Efficiency

[emp]

Alright, so everyone and their mom is ripping @builder to shreds in this thread

To be honest, he does kinda deserve it.
Let's try to be more helpful though. For him.. and maybe some other people.

Truth of the matter is, I am in a similar situation.

Similar as I, too have little time available for IM SEO ventures.
Similar as I, too have not found internet success yet.

This is where the similarity ends.

I have little time because I hold a good job, and got a wife and two kids to take care of. I have not found success doing IM, but I make north of 100K.

He's a slacker who is trying every excuse in the book not to work three hours a day.

But... if we reduce the problem to available time, it is similar.

How do we deal with this?

Well, as a German, I have to answer:

Strong discipline, good planning, and improved efficiency save the day.
Add rationality, a strong work ethic, and some engineering, and you are set.

But cliché aside, let's dive into this.

I propose using three main tools to achive this magic combination:

GTD, Toodledo, and Pomodoros

"Getting Things Done" (GTD) - is a productivity method introduced by David Allen in his book by the same name.

Nowadays I recommend his second book:
"Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life" - shitty title, good book.
Find it here (no aff link): http://www.amazon.com/Making-All-Work-Winning-Business/dp/0143116622/

Essentially GTD 2.0, much cleaner and clearer than the first one.

As a companion for the audiobook crowd,
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Anything-Productivity-Principles-Work/dp/B0000DYXR1/

Be warned: That audiobook makes no sense if you don't know the basic GTD method!

External summaries:

http://nomediakings.org/vidz/time_management_for_anarchists_the_movie.html --> (my fav)
and
http://lifehacker.com/productivity-101-a-primer-to-the-getting-things-done-1551880955

My summary:

In essence, GTD gets everything you have to do on paper.

Sorted by:
Context (where) > Project (if more than one task) > Task

The calendar ONLY holds things that will die if they do not happen on that EXACT date. (Very little)

Once a week, review everything.

Read the books and/or watch the summaries if you need more.

THIS is the cornerstone of my career and life. I am serious.

For you, the importance lies in knowing exactly what you have to do the moment you sit in front of that laptop.

Toodledo
I recommend Toodledo, as it is a cross - platform and web task and notes manager. I miss a calendar, but eh.

There are thousands of these, find one you like FAST and use it.

Pomodoros - the Pomodoro technique
One pomodoro is a 25 minute interval of focused, uninterrupted work - followed by 5 minutes of rest.
After 4 pomodoros take a longer break (15-30 minutes)

The trick to pomodoros lies in two things:
1. No interruptions
2. Everything has to be ready. You know what to do, and all the material is there. (This is where GTD ties in)

Given these, pomodoros are UNBELIEVABLY powerful.

Back to the case at hand:

With 3 hours per day, I would propose the following structure:

Prep Pomodoro (light) - Review plans / Tasks / prep
1st Pomodoro- Work
2nd Pomodoro - Work
3rd Pomodoro - Work
4th Pomodoro - Work
30 min break
5th Pomodoro - Review / Plan next day​

The rest - Discipline, Rationality, and a strong work ethic
You have to do this. No excuses. A pomodoro is incredibly productive and creative, yet it is hard work. If you shy that, it will not work.

You need to make rational, not emotional decisions. You scheduled 1 hour for coffee with a friend to go to work after that? That coffee chat starts and ends at the set time.

Engineering and a short discourse
Engineering, you thought a German would forget about that? Really?

What you should strive to do is real work.
Work that changes your life and environment.
Work that makes you think.
Work that needs your thinking.

Despite what others (oh, hi @CCarter) say, I do not believe an 18 hour work day makes you a better person. (More on that, see footnote 1)

Look at productivity and error studies of the last decades.
Humans are pretty shit when hit with more than 6 hours of work and less than 6-8 hours of sleep per day.

There is work that can be scaled up as a function of time. None of it has to do with thinking.

Stacking boxes is one. Shoveling coal another.
Spend more time, get more done.

