When the topic of workflow arises, many assume it’s synonymous with time management. In reality, workflow is fundamentally a structured approach to organizing and maintaining your tasks and responsibilities. It is crucial to remember that personal workflow is unique; what succeeds for one person may not work for another.
The single big idea underlying any successful personal workflow system is the establishment of consistent habits. These habits are the critical foundation for efficiency.
——————————————————————————–
1. Establishing Core Disciplines
Every effective workflow should incorporate several basic disciplines and routines that help maintain focus and build momentum.
Finding Your Focus and Routine
It is helpful, though not essential, to find a set place where you focus on your work, even if you are traveling and using a spot in a hotel. Building a routine is also highly beneficial. For instance, setting up multiple screens—one for project management, one for the actual work you are doing, and another for your calendar—can help you get right into your tasks immediately.
Sticking to Your Strengths
It is important to stick with the apps and to-do lists that you already like. Do not switch to new technology simply because you believe it will make you faster. While consistent habits are the most critical part, if you can employ newer technologies to accelerate those habits, that is even better.
Building Positive Momentum
Start each task with a can-do attitude. If you find yourself wasting time, such as scrolling through social media for long periods, avoid feeling defeated. Instead, start the next task with a fresh, positive attitude. This positive approach will build the momentum necessary to sustain your efficient workflow journey.
——————————————————————————–
2. Setting Time Boundaries and Managing Interruptions
To create a strong personal workflow, you must establish core principles that act as disciplines, particularly concerning your time.
Dedicated Time Blocks
One critical discipline is setting dedicated inbox time, typically morning and evening. Historically, reviewing and physically writing out incomplete tasks from a previous day’s list helped knowledge workers mentally prioritize and prepare for the next morning.
Another essential block of time is deep time or deep think time. During this scheduled period, you must eliminate distractions: you don’t answer or check emails, and you may even put your phone on silent. Constantly checking email interrupts deep think time and rapidly changes your brain’s bandwidth, which is mentally exhausting. It is better to schedule specific times (morning, afternoon, evening) solely for checking email.
Managing Interrupts
Create a customized list of interrupts—people or topics allowed to break your focus. This list might include family and emergencies. If you work on a project team, keeping the line of communication open with them is critical, especially if they might provide new information that changes your current work. For those in sales, key decision-makers and new business requests may also need prompt attention.
Breaks and Rewards
Set breaks and rewards to maintain mental clarity. Schedule times when you walk away, check social media, read the news, or watch a video. These serve as a decompressed, non-mental taxing time. Be sure to set limits on these breaks and use them to reward yourself for hard work and deep think times.
Ultimately, the key to any workflow strategy is managing and disciplining yourself to stay on the track you have set.
——————————————————————————–
3. Essential Tools and Organization Systems
Several tools and conceptual systems are essential for a busy knowledge worker looking to streamline their efforts.
The Conceptual Inbox
The workflow inbox is not necessarily your email. It is a single place to keep all new information that needs to be processed, including emails, notifications from various tools, and even scraps of paper. This is where you set priorities and schedules.
Drawing on concepts from Getting Things Done, if a task can be done in two minutes or less, you should do it immediately. If it will take longer or involves multiple steps (making it a “project”), it must be placed into the inbox for later processing.
The PARA Organization System
The PARA system is an organization structure that can be implemented into nearly any system you currently use (like Google Drive, Outlook, or project management tools). PARA, which means alongside, separates everything into four key areas:
1. Projects: Things you are currently working on that need to get done, which includes tasks.
2. Areas: Ongoing areas of responsibility that are never truly completed once tasks are done (e.g., finances, health, managing a team, children).
3. Resources: Tools, articles, or bits of information that you organize for future needs, acting as “cold storage.” These are consulted when you are working on specific projects.
4. Archive: Once a project is finished, you move it to the archive. Digital systems allow you to archive items rather than deleting them, keeping them searchable and retrievable if needed later.
You can implement the PARA structure—Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive—using labels in Gmail or folders in Outlook and across systems like Google Drive.
The Second Brain and Templates
The second brain is a system maintained, perhaps for an hour a week, to organize and properly label notes, recordings, and information that strikes your interest or builds inspiration. Maintaining this resource means that when a new project starts or meeting preparation is needed, you do not have to conduct hours of research because you already have a compiled body of relevant information, notes, and transcripts.
Finally, templates save time on large projects by serving as a roadmap. This principle is similar to using a pre-formatted word document for a letterhead. For example, when creating a proposal, standardized sections (like company details, customer service procedures, and conclusions) can be templated, leaving only client-specific details, like pricing, empty and ready for customization.
——————————————————————————–
4. Leveraging AI as Your Workflow Assistant
Artificial intelligence tools like Google Gemini and ChatGPT are now being integrated into many different applications, including project management and document creation.
Think of AI as an assistant. It can perform amazing research, boiling down complex information into concise summaries. AI can also perform complex searches within your personal data, such as reviewing 156,000 emails to find how much money was spent on Amazon that month or searching 1.5 terabytes of Google Drive information for a specific file.
Critical Note: AI is only as good as the questions you ask it. Being precise in your queries ensures the AI delivers the relevant information you need. Those knowledge workers who learn to leverage AI effectively as part of their position will actually become more powerful and effective at what they are doing.
Click here to learn more: Personal Workflow Strategies Webinar