I love to-do lists. They help me to organize my tasks, projects, ideas and they keep me motivated. Checking off items is something very satisfying.

I used to have most of my to-do lists on paper, but recently I decided to go on-line. Why? There are two main reasons.

Being paperless means less clutter around my workspace. I don’t have to search for a sheet with my list. All my lists are on-line in one place.

On-line to-do list means also easier access from anywhere. I don’t have to keep all my lists close with me. The only thing I need is access to the web, and today it is not a big problem.

Above is more than enough for at least trying on-line to do lists.

After short research on available apps, I chose Ta-da List. Ta-da List is really simple and intuitive, to do list manager. Registration is free and takes literally dozen of seconds. Give it few more minutes and you know everything you need to use Ta-da List.

As it is really simple app, it doesn’t have too much features. Among the most important there are checking off and reordering items on lists, sharing lists with others and RSS subscriptions, so you can track your lists. Do you really need more?

Well, I am quite happy with Ta-da List as it is doing a great job for me, but I would like few more things in my perfect to do list tool.

First of all, when I have more that twenty lists, I have a little mess on My Lists page. There is no possibility to reorder lists, which in my case would be very helpful. When I add a new item on any of my list, that list goes to the top of My Lists and my previous order is changed. This is quite annoying.

I would also be happy to group or tag lists, use search option and change any item from a list into separate list or into sublist related to the list where that item was.

Of course, all above are my small wishes and I can live without them. I will definitely keep using Ta-da List, but that doesn’t mean I won’t have opened eyes on other to do lists.

If you are using any on-line app for to-do lists, write your recommendations and experiences in comments. I would be very grateful for any feedback.

Do you suffer from a lack of energy to start a new project or next task from your to do list? Not only you. Many people have similar problem including me as well. There are many interesting and effective ideas that can boost your energy to start, but this post is not about them. It is not yet another list of hacks to make you work. Don’t think that I don’t like lists or such tips, I do love them, but today I want to present something different.

Let’s break the pattern. Don’t look for energy rush or motivation peak before you start your job. It will come naturally, without your additional effort dedicated to find it but not now. When it will come? The answer is simple – start your work first, then the energy will follow.

Yes, I know. You’ve heard those advices many times.

Simply start.

Start with a small step.

Just do it.

Blah, blah, blah…Maybe it works for you from time to time, maybe it doesn’t work at all. I know that.

But the things look quite different, when you slightly change your mindset and approach.

First of all, taking this very first small step is not a difficult thing. Don’t even try to tell me, that this is a problem for you. It usually requires no more that five minutes. You can do this, right? Open your text editor and write the first sentence. Brainstorm five new ideas. Clear your workspace and bring your tools. That’s all you need to start. I’m sure you don’t need any special support to do these, do you?

Now, the most important part. Energy and motivation will occur and rise while you keep doing your task. Of course, eventually you will reach your peak and then slowly go downhill. This is ok. You can’t work on your top infinitely. Take a break.

But for now, remember and be aware of the following:

Don’t look for the energy to start.
Don’t waste your time waiting for it.
Start and then energy will follow.

Having that in mind, you accept that at the beginning, it may not be as smooth and as nice as you would like it to be; but you know that all things will get better pretty soon. This makes everything easier. Being conscious of such dependency you can logically convince yourself to engage you into your job.

It is like with physical exercises. When you start moving, the heart pumps your blood faster, rush of endorphines kicks your whole body and mind. You start to feel more energized than before exercises.

Analogically, it should go with every activity you perform. However there is one significant factor, that is necessary to make everything works like described above. It is your passion. You have to find at least a touch of passion in that what you do. Otherwise, it is highly probable; you will have a really hard time with your objectives. In such case – simply don’t do them.

photo credit: suneko

Brainstorming is a technique that can help in generating ideas and finding solutions for various problems. I’ve participated in many brainstorming sessions, with different people and for different purposes. Of course, part of them was cool and productive; the other part was simply a waste of time. Either way, there is always a room to improve, so if you want to enjoy more productive and creative brainstorming sessions, next time apply following advices. I’m sure they will enrich your creative process.

1. Clearly define goal

Whether you want to generate some ideas or solve a problem, everybody involved need to know where to focus his or her brain.

2. Select a chairperson that will lead the session

Many brainstorming sessions turns into chaos or simply lose their focus, when there is no person who leads.

3. No criticism

All ideas are invited, even wildest or dumb. There are no penalties and there are no useless ideas.

4. Quantity, not quality

Brainstorming is one of those things where quantity counts more than quality. Don’t aim for the best, as it can limit your effectiveness.