One digital equivalent might be uploading images one by one into a CMS.

Don't do that!
Engineer, code, automate, outsource, fiverr away whatever you can of this drudgery.

One book I hesitate to recommend is "Work the system" - which is actually given away for free.
I hesitate because I don't like the author's politics and view on workers. The essence - observe in detail and automate what is possible - holds true nonetheless.

Summary

If you have 3 hours or 18 to use, if you choose to work 3 hours or 18 hours per day... the method to use stays the same.

Strong discipline, good planning, and improved efficiency.
GTD, Pomodoros, Engineering.​

Take all this and conquer. @builder and anyone.

::emp::

Footnote 1

Look up Ben Hammersley:

Ben Hammersley FRSA FRGS (born 3 April 1976 in Leicester, England) is a British internet technologist, journalist, author and broadcaster based in London, England. In 2013, he became a fellow of the Robert Schuman School for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute, Innovator-in-Residence at the Centre for Creative and Social Technologies at Goldsmiths, University of London,Editor at Large of Conde Nast's Wired UK magazine, a member of the European Commission High Level Expert Group on Media Freedom, and a non-resident fellow of the Brookings Institution.He is married to Aleks Krotoski, with whom he has a daughter.

Guy works 1-2 days a week, commands 10K Euro per appointment, spends the rest of his time however he chooses.

He was interviewed just recently by "Brand Eins", a German economy magazine on efficiency. Basically does exactly what I outlined above.

To stay in the cliché:
Being interviewed by Germans on efficiency ....

 

[Romac]

I wonder if you'd have more time to find success in IM if you spent less time talking down to people and worrying about what everyone else was doing and focused more on your own work? You write a lot about internet marketing but I guess it's all just theory if you aren't finding success with it yet. Why should anyone take your advice if it's not working for you? Why would you give advice before making it work for you? Everyone's got a million reasons that they aren't successful. You're here calling out someone else but making excuses for yourself.

 

[emp]

Calm down..
I don't make my full time income with IM. not many SEO people I know make my salary on their own, and I like working in companies for various reasons.
My knowledge goes mostly into my 9-5, with nice results. (.. Despite bad political decisions. )

Any and all SEO stuff I talk about has been tried and tested, always.

This post was a (sort of) save for builder and an exposé of productivity / efficiency methods.

As for my time, don't worry for me. I'm a fast writer.

No idea where you get the 'talking down' from, though. I don't think I did, and most certainly did not mean to.

::emp::

 

[CCarter]

@emp , you and I do not have the same goals in life. To be honest, most of the people that jump into this "building business" game aren't serious at any level. You think Elon Musk worked 6 hours a day on Paypal? What about Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates? You think they worked 3 hours on their Facebook and Microsoft "projects"? You think they called their businesses "projects"? Those 3 were and are still workhorses. They put in their 18+ hours to get to where they are at, they can also scale back now but they still don't. They had ambition and are following through on their dreams.

Most people don't follow through on their dreams cause they are afraid they will fail. Even when they do, they do it half-ass so they can justify in their minds "well I didn't really give it my all so I didn't fully fail. If I really wanted to, I could have made it succeed." No you couldn't of.

A lot of people have a lot of excuses. The truth is the reason you aren't willing to give your all is because of fear, and that's why you are looking to justify NOT working 18+ hours. Why else would you waste any time on trying to negate it? You aren't willing to bet on your own brain and skillset. You aren't willing to put it all on the line, over and over and over until you succeed. You want the safe route in life. You aren't looking to take any real risk on your dreams, that's why you've got a lot of "side projects". What would the world look like today if Mark Zuckerberg took the same attitude towards his Facebook "project"? You think it would be the dominant force it is today? Now imagine if not just the 1% had that level of dedication but 5% of the world, where would the world be at?

