Follow our advice here and you’ll have more time to put your feet up and relax!

HOW TO GET THINGS DONE ON YOUR MAC

62 MacFormat.co.uk Summer 2007

Your Mac is one of the most beautiful machines ever invented – it’s insanely useful and fun at the

same time. However, it’s easy to be distracted by all those fun things on the Mac, and by the infinite amount of interesting material on the internet. Add to that the steady flow of incoming emails, RSS feeds, instant messages and other information, and it’s a wonder that we get anything done at all. But there’s hope yet: the key to becoming more productive lies in simplifying – if you reduce clutter, eliminate distractions and get rid of everything that isn’t absolutely essential, your productivity will shoot through the roof. To be productive, we must be able to focus – to concentrate all of our energies into the task before us. In order to focus, we must eliminate everything that distracts us from the task at hand. On top of that, we must focus on the right things – the tasks and projects that will give us the most benefit, the most return on our investment.

In this tutorial, we’ll look at ways to become more productive by creating a simple, stress-free Mac environment, by making quick decisions so that stuff doesn’t pile up, by getting stuff out of our heads and into a trusted system, and by learning to focus on one task at a time. The ideal productive environment is one that’s free from clutter and distractions. Picture your Mac, free of Desktop clutter, without a million applications running, without notifications going off all the time, pulling away your attention from a task. That’s what we’re going to aim for.

First, your Desktop icons. When you bought your Mac, the Desktop was blissfully clean – the only icon on there was for your hard drive. Unfortunately, many people litter the Desktop with loads of file, folder and application icons, resulting in visual clutter and distraction. Not only that, but accessing your files from the Desktop is inefficient – you have

Get things done on your MacSimplify your workspace and your Mac to minimise distractions and become more productive

“To be productive, we must be able to focus

– to concentrate all of our energies into the task before us”

MEET THE EXPERT

Leo Babauta (http://zenhabits.net)Leo Babauta writes about productivity, simplicity and achieving goals on Zen Habits, as well as popular blogs such as Lifehack.org and

FreelanceSwitch.com. He’s a father of six, a ‘marathoner’, a triathlete and a writer.

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two family photographs back on the desk, but nothing else! Now sort through the papers, using the following rules:

• Do one piece of paper at a time, starting from the top and working your way down. • Never put a piece of paper back on the pile – make a decision and dispense with each one.

• If the paper requires an action that can be done in two minutes or less, do that now. • If you can toss it, do so immediately.

• If you can delegate it to someone else, do so now.

• If you don’t need to take action on it but need to reference it later, file it

to minimise your windows, locate the icon and double-click on it. That’s too many actions. See the box on Quicksilver(page 64) for a much faster way to find and launch files. So instead, create a folder on your hard drive called Desktop Icons, highlight all of the icons on your Desktop, and drag them into this new folder – we’ll deal with these files in the ‘Filing Zen with Spotlight’ Quick Tip box (to the right). Close the folder. Now look at your new, clean Desktop – ahhh. Much better, much cleaner, much less distracting. Not only that, but eliminating your Desktop icons will speed up your Mac – your CPU dedicates precious cycles to each icon on the Desktop every time it refreshes.

The most tempting distractionNow, you’ll want to turn off the worst distraction of all – your email and IM notifications. Do you have a sound or icon that notifies you of email or other incoming messages? Turn it off now. Being constantly interrupted by incoming messages is the worst way to get work done. Instead, choose set times during the day when you’re going to check and process email (and your RSS feeds if you read them) and ignore them the rest of the time. Twice a day is usually sufficient, but if not, you can set your email times to once an hour at the most, process your inbox, and close your email program again until the next designated time. Next, there’s the issue of having a million applications and windows open at once. It’s so easy on the Mac as it’s an extremely reliable OS, and switching from window to window is easy – but just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should. In reality, you don’t need that many windows open to work on the one task at hand. You need one window, or possibly two, depending on the task. Close everything but the window(s) that

you need to complete your current task – otherwise, you’ll be constantly tempted to switch to another application to work on something else. Multitasking only slows you down. Finally, let’s really simplify your Mac, in three ways. First, from the Apple menu in Finder, choose Dock > Turn Hiding On –now your Dock will be hidden (and not distracting you) until you need it. Next, use a program called Menu Shade (www.nullriver.com/index/products/) to similarly hide your application’s menu when you’re not using it. Finally, use a blank Desktop background or something that’s both soothing and relaxing. Don’t choose anything too busy! The ones that Apple provides by default are excellent in this respect.

