
  9. 2007.01.01 - Concrete Goals Tracker 2007 Updates
  10. 2007.01.01 - Hipster-compatible Concrete Goals Tracker

Project Task Management (TPT)

When I need to plan the details, sometimes I need a better "to do" list that helps me see the project tasks ahead of time.

  1. 2005.11.10 - The Printable CEO Part II: Much To Do about Task Tracking
  2. 2005.11.12 - Musings on Task management
  3. 2006.03.22 - Task-o-Matic Pac Man Variation
  4. 2006.04.29 - Task Tracker Destruct-o-matic Mashup
  5. 2006.07.31 - Managing My Tide of Projects
  6. 2006.07.31 - Task Progress Tracker Update: Monochrome "Power User" Edition
  7. 2006.12.15 - Task Progress Tracker Updates for 2007
  8. 2007.02.15 - To Do Distinctions

Day Planning (ETP, MOD)

There are times when you can't plan out the day. Well, at least you can structure it so you know what you want to do while keeping track of all the stuff that happened outside your control.

  1. 2005.11.20 - Menu of the Day
  2. 2006.05.30 - Menu of the Day, Revisited
  3. 2006.09.12 - The Printable CEO VI: Menu of the Day
  4. 2006.09.12 - How Do You Start Your Day?
  5. 2006.09.13 - Story of the Day
  6. 2006.09.16 - The Printable CEO VI.1: Emergent Task Planning
  7. 2006.09.27 - Emergent Task Planner Mods
  8. 2006.11.10 - Daily Continuity
  9. 2007.01.02 - Emergent Task Planner 2007 Updates
  10. 2007.01.04 - Emergent Task Planner 2007 Discussion
  11. 2007.01.28 - Emergent Task Planner Tweakers
  12. 2007.03.01 - The Daytime Continuum

Resource Planning (RTQ)

When trying to predict my resource needs in the future, I created some forms to test scheduling concepts.

  1. 2006.09.28 - The Printable CEO VII: Resource Time Tracking
  2. 2006.12.22 - Resource Time Tracking Updates for 2007
  3. 2007.01.29 - Play "Guess the Form"

Time Tracking (ETT)

Ok, when you already know what you need to do, sometimes you just need something to help you keep focused.

  1. 2006.04.18 - The Printable CEO III: Emergent Task Timing
  2. 2006.04.18 - Emergent Task Tracker: Some Tweaks
  3. 2006.04.19 - Example of the Emergent Task Timer
  4. 2006.04.26 - Quickie Emergent Task Tracker Variation 2A
  5. 2006.06.23 - The Printable CEO Online Emergent Task Timer
  6. 2006.06.26 - Emergent Task Tracker Updates
  7. 2006.07.17 - Some Quick Emergent Task Tracker Updates
  8. 2006.08.03 - Minor Update to the Emergent Task Timer Online
  9. 2006.08.18 - The Emergent Task Timer Paper Power User Edition
  10. 2006.12.29 - Emergent Task Timer 2007 Form Updates

Task Ticket Tracking (TOU)

In a production environment with many simultaneous demands and tasks, I thought using a fast-food restaurant check rail to manage each task individually would help make them visible and easy to manage.

  1. 2006.05.04 - The Printable CEO IV: Task Order Up!
  2. 2006.05.08 - Task Order Up! 3x5 Index Card Edition
  3. 2006.05.10 - Task Order Up in Two New Index Card Formats
  4. 2006.05.15 - Intermittent Task Tracking
  5. 2006.11.19 - Arm-Mounted Index Card Scabbard
  6. 2007.01.15 - The Task Order Up! 2007 Editions

Lead Tracking (NCM)

Want to know what a typical sales guy should be doing? This form distills what that is in a variation of the Concrete Goals Tracker.

  1. 2006.06.29 - The Printable CEO V: Makin' Rain

Specialized Printable CEO Applications

Concepts behind the Concrete Goals Tracker are applicable beyond freelancing. Here's some variations that were inspired by the original.

  1. 2006.06.27 - When is a Cigar Worth Smoking?
  2. 2006.07.27 - Adapting the Printable CEO for Musicians
  3. 2006.08.02 - Adapting the PCEO for IT Departments
  4. 2006.08.09 - Adapting the PCEO for IT Departments, Part II
  5. 2006.08.27 - Concrete Goal Tracking for the Non-Freelancer
  6. 2007.01.03 - Creating New Year's Resolutions with the Concrete Goals Tracker
  7. 2007.03.15 - Concrete Goals Tracker for Small Business

Clocks and Time

I am enamoured of clocks. Here is one that attempts to trick you into being on time by being unpredictably fast, so you never are sure just how much time you have.

  1. 2007.01.17 - A Chindogu Clock for Procrastinators
  2. 2007.01.19 - The Procrastinator's Clock: Desktop Editions

Calendars

I'm pretty picky about useful project calendars, so I tend to make my own.