I also never said working 18+ hours a day will make anyone a better person. If anything it would make you a serious outlier in society. Every time I mention that I'm talking to the people that want to be the 1% of the 1%. People doing this to be serious at creating a business and obtaining astronomical goals in life. I realize not everyone is at that level nor can obtain that level of dedication towards their dreams and goals. Most people want to sit around on the beach all day drinking mojitos while making $100K a year and labeling that as "success". That's not my definition of success. That's my definition of mediocrity at best.

You see I AM one of the top marketers in the marketing space and have the balls to say it. One day I will not be, but for today I am. If you've seen my skills with any of my programming projects you'll also realize I'm an exceptionally brilliant programmer. One skill is creativity, left brain, the other is right brain. I unfortunately cannot go into both at the same time, but when I'm in one zone I'm all in, and I guarantee you no one can take me one on one in either endeavor. So being at the top of my game, probably for the next 5-6 years, making $100K a year at some job would keep me up at night cause I'm clearly not doing all that I can.

You see money isn't everything, but it creates options that people don't have. Since I was 25 I've lived on the beach overlooking the ocean every day. I can take 3 months off and do absolutely nothing and no one is going to be breathing down my neck for anything. Can you?

If I fail in any project I know I have the skills, brains, and more importantly the determination to win at my next project. I never falter, and I never have doubts since I know what I am capable of. A $100K job would be a joke for anyone at my skill level, or at least my dedication. I personally don't think you want to obtain my level of determination, nor do I think most people want to obtain my life style. I don't have kids, I don't have a wife, nor do I want the white picket fence life. I have dreams and goals I want to achieve and that takes a level of dedication that is lost to 99% of the population.

If anyone wants a $100K a year it's rather easy, go be a programmer. Any one worth their salt can jump into any job market and be picked up rather quickly. People aren't here on BuSo to be programmers. They aren't here to be marketers. They are here to build. Build something they've dreamt about, something that keeps them up late at night with ambition. That's why I'm here, that's why I don't sleep, that's when I speak I reference the greats of the world. The people that build huge companies, created huge projects, that achieved levels only the 1% of the world can achieve - they achieved their dream of creating something that brings value to the world.

A big dream starts from a blank piece of paper, then you grind at it for hours, weeks, months, and years on end. If you are determined enough you'll eventually grow it to something that people are willing to pay you for. Most people will never achieve any of their big dreams, small dreams maybe, but not the big ones - the ones that are audacious, the world changing ones, the value bringing ones - that takes serious determination. You can't get to those dreams with a 9 to 5.

Once Beyonce was recording in the studio for 3 days straight, and she completely forgot to eat - for 3 days straight. Do you know what it is like to be in love with what you do that you forget to eat, sleep, and "socialize"? That's the level I have of dedication to what I do - I don't recall a single day in the last 5 years I've eaten more then 1 full meal a day. I think you need to realize this is what I do, this is what makes me happy and fulfills me. I can do the 18+ hours days to hustle my way out of a rut, and love every moment of it. 99% of the world would hate every moment of it and complain all the way till the finish line.

So to re-iterate, we don't have the same goals in life, nor the same dreams. What might be happiness to you would be completely miserable to me. I can sit here for 18+ hours programming and loving every moment of it, you might hate every second of it. You might like going out on saturdays and playing with your kids - that sounds like a complete nightmare to me.

P.S. If I have to look up anyone, they aren't playing at the level I'm looking to attain.

P.P.S I'm pretty sure we all know @builder is trolling at this point, so I predict that nonsense thread might get locked in the future cause that's Staccs level ridiculousness.

I got work to do...

 

[Ryuzaki]

I'll agree that consistently using your time wisely is one of the keys to success, but no amount of efficiency can overcome a lack of time from get go.

This goes right back to my post on Sacrifice. If this is really what you want, what are you willing to trade in? Because time is absolutely a zero sum game. So are choices and so is energy.

Funding your fledgling online business with funds from a day job can accelerate your path to leaving that job for sure... if that's the goal.

If you're a hobbyist and it doesn't really matter if you see success because you've committed yourself elsewhere to meet your financial needs, cool. We all choose what's appropriate for us, regardless what comes out of our mouths or runs through our minds. In the end, we choose what we want for whatever reason that may be.

