What Productivity Tools Does the Get-It-Done Guy Use?
Learn every tool Stever uses for his personal productivity.
I’ve had several people write in asking what I use as my own productivity tools. At first, I didn’t think there would be enough material for an entire article. Then I took notes for a day as I watched myself work.
Asking me about my productivity devices is like asking Imelda Marcos about her favorite shoes, or asking Charlie Sheen to list his most impressive character traits. There’s a lot, so let’s jump right in.
What Productivity Tools Does the Get-It-Done Guy Use?
Most of my tools are available or have equivalent programs on both Windows and Mac. There may also be free coupons or discount coupons for purchasing some of the programs if you visit soon!
My computer: I used to own a few Windows machines, but since 2007, I’ve become a purely Mac shop. I still run Windows in a virtual machine when needed, but it’s almost never needed. See my episode on how to choose a computer to hear why I settled on a Mac.
My Blackberry: Though it’s a cute device, it syncs poorly with the Mac and worst of all, I can’t delete or file messages from it. That means I handle my email twice daily, once on the Blackberry and once on the desktop. I tried an Android and it just wasn’t for me. T-Mobile has the lowest rates and the best customer service by far, so I won’t change carriers. The instant the AT&T/T-Mobile merger is complete, I’m switching to an iPhone.
Program launcher. I use many different programs, so a program launcher is a must. I have both keystroke-based launchers and graphical launchers so I can keep my hands on the keyboard or mouse and still launch my next applicaton. On Windows, MacroExpress is my tool of choice, using keystroke or mouse launching. On the Mac, Alfred is my keystroke launcher. It also launches files and websites and saves my clipboard history so I can cut or copy several things and then paste them all in a row.
Sapiens is my mouse-based launcher. It uses visual organization and artificial intelligence to learn to customize your launcher to your favorite programs.
Macros and text expanding: I discuss text macros in my episodes on how to choose keyboard macros and how to speed typing. On Windows, I use MacroExpress, the same as my application launcher. On the Mac, it’s TextExpander for the Mac, set to sync my text abbreviations among all my machines.
Scheduling: Scheduling meetings was a pain until Web-based Tungle. With Tungle, you specify time blocks when you’re available and other people choose the specific time.
Web page capture: It’s no surprise to say I recommend saving useful information. But what if it’s on the Web? Sometimes I print the Web page and save it as a PDF file. On Windows, I use freeware Cute PDF Writer. On the Mac, I use the built-in Save As PDF… command in the Print dialog box.
Bookmarks: If I want to save a bookmark, I use Delicious.com. It has a browser bookmark to save pages with a single click. By default, your bookmarks are publicly visible, so mark them private if you want.
Password storage: I’ve written about the need for secure password storage. The last year has seen password programs explode in functionality. LastPass and 1Password are my tools of choice. Both are cross-platform. Both let you access your passwords on other machines using a web browser. 1Password stores your passwords on your machine, in a way that lets you copy them to a thumb drive and access on another machine’s web browser. LastPass stores passwords in the cloud. You don’t need a thumb drive, but … they’re out there on the web. I don’t have a favorite, yet.
Contacts: I use the Mac Address Book, synchronized via MobileMe with my iPod Touch and my other Macs. BlackBerry desktop manager takes an hour to sync it to my Blackberry, so I occasionally do an overwrite-handheld from my desktop to the Blackberry. Lack of good Blackberry contact sync is a weak point in my personal systems.
On Windows, Outlook is the best address book I found, and I really didn’t like it much. Google Contacts is probably better.
Mind mapping software: I love mind maps, as related in my episodes on managing a personal dashboard and keeping track of ideas. My desktop tool is Mind Manager Pro, though it’s expensive. My operations manager and I share mind maps with Web-based Mind Meister, which is free if you have fewer than 3 maps.
Social media: I don’t have time to visit a dozen websites daily. I use HootSuite.com to centralize my social media browsing and responding all at once.
Writing quietly: For quiet writing, OmmWriter is amazing. It gives you a complete focus environment and run on Windows and the Mac. I’m using it to type this episode.
Calendar: My calendars live in Google Calendars, with BusyCal keeping my Mac calendars in sync. On my iPod Touch, the WeekCalendar app adds week-at-a-time views and a much nicer interface to the built-in calendar. My Blackberry uses the free Google Sync to stay synchronized.
Calculator: I’m a nerd! I love calculators! I use Lygea’s HP-12C reverse polish notation calculator on all my devices. I learned RPN in 10th grade and have loved it ever since.
Task list: My talk management system is discussed in episodes on organizing your life and managing your to-do list. My capture device is a spiral 3×5 pad, with the iPod touch app AwesomeNote as a backup, in case I forget my spiral pad. My pen is the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto, 5-color body. It gives me several colors with .03mm lines to color-code everything, or draw cute little bunnies in my capture device. My master list lives in a pocket-size, softcover, ruled Moleskine notebook, gifted from Grammar Girl.
My task list system: My task list system blends David Allen’s Getting Things Done system with Mark Forster’s SuperFocus system.
When evaluating online task managers, Things for the Mac was my favorite. Thinking Rock was my Windows favorite, and Remember The Milk was my Web-based choice.
Countdown timer: As I discuss in Get-it-Done Guy’s 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More, I speed date my tasks using a physical egg timer. I also use wonderful the Mindfulness Bell iPod app that rings a Tibetan bell when the timer gets to Zero.
Email: My email is stored in Gmail because they offer tons of storage and filters. I read my email in Thunderbird, the open source mail reader for Mac or PC. I use Thunderbird extensions Nostalgy for one-keystroke filing, Send Later 3 to send deferred email as I discuss in my book, and QuickFolders keeps my favorite folders on tabs.
Reference notes: I compulsively summarize books into text notes and carry them around, just in case. Web-based SimpleNote stores the notes, and freewark Notational Velocity for the Mac gives lightning fast searching. I never found a notes app on Windows that I liked.
Document collaboration: Google Docs keeps my whole team sharing and collaborating on documents. It’s amazing! On handheld devices, Documents to Go can view documents and it syncs with Google Docs. Editing only happens on desktops; however, it takes too long on small devices and is a waste of time.
Whew! That’s a lot! And I think it covers just about everything. Remember to check out today’s transcript for links to every product and past episode mentioned today.
Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!
RESOURCES
– (links included in the text above) – Links to past Get-it-Done Guy episodes
– 174-stever-resource-list.htm – Links to all of the web sites and personal productivity items mentioned in this episode.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
You May Also Like…
About the Author
Stever Robbins was the host of the podcast Get-it-Done Guy from 2007 to 2019. He is a graduate of W. Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management training program and a Certified Master Trainer Elite of NLP. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Computer Sciences from MIT.