  1. 2006.02.17 - My Compact Calendar Excel Sheet
  2. 2006.12.14 - Compact Calendar for 2007
  3. 2006.12.26 - Compact Calendar 2007 Discussion
  4. 2007.04.03 - Text File Strip Calendar

Press Mentions

  1. 2006.07.31 - Emergent Task Timer Mentioned on "The Productivity Show"

Tricks and Gadgets

Gear, gadgets, and hacks to improve my productivity. Or provide an entertaining pseudo-productive distraction.

  1. 2004.09.21 - Pickle Jar
  2. 2005.07.18 - Self Denial of Service
  3. 2005.07.06 - A Mantra for Productivity
  4. 2006.08.14 - Swiss Watchmakers and the Invisible Clock II
  5. 2006.08.28 - Roomba Productivity
  6. 2006.11.14 - Flat Pens Revisited
  7. 2006.11.19 - Flat Pens and Moleskines
  8. 2006.11.29 - Productivity through Discomfort
  9. 2006.12.21 - Cigarette Case Calendar Hack

Psychology of Productivity

What is productivity anyway? When it's not being measured with numbers, it's all in our head.

  1. 2005.11.19 - Optimization and Procrastination
  2. 2005.12.05 - Clarifying the Meaning of Productivity
  3. 2006.03.06 - Stage 2 Productivity
  4. 2006.05.22 - Adult-Onset Productivity Responsibility Disorder
  5. 2006.05.23 - Adulthood 101
  6. 2006.05.24 - Self Parenting is Harder than I Thought
  7. 2006.08.25 - From Unit Productivity to Process
  8. 2006.09.21 - Personality and Productivity
  9. 2006.10.19 - Productivity Systems Redux
  10. 2006.11.09 - Productivity and Newton's Laws of Motion
  11. 2007.03.06 - A Quickie Definition of Productivity
  12. 2007.03.22 - Stumbling Toward Productivity
  13. 2007.03.23 - Twitter Productivity

Workspaces

The environment we work in affects how we work. Some musings.

  1. 2005.12.07 - Ideas Lost in the Shower
  2. 2005.12.10 - A Planning Workspace of My Own
  3. 2005.12.13 - My Separate Management Space: Early Impressions
  4. 2006.08.09 - Separate but Equal Workspaces
  5. 2006.08.17 - When Some Workspaces are More Equal than Others

GTD: Getting Things Done

I discovered GTD after creating the first few Printable CEO forms. When I finally read the book and tried it, I noted my experiences.

  1. 2006.05.28 - Taking A Look at Getting Things Done
  2. 2006.06.03 - GTD Collecting Weekend
  3. 2006.06.05 - GTD Sorting Pass 1
  4. 2006.06.06 - GTD Intermission
  5. 2006.06.13 - GTD Processing
  6. 2006.07.12 - GTD Retrospective: What's going Wrong, What Might Work

Setting Goals

There is a whole process in setting goals. My yearly goals are set on February 2nd, Groundhogs Day, after I've caught up with the New Year.

  1. 2007.02.02 - Groundhog Day Resolutions
  2. See also The Printable CEO Paper Series

Overcoming Obstacles

There's so much to do, and it's hard. Sometimes a good venting, insight, or trick helps break through the muddle.

  1. 2005.11.28 - I Hope I Kinda Might Perhaps Won't Write Like This Anymore, Maybe
  2. 2006.01.05 - My Three Biggest Hurdles
  3. 2006.02.06 - Hocus Focus
  4. 2006.02.10 - Drinky Crow on Flight
  5. 2006.04.13 - Better Balance through Outsourcing
  6. 2006.05.11 - Ask Your Favorite Neighborhood Ph.D.
  7. 2006.06.13 - Cancellations Galore
  8. 2006.06.15 - Setting Limits
  9. 2006.06.27 - On Training
  10. 2006.07.03 - My Two Week Rule
  11. 2006.08.03 - Hocus Focus, Part II
  12. 2006.08.30 - On Making Decisions
  13. 2006.09.06 - Busy Busy
  14. 2006.09.14 - Productivity via Keanu Reeves
  15. 2006.10.06 - Tricking Myself into Action
  16. 2006.10.16 - Procrastination and the Long Queue
  17. 2006.10.23 - Chipping Away at the Long Queue
  18. 2006.11.01 - Waiting for Action
  19. 2006.12.11 - Hiro Nakamura on Concentration
  20. 2006.12.15 - Changing Work-Life Balance at Best Buy
  21. 2006.12.17 - Slaying Dragons and Changing Careers
  22. 2007.02.05 - Self Regulation
  23. 2007.02.13 - Impulsive versus Methodical Action
  24. 2007.02.18 - That New Job Smell
  25. 2007.02.20 - Grogginess
  26. 2007.02.22 - Morning People
  27. 2007.02.22 - Waking Insights
  28. 2007.02.25 - Old Habits Die Hard
  29. 2007.02.26 - Week 2 of Getting Up Early: A Minor Setback
  30. 2007.03.02 - Checkpoint: Two Weeks of Waking Up Early