But at the same time, I'll never see the point in suggesting someone work less effectively. We are talking about efficiency, but we have to keep effectiveness in mind too. Nobody is affecting anything in 3 hours, not on the scale that this game requires.

Yeah, most people, myself included, work more effectively if they take some time off. I take a day off every couple of weeks. I don't take evenings off. I plow 12-13 days in a row in the digital fields, sewing my seeds and reaping my fruits. Eventually my brain says no. That's me. It's different for everyone.

My advice is to not accept any advice about some static number or percentage of time you should be working. Think for yourself and listen to your own brain and body. If your brain and body bitches up, you're either going to have to nut up or accept that this isn't the path for you in regards to success. As a hobby, have at it all you want. But don't try to fool yourself or anyone else.

Of course, this isn't directed at anyone in this thread or on this forum in specific, but if it felt that way, that's a good sign that it's time for you to take a solid self-inventory and see if you're truly cut out to build.

 

[builder]

P.P.S I'm pretty sure we all know @builder is trolling at this point, so I predict that nonsense thread might get locked in the future cause that's Staccs level ridiculousness.
I got work to do...

@CCarter: No, I am not trolling at all. In fact, I don't remember trolling ANYONE online (except trolling trolls on a couple of occasions @ WF). Whatever happened, I wanted this to be a TRUE AND HONEST journal. If I failed or succeeded, it would have been public. That way, I thought it will benefit everyone.

I predict that nonsense thread might get locked

If you read my posts, I was quietly updating on a daily basis. I never attacked any member. I ignored all personal attacks, and continued my updates. I was not selling anything. I don't have a signature.

Your playground, your rules.

I will stop updating the thread.

Peace bro.

 

[CCarter]

If you read my posts, I was quietly updating on a daily basis. I never attacked any member. I ignored all personal attacks, and continued my updates. I was not selling anything. I don't have a signature.

Your playground, your rules.

I will stop updating the thread.

Peace bro.

You're absolutely right, you never attacked any member. It's also not my playground, not my rules, I'm just predicting what's going to happen. I really hope you are sincere, but there seems to be a "trollish" element from what I see. Maybe you're are just at the very beginning stages of this game and have to learn the same lesson everyone else in the early stages learned, but it's hard for me to believe that if you were a WF member for a while. Don't let me discourage you from your endeavors - you shouldn't let anyone stand in your way.

 

[juliantrueflynn]

@emp is this why you didn't partake in the discussion this morning on Skype on breastfeeding etiquette?

Also, the irony of you writing this out on efficiency when you probably had other tasks to do.

All joking aside, good stuff in here. I don't do pomodoro anymore recently though, I don't think it's as great for ADHD people with hyperfocusing n' stuff. Going to try no pomodoro for awhile.

 

[builder]

Thanks @CCarter for the PM.

I take only the actionable items from the replies and ignore personal attacks completely; just to reduce my cognitive load. That comes across as unbelievable and sometimes "trollish" ;-)

I should have posted my background, why I am doing what I am doing, and some more details about what I actually mean by writing "scripts". Just finding the balance between posting enough information to make it useful to those who read it and not committing harakiri by revealing too much.

I think most people like to see the outcome rather than the process, so I will keep updating that thread whenever I reach milestones ($x -> $xx -> $xxx -> $x,xxx -> $xx,xxx ...). That will give me and those who read the thread more time to keep working on our individual goals.

Someday when I get time, I will update it with more information as well.

Good luck all.

 

[emp]

@CCarter
I'll take a few minutes out of my day to respond, simply because.... WTF?
Now, you know I respect you and your work.
We talked on Skype and other forums before, and up to now, I thought we were OK.
Then comes this post, that is 30% ad hominem attacks and 70% "I am the big CCarter, I am so glorious!" chest thumping

So with all the love and respect I can muster - You are being a self aggrandizing prick lately.

