I’m nominating Wannabe as the official anthem of productivity. Sure, there are probably a load of other songs that come to mine (Take This Job And Shove It, for instance), but this is one that makes me sing along and actually get stuff done.
I just want my systems to talk with me like the Spice Girls…
Yo, I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want
So tell me what you want, what you really, really want
I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want
So tell me what you want, what you really, really want
I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha)
I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig ah
I mean it’s all about time management, right? (Don’t go off on me about not being able to manage time…I’m having fun here)
If you want my future, forget my past
If you wanna get with me, better make it fast
Now don’t go wasting my precious time
Get your act together we could be just fine
From that point on, the song totally breaks down as a Productivity Anthem, but those two stanzas are enough for me!
When I think about it, I’ve got tasks in several different systems, and reminders for those tasks in even more. I’ve got events in my calendar, and sometimes I put a reminder on them so I don’t forget where I’m supposed to be at a specific date/time combination. I’ve got recurring notices coming from Reminders for things like checking my blood sugar, checking bank deposits, packing stuff for a trip. I have tasks in Todoist that often have reminders attached to them. Both Reminders and Todoist also tell me to do things when I’m either arriving or leaving a location (one of the coolest features of both apps). I have regular checklists in 2Do that help me get through the drudgery of house cleaning and all the monthly financial stuff I have to do.
All those apps work to tell me What I want to do. Or at least what I said I was going to do when past me was taking the time to figure out what I should be doing. When past me take the time to do a weekly review and plan the upcoming week I usually work pretty smoothly. And when I check things the night before to make sure nothing new has cropped up, I do even better.
Unfortunately, making sure the weekly and daily reviews and updates occur is still a struggle. But I’m getting better. The kids laugh at me because I have a reminder that pops up on Sunday around noon that tells me to Do A Weekly Review. One of them even went so far as to question why I couldn’t remember to do it. My answer is that it’s not that I don’t remember, it’s that I don’t actually do it. So when the reminder comes up I then have to go through the motions of either ignoring the reminder, postponing it, or canceling it. I’ve learned that the first and third options aren’t in my best interest, so I either postpone it to a more appropriate time during the day…or I take option four: I do the weekly review.
But the same things holds true for more mundane items, like taking out the trash. I know I have to do it a couple times a week. I know the trash truck will be on the driveway early on Friday morning. I can see the stupid trash cans close to overflowing. But without the reminders I’m scrambling around in my PJs at zero dark thirty on Friday trying to beat the trash man to the cans. I’ve gone so far as creating two reminders, one for early in the week for our “first trash dumping” and one for Thursday that warns me of the dire consequences of not taking out the trash. It sounds like overkill, but it’s not.
I don’t have to think about the trash when I walk past the trashcan. I know that I’ve got a system in place that will help me figure out when to get it to the curb. So I can focus on other things…potentially more important things.
Like finding the actual lyrics to Wannabe.
