Mark W. Shead is a consultant who uses technology to solve business problems. He recently introduced himself to me via Managing with Aloha, and I am so glad he did. When it comes to productivity writing online, his blog looks like it may be my new favorite in the genre to read!
Check out Productivity501, Pieces of the productivity puzzle.
Many of the productivity blogs which pepper the more “popular” pages of bookmarking and tagging sites like Digg and Del.icio.us, will add so much clutter to our reading, for the definition of productivity they actually demonstrate has to do with flooding us with posts about everything and anything. Productivity is a big word, and they prove it, by throwing every option they can think of in our direction.
In contrast, Mark’s About Page hooked me in when I read this:
Productivity501 is a site dedicated to bringing you regular tips and tricks to help increase your personal productivity. This site focuses on original content so the publication schedule is a little slower than other blogs out there. Generally we try to have at least one new article each week, but the focus is on posting when we have something that will benefit our readers.
Outstanding!
I do want to be more productive than I am… who doesn’t? However “a little slower” with more “focus” on “something that will benefit” sounds terrific to me!
The concept of being productive is meaningless without a good understanding of your values or what is important to you personally. Being productive isn’t just a matter of being busy. It isn’t a matter of doing a lot of things. Productivity is accomplishing important things.
Many people try to get organized so they can do more, but really they are just trying to fit a bunch more unimportant things into their day. Until they define what is really important to them, just scheduling a bunch of tasks won’t help them really accomplish more.
Sometimes being productive doesn’t mean doing more. In fact sometimes
it can mean doing fewer tasks each day. When these tasks are carefully
chosen to align with your values, they can have a much bigger impact on
your overall accomplishments.
Read more, at Productivity and Values.
Visit Mark. Breathe. Read short and deep. Get more productive with “Something that will benefit” —Productivity501
Update: Mark had written to me for this interview series, and I see that he’s posted part one of three today. I’ll add the links here as they’re published. He had asked us three questions, and with the first one published today, I see that he received 26 responses —there are a lot of great tips to learn from!
Question 1:
What is the single biggest way people waste time without even realizing it?
Question 2:
What change has made the most difference in making you effective in life?
Question 3:
If someone were to read just one post from your site, which would you recommend they read and why?