I get it.
Your mantra is "work 18+ hours a day or you are a sore loser"

While I might(!) disagree with this, I did not even dispute this in my post, other than referencing some science.

The post was simply outlining some efficiency / productivity methods.
To quote myself (humble as I am)

I never said not to work 18 hours a day:

If you have 3 hours or 18 to use, if you choose to work 3 hours or 18 hours per day... the method to use stays the same..

I also never said I only work 3 hours a day on my private ventures.

I, too have little time available for IM SEO ventures.

I used the three hours @builder quoted in his other thread to outline how to make even those 3 hours productive.

To put what I do at my 9-5 (non-profit) in perspective, and do some chest thumping of my own:

While our traffic per month might not be much for mainstream sites, this is a digital repository for academic treatments in international security policy and relations......
...zzzzzzZZZzzZZZZ.....
....err..what..yeah? Oh, ok....
Where were we?

Yeah, I even put myself to sleep with how dry the content is, and we still achieve the best numbers in our niche. (I have no say in the content)

The start of the graph is when the relaunch project was done, the project I became a member of this org for in 2008.
My real impact can be seen under "reign of terror" when I became the head of the IT guys here.
That's when I could start moving the big levers.

Moving traffic upwards on a then 17 year old site that had been stagnating for a decade.
This, and my experience in IT and the search engine field is what I write my SEO posts on.

Note I also never said I make $100K a year. I said "north of" - not divulging that info publicly.

@CCarter
You completely derailed a thread on productivity methods, to write pages of attacks and go on endlessly on how great you are. Yet you accuse others of trolling.

I am refraining from attacking you on those claims, because I can't be bothered with any more drama.

@Julian, @CCarter and @anyonewhogivesahoot
You think I spend more time on this then I really do. Forums are what I do in my edge times... end of day, sometimes when I have to wait a few minutes for somethign, sometimes when I am too tired and / or braindead to do anything else. (it might show at times)

Weird that "I" get called out for writing a hopefully helpful post, but it is OK when CC posts pages of diatribe.

TL;DR
Trolling abound, Jimmies rustled, WTF?

::emp::

 

[Romac]

You derailed it yourself from the very start of the thread.

Stop playing the "poor me" card, you're an adult.

(IM's best example of "Can dish, can't take." You started this thread calling people out by name, SEVERAL people, then you get all "HUH why's everyone got their jimmies all rusted I don't understand I'm just trying to help?! How come so and so can say such and such, but lil ol me can't?!?" Dude grow up or fuck off.)

 

[emp]

All I said .. I quote "Everybody is ripping builder to shreds".

The names in my post are (in order):
builder, CCarter, Ben Hammersley - you can look it up.

No poor me card here, either.

Might not have been clear, but the "Jimmies rustled" were mine.

Again: WTF is up?

::emp::

 

[MetaData]

 

[CCarter]

^^ Me minding my own business and then this thread.

Glorious? Great...

I honestly didn't read your complete response (maybe I might come back later and read it completely), but if you stated I've been a "prick" lately (umm, okay...) and you know I respond to anyone that tags me, calls me out, or negates something I state - then you knew this type of response was coming...

I don't know what you people want from me. I make statements telling people grind until they obtain their dreams - and that requires making sacrifices, people disagree - so then CCarter's the bad guy. Okay, so don't give it 100% at your dreams. Do whatever you want, it's not my life, I am not going to go through my life having regrets when it's all said and done.

So then I slowdown my posting for a while cause I'm busy and overall just trying to stay out of drama, and yet CCarter is the bad guy again. Then I get tagged and I respond in a "CCarter manner", and you're surprised. How?

That's a classic CCarter response, that's what you were expecting. You can't be surprised, even I'm not surprised. It's an easy lesson don't tag me if you don't want me to respond.