Is your room a mess?While you can get your Mac to be the cleanest, simplest working environment possible, it’s also important to simplify your physical working environment. Take a good look around you – are there piles of paper on your desk, distracting knick-knacks, things stuck on your walls, stuff stacked on your floor? If so, you’ll certainly need to clear your desk and your surroundings. Here’s how: • Clear everything off your desk (except the computer stuff ). Take all papers (including notes and stickies), and pile them in one stack (preferably in your inbox if they can fit). Put all knick-knacks, photos, and other objects in a box. If you have papers stacked on the floor, put them on the single stack. • Clear everything off your walls apart from one or two pictures. You don’t need a bunch of notices or lists on the wall.

• Wipe your desk clean. It’s always nice to have a clean desk.

• Get rid of most of the stuff in your box, or find a place for them in your filing cabinet or drawers. You can put one or

INSPIRATIONAL READINGOne of the best systems ever invented for productivity is Getting Things Done, a book by David Allen that has become wildly popular on the internet. GTD (as it’s commonly known) focuses on getting everything off your mind and into a trusted system of To-do lists. Allen also tells you to break your actions into smaller next actions – the very next physical action required on a project. These next actions are sorted into context lists, which are defined by your physical environment or tools – what next actions can you be doing right now? Common contexts are Home, Work, Computer, Calls and Errands. In addition, GTD suggests a Someday/maybe list for all those actions and projects you can’t do right now but would like to do someday, and a fantastic Waiting for list for everything you need to follow up on. Allen also teaches you how to keep your inbox clear, by making quick decisions on everything, and how to set up a simple and easy-to-use filing system. By keeping your inbox clear, and writing

down everything that comes into your mind in a notebook, you clear your mind to achieve a higher state of productivity. He uses an Eastern ‘mind like water’ analogy: when a pebble is tossed into a calm pool of water, the water responds accordingly – no more and no less. This is the state of stress-free productivity that GTD promises.

Ahg! A cluttered Desktop and Dock. Hide the Dock until you need it, and minimise the icons on your Desktop to speed up your Mac.

To make your Dock disappear until you need it, head to the Apple menu and select Dock > Turn Hiding On.

QUICK TIP

Filing Zen with SpotlightCreating numerous folders and subfolders on your Mac is no longer necessary if you use

a combination of Spotlight and Quicksilver. Create a big archive folder, and be done with it! You can open files with Quicksilver, or search for files whose titles you don’t remember with Spotlight.

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immediately (don’t create a To file pile). If there’s no folder for it, make one and put a label on it, then file it. • If it requires action of longer than two minutes, put the action on the To-do list and put the paper in an Action file. That’s it. If you follow these steps, you’ll soon have cleared your pile of papers. Step back and enjoy the sight of a clear and clutter-free desk.

Make quick decisionsNow that your desk and Mac are clear, you need to keep it that way. Piles of paper are simply procrastinated decisions. The key to staying on top of the incoming flow of paperwork and information is having a quick and

efficient system for dealing with everything, and making decisions immediately instead of putting them off. When new papers come in, put them in your inbox – don’t just put them anywhere on our desk. Make this a habit, and you’ve gone a long way towards organisation and productivity. Then, once a day, process your inbox using the steps above. This way, you’ll never have clutter

GET PRODUCTIVE WITH QUICKSILVERThere is no single piece of software that will make you more productive on your Mac than Quicksilver (http://quicksilver.blacktree.com). It’s an extremely versatile application that runs in the background of your computer and can launch programs, open files, and much, much more with a few presses of the keyboard. And because Quicksilver is a Mac-only program, it’s one of the most compelling reasons to switch over to the Mac from other operating systems. On its surface, Quicksilver is an application launcher – you activate it with a simple keyboard shortcut, and you can search for and open anything instantly. Even better, the program will begin to learn what you’re

looking for as you use it. When not in use, Quicksilver vanishes, waiting for the next time you summon it. But it’s much more than just a launcher. With Quicksilver, you can take any item and do any number of things with it: email it,

copy it, compress it. Text can be modified, transmitted between programs, or searched for on the web. In fact, in most cases Quicksilver will replace the Finder – instead of clicking through folders, you can quickly open folders or files with a few keystrokes, move files to another folder, or open files with a specific application. It takes a little while to get used to Quicksilver, and to learn about all the things it can do, so we’re starting a series on how it works in next month’s MacFormat, on sale 27 June. Follow our advice, and it won’t be long before Quicksilver becomes an extension of yourself, allowing you to act without thinking about it.

Don’t miss our full Quicksilver tutorial next issue.

on your desk again. You can now focus and be productive. These are important habits to learn, but it takes time. You’ll slip. Just remind yourself, and then do it. Soon it’ll be a habit you have a hard time breaking. And once you’re used to your desk being clear, you won’t want to break this habit. Now apply this quick decision-making process to all parts of your life. Is there a request coming in for your time? Decide on it and send out a reply, or put it on your To-do list for action later. By making decisions on things now instead of later, you get them off your mind and allow yourself to focus on what’s before you.