5. Capture all ideas.

This is no-brainer. Try using different solutions. Take notes on computer, use mind maps, write everything on whiteboard or paper, and draw sketches.

6. Have fun, not fear.

You all should enjoy this process. If anybody feels fear, then that person is almost useless as he or she is afraid of sharing ideas that in the end might be very good.

7. Take a break

I think that about after an hour of brainstorming our creativity can really drop. Take a break. Give time to your brain. Let it work in your subconscious. Meantime do some exercises. Drink a green tea or water. Get some fresh air. Sleep. Run another session tomorrow.

8. Invite new people

…but it doesn’t mean: invite everybody!.

9. Use inspiring materials

Prepare before session or look for it during brainstorming. These might be books, images, newspapers, and advertisements. Browse web and RSS reader, use search engines, dictionaries, flickr, youtube; watch TV, listen to radio, chat with people. But there is a pitfall you must be aware of. Don’t spend on this process too much time. You must use your intuition there and focus your attention only on things that you really think can help you. Otherwise you will waste a lot of time, losing focus from your target.

10. Use mindmaps

Mindmaps can damn well stimulate our minds, making us more creative and focused. It is also a great way for capturing your ideas, as I mentioned in one of above points.

11. Switch mindset

Approach your goal with different mindsets. For example, start with being peaceful. Try to find a solution or idea that fits your mindset. Good, smooth, nice, warm. Talk, negotiate, and be honest with your goal. Then try something else. Be aggressive, violent. Attack your problem with all forces, show no mercy. Seek for the most devastating ideas. Nuke ‘em all!
Got the point?

12. Engage all senses

Write your ideas down. Visualize them in your mind. Draw. Try to hear the solution. Listen to that voice in your head. How this idea smell? Can you feel the texture? Remember that said it should be fun? Don’t think only in images or even worse, only in words and sentences.

13. Apply these inventive principles
14. Practise

The more you practise the better your are. Find what works for you, learn and eliminate mistakes.

15. Share this post with others

photo credit: sindändùne

You have a lot of tasks on your to do list planned for today and you need some strategy how to handle them. Here we go!

Quite common advice is to start the day with the toughest task and since there everything is going downhill. All your next tasks are easier, simpler and more pleasurable to execute.

If above approach works well for you, then it is great. You probably don’t need to read this article farther, just go back to your work. Thank you for your attention.

However, I know a lot of people (including myself), that sometimes get stuck in front of this unfriendly task and simply can’t move forward with their work.

Have you ever experienced such a deadlock? You start feeling bad emotions about this task. You try to switch for a while to a different one, and then you return still being unable to push it forward. You are getting more exposed to different distractions: food, chat, senseless surfing on web, checking inbox and other timewasters. System halt.

Looking for solution I decided to try opposite strategy. I queued my tasks in reverse order, starting with the easiest one and putting the toughest task on the end of the list.

How does it work for me? First tasks are quite simple so it is not difficult to engage into work and finish them. This gives momentum to work on next tasks and as a bonus there is a feeling that at least something has been done.

Quite important point is to keep in mind that one last task. Knowing that there is something difficult and less enjoyable at the end of the list causes that all preceding tasks looks relatively easier. To make this hack works better, think that today you have to do only your last task and then, just distract yourself with other planned tasks in order to avoid executing the last one. I bet you experienced this pattern in past, but you could be unconscious how exactly it worked.

As an example I can tell you how it worked when I was writing my master thesis. Somehow I didn’t like working on it. Almost everyday I planned to push forward my thesis; I always did a lot of other jobs only to move away my main task. As you can suppose, I did a lot of things that normally I wouldn’t do. At first I wasn’t so conscious about this exploit and I did a lot of senseless, timewasting activities. Later I started to use it wisely by putting some other important tasks, before working on my master thesis.

This is less or more how it works for me. I can’t guarantee you would be successful with this method. Try it. Hack your mind by distracting work on toughest task with other, relatively easier tasks. As simple as this.

Ok, but what about the last task?

I don’t say this is perfect hack for solving all your tasks. It has both advantages and disadvantages. Among most important advantages is that it should engage you into work and allow finishing most of your tasks.

The disadvantage is that you finally have to face this last task. If you have enough momentum, finish him like you beat the super boss on the very last level of your favorite platform game. You have already done so much; you don’t want to leave something unfinished.

If above doesn’t work, postpone it. Of course, only if today is not the deadline for this task. But remember that you can’t do this infinitely. Finally, you have to close this task.

If it is really so hard, than you can’t even bite it in any possible way, then….well this is actually a good topic for another post.