And to be completely truthful, you posted something about some car problems or something in your "2015 sucks so far" thread, That's when i decided to put you on ignore cause waking up to all that negativity is no longer my style. So then I get a skype message stating you tagged me in some thread a couple of hours later, so now I gotta go through this, read and now I got all this compounding shit to deal with, deal with responses, deal with responses of responses, deal with all this negativity, I guess you win...

I'm done responding to whatever nonsense you guys want to throw at me, I've got services to maintain and products to build - and I definitely don't have time for this non-ending cycle of drama.

And yes, still:

and that's me...

 

[emp]

Wow... you get skype messages when someone tags you? cool. Is it that important?
Oh.. @CCarter

I guess part of the whole mess here is you only reading half or none of what you are responding to.
Trolls everywhere, I swear.

::emp::

 

[MetaData]

Unfreezing this thread in case anyone wants to talk about efficiency

 

[builder]

Disclaimer: I am not in the two comma club - not even close.

But then again, I guess except for a few, most members aren't. So, assuming whatever I share may help some of you, here is what's worked for me in the past.

1. Creating a list of micro-tasks (each taking 5-20 minutes) for each day.

This seemingly simple habit helped me to STAY FOCUSED and finish projects which were left incomplete for a long time. Marking the micro-tasks as complete gives you a mental boost.
Sounds silly, but it worked for me.

2. Start, start and start again

Starting the task and keeping at it doggedly even after getting distracted worked whenever I had a single task which didn't involve switching context/environment - I "got into the zone"within 5-6 minutes.

 

[superdave2u]

"That which isn't measured can't be improved"

Regardless of what your system or flow is there should be a step where you'll look over your progress and adjust course.

Through the years I've tried multiple different systems, both physical and digital. A combination of wall calendar, phone notifications, bookmark repositories, you name it. In all my fiddling I found that for whatever reason I kept being drawn to pen-and-paper methods. There's something cathartic about feeling my pen stroke the fibers of page that keeps me focused and able to get ideas out of my head.

For me the biggest improvement came from putting down all the studies into new methods and techniques and instead, focused on improving what comes naturally to me. I keep a small moleskine notebook with me and I have a process for adding items into it (separate processes for notes vs tasked items), and another for weekly reviews, another for monthly and quarterly reviews. Each of these processes is documented and scheduled to keep my momentum.

When I add a task I roughly estimate complexity. I dont estimate time requirements and suggest that you don't either. Time has a way of growing and shrinking with our perspective and I find that I'm more willing to procrastinate on a 30min task when I list it as "~30min"

Instead, I'll use a rough gauge of relative complexity. For this to work across my personal and business responsibilities I use a baseline chore of groceries as a reference for complexity and base all incoming tasks against it. Using this I can assign points to items and then 'grade' my progress and momentum week by week. By groceries I mean the entire process from coming up with a mean plan, driving to the store, walking the isles, paying, driving back, unloading, unpacking, etc. Cumulatively I give this entire errand a value of "4".

If I were taking on a new project I would assess the planning, research, creatives, coding, etc and compare in my mind that workload and compare it to my grocery example. It may be super simple and only half as involved as my grocery example. In that case I can add it to my backlog with 2 points, or it might be something 4x as complex and get a rating closer to 16 points.

Wrapping this up, keeping with the theme of efficiency, having a metric of momentum and productivity like this has helped me see when I'm adding more to my plate and has helped me be more consistent. For example during my reviews, I know that if for the past three weeks I can complete tasks amounting to 14 "points' on average I know it's unrealistic to make a commitment to 30 points next week.

 

[animalstyle]

I keep an oversized paper pad (like 24x20in) where I develop new ideas before I work on them.

My whiteboard sits above and infront of my monitors which I actually believe is a bad spot. Having your to-do list visible always allows it to be distracting. I am thinking Ill move the list where I see it daily, but where I can't directly stare at it while I work. The idea to be that I have to 'go get' a to-do item rather than be distracted by them.

 

[Kevin]

This was supposed to be a better place than WF...clearly heading swiftly in the wrong direction with threads and random worthless arguments like these.

