minorleagueCEO

Hi there. It has been longer than I would have wanted. I have stories and excuses, but those are topics for a different day. Today we will cover my personal process and how I handle my day to day business. We last left off with a brief history of why I started doing this, how it helps, and a little about the tools I use. I want to reiterate that any software can work as long as you can input things quickly and consistently. I have mulled over how to present this, and I think I will walk through my folders and lists with a description of each. Capture Lists (in Wunderlist but these can be generalized to work with any other task software like Todoist and Microsoft To-Do) Inbox - inbox is the default list in Wunderlist and I use it to capture things that don’t fit in with any of the defined lists below. My capture shortcut (iOS) and Google assistant will use this box for ubiquitous capture so I work out of this list regularly as a catch-all. Personal - Thi...

Before we get into today's blog I want to make something clear. When it comes to capture and productivity I am only sharing what I find to be valuable for me in the hopes that others will be helped by that. There are tons of people out there that are better than I am, and I understand that. If you are one of those people and you read this, know that I want your feedback. I welcome any suggestions that could save me time and effort while not impacting the quality of what I do. Feel free to leave a comment or reach out on twitter (@minorleagueCEO) and lets figure some stuff out. As I mentioned in my first blog, I have worked my way from an entry level employee to CEO in just under a decade. When I started I had very little experience with work email, calendars, or anything we traditionally associate with an office job. What I did have was a willingness to learn and the wiggle room to improve my personal work environment. We were issued laptops in those days, but that was it....

Now that we have walked through Capture and Processing, let's talk about the benefits that come with doing Capture right. Before I get into it I want to reiterate that Capture requires discipline. Any time Capture has failed, it was because I did not have the discipline to maintain either Capture or Processing. When I first started to fail I would beat myself up over it. If I slip now I think of it more as letting my room get a little too messy so I must do the extra work to clean it up. It doesn’t stop being something I do anymore. I need it like I need sleep and I just don’t work well without it. Productivity is the heart of Capture. I find that when I consistently capture tasks that life gets easier. I give someone a task, I schedule a follow up when it is supposed to be completed. I remember a topic I want to bring up in a meeting next week, I put it in a list that I pull up in the appropriate meeting. While planning I will break large projects down to its component tas...

So now that we are capturing information consistently, what do we do with it? Luckily, I have an answer, and it is called.......wait for it.......processing. Processing is the act of categorizing and sorting each captured item to ensure it is assigned to the proper list or note. It can get much more detailed than that, and I will dive into that as I go through my personal application of processing. For now, however, we will stick with the basics. Each category will need it's own location so to start you will need a place for Tasks and other list items, and long term notes. Once you have those in place, we can get started. I do my processing in the morning, so I can schedule my day to include time sensitive tasks. Checking your capture items regularly is important no matter the time of the day. Failure to process your captured items can break the Capture process quickly. Things pile up, they get disorganized, and before you know it you are spending most of your "product...