Clear your mindOne of the things that bogs us down is the tendency for stuff to accumulate – not only on our Macs or our physical space, but in our minds. This ‘stuff’ includes anything that comes to mind: ideas, tasks to do, errands to run, deadlines coming up, emails coming in, a conversation we recently had, problems that are bothering us. That stuff, like the clutter on your Mac Desktop, takes precious CPU cycles away from the task at hand, and as a result our mind’s operating system is slowed down. The solution is simple: clear your mind of that clutter, and your mind’s OS will be that much faster and more efficient! To keep your mind free of clutter, you’ll need to write down everything that comes into your head – put all the ‘stuff’ onto paper. Carry around a small notebook, one that will fit in your pocket. Take it everywhere you go, even by your bed at night. Write

LEFT: Dashboard widgets are useful and entertaining, but they can also be incredibly distracting, so beware if you have work to do!

ABOVE: Don’t have a confusing mess of files on your Desktop – instead, find and open them quickly and easily with Spotlight.

“By making decisions now instead of later, you get them off your mind and allow yourself to focus”

QUICK TIP

Control Mail with shortcutsIf you use Mail, you need the Mail Act-On plug-in (www.indev.ca/MailActOn.html). It

will turn you into an email ninja! Mail Act-On basically allows you to assign keystroke combinations (the keyboard is much faster than the mouse) to process email – archive, respond, apply labels, file in different folders, and much more.

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Make a To-do list. Don’t use your inbox as this list – it’s inefficient, especially as the action that needs to be taken isn’t always

immediately obvious from looking at the email title. If an email requires an action, write it on a separate To-do list (either paper or digital) and archive the email for reference or future reply.

04If you can reply to an email in less than two minutes, do so immediately. If an email requires a response that will take longer than

two minutes, and you don’t have time to do that now, you can file it in a Reply folder – as long as you get to your replies reasonably soon. I suggest once a day for doing your longer replies.

05When you’re done with an email (you’ve replied, written down the action needed, or forwarded it), you have two options: delete

it, or file it in an Archive folder for future reference. One Archive folder should be sufficient – there’s no need to create an elaborate filing system, with email search functions as powerful as they are today.

06

STEP BY STEP Clear your Mail inbox

The first step to email productivity is to limit the amount of time you spend on email, and to turn off email notifications. Whether it’s

ten minutes every hour, or 30 minutes twice a day, you should have set email times, and focus on getting your email done within those time frames.

01During your email processing time, focus on doing one email at a time, starting at the top and working your way down. This may sound

simple, but most people tend to jump around and read emails without acting on them – which isn’t the most organised way to tackle an inbox.

02When you read an email, make a quick decision on what needs to be done with it. Does it require an action? A reply? Does it

need to be filed for future reference, or delegated to someone else? Or can it simply be trashed? Dispose of the email quickly and move on to the next one.

03

down everything in this notebook, and when you get to your computer, enter your tasks and ideas into your To-do list. With this simple ‘RAM dump’ habit, your mind will be clear to focus on your task and be more productive.

The myth of multitaskingIn the last decade we’ve all become multitaskers, able to work on several documents at once, respond to emails, answer our mobiles – all while playing Solitaire in the background. Contrary to popular opinion, multitasking actually damages productivity! Instead of juggling tasks, try single-tasking. Select one task to work on at this moment – preferably the most important task on your To-do list – and focus on it exclusively. You’ll need to clear away all

distractions, turn off all notifications, turn off all unnecessary applications, clear everything off your desk that isn’t required for this task, and focus. Whenever you feel your attention being pulled to another task, pull back and re-focus. If you get interrupted with information or a request, write it down in your notebook to process later, and return to your task. If you really must be pulled away, make a note of where you were on your task, so that when you

come back it will be easy to pick up where you left off. One tip that works well to help you focus is a timer. Set a timer (physical or digital) for 30 minutes, or some other short period of time (less than an hour is best) and try to concentrate fully until the timer goes off. When you finish this, give yourself ten minutes (set the timer!) for whatever it is you love to do as a distraction. When the ten minutes is up, stop, set the timer for 30 minutes and get back to your next task. Follow our advice on clearing clutter from your Mac Desktop and your desk, focus completely on one task at a time and your productivity will shoot through the roof – leaving more time for the fun things in life, like reading MacFormat!Leo Babauta

“Contrary to popular opinion, multitasking actually damages productivity! Focus on one single task”

QUICK TIP

Better SafariIn Safari choose Hide Bookmark Bar from the View menu so that you’re

not tempted to keep checking your favourite websites every time you open your web browser. It might not be as much fun, but you’ll get more work done. Afterwards, reward yourself with some fun surfing time once you’ve got the job done.

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