Zen-ing my productivity

One of J's favorite sites, LifeHacker, is a trove of useful everyday information. It serves up tips on everything from brewing a mean cup of iced coffee to more random geek hacks, to just plain advice.

A recent post caught my eye. Although I am a habitual list maker, rarely do I cross off much from the list. Having a place to dump all my thoughts - from dropping off dry cleaning and dusting, to more lofty goals like learning a new language and losing 10 pounds - can be cathartic, however, tt also tends toward a stream of consciousness journal rather than focused task manager.

In the article, it gave some solid advice (http://howtogetfocused.com/chapters/how-to-get-things-done-like-a-zen-master/). To summarize:

1. Get an off-line, pen-and-paper weekly planner. Online ones get too complicated and distracting.
2. Using the weekly layout, designate specific days to accomplish certain tasks. I.E. PRIORITIZE.

And the best one...
3. Every time you sit down at your desk/computer/workspace, have a sticky note present with three (3) tasks to accomplish. Focus on those tasks ONLY.

The first two should be productive, work-related, but the third one could be a more pleasurable task, like watching a TED talk, browsing music for spin class teaching, or finding movie times for Friday date night.

I like the idea of having a carrot - a little reward is enough to motivate me to get through my work first!