Just tools, tips and lots of ways to save a little bit of time here and there. Don't let the 89 slides scare you. They're very brief. It's a 15-minute read, at most.

1. 3E6699
The no-bullshit guide
to productivity rules & nifty tools
​ Ian Lurie
​ @portentint
​ CEO, Portent, Inc.
​ www.portent.com
(for marketers)

2. ​ I’m Ian.
​ I run an agency called Portent, Inc.
​ I’ve run it for 21 years.
​ I’ve remained (somewhat) sane.

3. ​ This is a little slice of how I do it.

4. ​ This is not a philosophical discussion.

5. ​ It’s not about Pomodoro versus Getting Things Done
​ or calendars versus todo lists.

6. ​ It’s about tools you can use, right now.

7. ​ You can find me at @portentint, by the way.

8. Rule #1
​ Make time for productivity.

9. ​ Time management is a skill.

10. ​ Learn it.

11. ​ Spend 15 minutes, every day,
learning one of these things:

12. ​ Your tools
​ Get better at the tools you use to refine…

13. ​ Your techniques

14. ​ Your routine

15. ​ THE TOOLS YOU USE EVERY DAY.

16. ​ When you have a problem in MS Word,
​ learn to solve it, not hack it.

17. ​ When one Powerpoint slide looks wrong,
​ learn to use Masters, don’t manually fix it all.

18. ​ Learn macros.

19. ​ 15 minutes on one thing in this deck.
Every day.

20. Rule #2
​ Dump the mouse.

21. ​ Using your mouse wastes time.

22. ​ A lot of time, as it turns out.

23. ​ Reducing mouse use saves me
12 hours per month.

24. Fast application switching
​ [COMMAND] [TAB] (on OS X)
​ [ALT] [TAB] (on Windows)

25. Fast application switching

26. Switch between windows in one application
​ [COMMAND] + “`” (on OS X)
​ Windows…?

27. Tool: Shortcat
​ “Click” buttons, menus using your keyboard

28. Tool: Shortcat
​ [SHIFT] [COMMAND] [SPACE]
Then start typing

29. Tool: Shortcat

30. ​ Also prevents repetitive stress injuries.

31. ​ Shortcatapp.com
​ Windows…?

32. Tool: AlfredApp or Launchy
​ Keystroke app launching and workflows

33. Tool: AlfredApp or Launchy
​ Set a key combo to launch the launcher

34. Tool: AlfredApp

35. Tool: AlfredApp

36. Tool: AlfredApp

37. ​ Alfredapp.com
​ Launchy.net

38. ​ LEARN THESE TOOLS!!!
​ They do a lot more.
Form fill, button clicks, e-mail, notes…

39. ​ Remember rule #1

40. Rule #3
​ Reduce keystrokes, save (brain) storage.

41. Tool: Text Expander
​ Turns keystrokes into longer stuff.

42. Tool: Text Expander
​ .gi [tab]
​ turns into
​ www.google.com/insights/search

43. Tool: Text Expander
​ hubfwd[tab]
​ 123124k235.forward.hubspot.com

44. Tool: Text Expander
​ thisinvite[tab]

45. Tool: Text Expander

46. Tool: Text Expander
​ Hi Bartleby,
​ Please come to my party.
​ Thanks!
​ Ian

47. Tool: Text Expander
​ ;pavuk [tab]
​ ./pavuk -cdir /Users/foo -progress -dont_leave_site -
slogfile /Users/foo /log-log.txt -logfile /Users/foo /log-
biglog.txt -identity thisCrawler -mode dontstore -retry 4
-noread_css -maxsize 400000

48. ​ (OK, that last one was showing off.)

49. ​ Textexpander.com
​ aText.com (alternative)

50. Tool: 1Password (or LastPass)
​ Secure password storage
(and other things)

51. Tool: 1Password (or LastPass)

52. Tool: 1Password (or LastPass)

53. Tool: 1Password

54. ​ You can generate unique, hard-to-guess passwords.
Store them.
Access them with your central password.

55. ​ (My passwords are harder to guess than three words.)

56. ​ 1Password.com
​ Lastpass.com

57. Rule #4
​ Sprint

58. Whatever length of time works
​ Work on the task
​ Then check e-mail, messages, etc.
​ Work on the task
​ And so on

59. ​ I find 45 minutes/10 minutes works best.

60. ​ Put on headphones.
​ Put up a sign.
​ Train your co-workers.

61. ​ “I’ll talk to you in a half hour.”

62. ​ I used to use all manner of fancy stuff.
Egg timers, Pomodoro Technique…
​ Now I use my phone’s stopwatch.

63. Rule #5
​ Use todo lists.
​ (unless you don’t)

64. ​ Atomize tasks.

65. ​ No task is larger than one sprint.

66. ​ Prioritize.

67. Tool: Todo.txt
​ Stores everything in text.
​ Works across devices.
​ Never obsolete.

68. Tool: Todo.txt

69. ​ (I don’t have a boa constrictor. I like mice.)

70. Tool: Evernote
​ Easier to use.
​ Works across devices.
​ Can store other stuff.
​ Can set reminders.

71. Tool: Evernote

72. ​ (I like kids and puppies, too. Mostly.)

73. Tool: Evernote

74. ​ OR
​ Use your calendar and schedule everything.

75. I mean everything

76. ​ Todo lists were trendy.
​ Now calendars are trendy.
​ Next year, maybe legal pads.
​ I dunno.

77. ​ The important thing is to have a system.
​ AND TRUST IT.

78. ​ A system only works if you trust it.
​ Use the one you trust, and stick with it.

79. Rule #6
​ Get rid of distractions.

80. Wait! Don’t go!!!!
There are real things to do here.

81. Tool: The Email Game

82. I was skeptical.
Then I cleared my inbox in 45 minutes.
I’m no longer skeptical.

83. emailgame.baydin.com

84. Tool: Noisli
​ Background noise generator

85. Tool: Noisli

86. Tool: MyNoise

87. noisli.com
mynoise.net
(I like the thunderstorm background.)

88. Rule #7
​ Make. Time. For. Productivity.

89. That’s it.
​ Ian Lurie
​ @portentint
​ CEO, Portent, Inc.
​ www.portent.com