 

[emp]

So I will continue this thread with the initial topic.

Here is two more important things:

1. Time tracking
2. Batching

1. Time tracking

@superdave2u makes a very valid point. You should get to know your own work style and be able to accurately gauge how long a task will take.
My wife is hilariously bad at this. This happens more often than I'd like to admit.
I come home after work and she'll be visibly upset. So talking to her, I find out that the reason she is angry with herself is because she was not able to do all the things she had on her (mental) to-do list.
So I ask her to relay me the list.
Holy Sh..
Without fail, she'll list tasks that would take at least three days to accomplish, yet is upset because she wasn't able to do all of them.
She is still an awesome wife and gets a shitload of stuff done, but that habit...

So, what to do?

Don't make mental lists
Humans are bad at remembering odd lists of things and good at thinking they can.

This is actually one thing the GTD methodology is very adamant about. Get shit out of your head into some sort of collection - paper, digital, write it on your pet lizard's back, whatever - get it out.
You then have to do this for so long that it gets a 100% habit, do not keep any item in your head, ever. Make it such an ingrained habit that your list becomes a trusted companion.
What is the advantage?
For me, the #1 advantage is peace of mind.
At any time, I can turn to my list (Toodledo, so available on smartphone and computer or web) and look at my tasks.
There is no mental note-keeping. No forgetting things. Everything is on my list.
to quote one of the developers working with me

"That guy never forgets anything!"

My secret:
I do. All the time. But my list doesn't.

What does this have to do with time tracking?
On your lists, track the time you need to do things. You only have to do it for a while, until you get to know yourself good enough to accurately predict task times.
As a project manager and team lead, I also do this for people I get to work with.
I simply need to know if developer A always overestimates the time needed and graphic designer B underestimates. I can then compensate for that in my planning.​

2. Batching

Batch process tasks. Do the same thing 10 times instead of 10 different things.
As a developer at the psychological institute of the federal armed forces university of Germany, I worked in a group researching task switching costs.
To make a long story short:
Every time you switch to another task - however small that task is - it incurs a cost.
So put like tasks together.

Time batching
Using the pomodoro technique, this comes easily, as you only have a 25 minute stretch.

Writing an article could look like:

1. Write
2. Look for images
3. Upload images
4. Format article​

and not
Write, "Oh, I need an image" --> Look for image, write some more "Maybe another image here?" --> Look for image, write "Well, I guess I could upload it right away", write some more, "I'll just add another image", upload image, format article...

You will be much faster and clearer in your approach.

Geographical batching
Using GTD gives you another type of batching that I call "geographical batching". Using the context approach, I get all the tasks I can do at one location.
This feels very weird at first, but it is a lifesaver when I find myself in the city with some minutes to spare and can just look under "@errands" to see what I might pick up.​

::emp::

PS: I talked to some people and it seems that some of you got the impression that I only work 3 hours a day, or promote only working 3 hours a day.
Neither could be further from the truth.
I used the 3 hours as an example because @builder talked about that being the time he has for his projects.

 

[builder]

^^ Some pretty useful tips about time batching there, emp.

To take it further: While doing those "time batching" tasks, I find it useful to keep a list of all files/environments needed and to make them available before starting the task.

So, taking your example up there, "Write" will have, say, something like:

Files
/home/buso/topics-for-niche.txt
/home/buso/copywriting-tips.txt
/home/buso/swipefile.pdf

Programs
My Favorite Spinner
Hemmingway Desktop App
Sublime Text with Sublime SFTP

Before starting the task, I open all files and programs and keep them handy.

This way, I don't have to think about any little things, and can focus on the task at hand.

Tasks for different devices

Here is another one - I don't know what to call it - maybe "Device Batching".
So here, you assign certain sets of tasks to do while you have your PC/your laptop/your phone with you. This way, you will have something to do wherever you are and whatever device you have.

 

[emp]

@phone is actually a context with me.

I also have @computer, and @braindead for things to do when I am completely out of it.

::emp::