Productivity is memorio-habitual in nature

A friend just shared this little article on productivity apps. The article raises questions on the claims of such apps.

The forms of internet-enabled communication have changed every sphere of life. Apps that offer good communication structures certainly help. But again different structures suit different kinds of people. And now there's also an issue of how many communication structures do people adopt to really stay productive, even if we debate the meaning of 'productivity'?

My observation is that folks that can work well with their memories (not the app ones or computer ones. One has to remember at least the name of the app or the location of the folder on the computer screen or hard disk to use the app or the folder) are productive. Mind you, I am not saying 'folks that memorize well'. I am saying folks that can work well with their memories. The way memories work, quite a bit of it is still a mystery. But the triggers you can offer your memory to respond to make the memories work anyway.

On the mobiles or computers, all apps, apart from communicational functions, trigger memories in certain ways. Cockpit Planner also offers triggers that helps one work well with one's memories.

Try the apps. Try the Cockpit Planner. See the difference.

I don't use productivity apps anymore.

Friends say...

Whenever I've got a chance to talk about this thing that we've created, I've mentioned that Cockpit is a positive accidental product. I devised it for myself over time to make my work smoother, more efficient.

Thankfully, it evolved satisfactorily and intuitive enough for me to share with everyone around me. In fact, earlier if someone showed interest in using the same, all I did was go to the photocopy-shop and get it compiled into a 'planner' for that person.

Try it. I am pretty sure it'll make doing things a lot easier and systematic for you.

My cousin felt guilty

Yes, she said she felt guilty looking at Cockpit Planner and trying to use it for a couple of days! She also said that she knew that the prompts given in there are just what needs to be done.

On days when my biological clock isn't quite in rhythm and I hardly come to do anything that I can term 'work' and then I open Cockpit, I feel that same emotion. Guilty. And I banish Cockpit out of sight and sulk more. The next morning though, when I feel alright and Cockpit just throws the same prompts back at me, I am glad I'm on the job right away.

Feeling guilty is important. Like wikipedia states:

Guilt is a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has compromised his or her own standards of conduct or has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that violation.

Not doing anything is also a kind of doing that ends up a violation. We know it. Cockpit will prompt you to make things happen. Every day. And it's alright to feel guilty at times.

Puppy pic source: http://healthychicks.wordpress.com

"I just use it like a notepad."

Source: quovadisplanners.com

I see a lot of people around use this kind of 'planner'. Not for planning. For note-taking.

So, the other day when I happened to see a friend write something in one such thing, I asked him casually, "You use this for note-taking?!"

Not aware of my undertaking to launch Cockpit AIT Planner, he responded, "Yeah! Why (do you ask)?!"

"No, I thought this is a planning diary, that's why."

"Naaah! What to plan! The pages go waste. So why not use it."

Out of this little bit of conversation I can draw some inferences.

Genuinely, this friend is so well on top of everything naturally day after day that there's no need to 'plan'.

A kind of extension of the above-made inference could be that the plan's in his head. He doesn't find it necessary to plan in writing.

Third inference could be that while he does want to plan every day but is unable to do so with the 'planner' he has. This last inference isn't very difficult to fathom.

Origins, two and a half years back

That's how my day planner based on Franklin Planner format looked like at one point in time. Here the day is Friday, 25th Feb, 2011! Yes, about 2 years and 4 months back!

Those who are particular about getting things done might be scribbling such things down in their planners on many days. And yet, just a little laxity or lapse in attentiveness (or foraging into one's memory) would mean a lot of important little stuff/steps just wouldn't happen. That surely happened with me on many many occasions.

Though the format didn't quite facilitate it, to plan to be able to execute well day after day, I made a simple distinction between scheduled tasks and fluid tasks (the ones which could be done anytime during the day). I also noted down the habits/skills I wished to develop right on top. And below that, the projects that needed attention every day.

While setting up my own venture, as I sensed the issues of execution and the nature of activities we all do day after day, I came to identify and name the universal prompts that helped develop the Cockpit AIT Planner.

Planning doesn't mean scheduling

I read this problem description in a mail this morning:

When I plan perfectly for the day ahead, I sometimes find that I am not able to implement all that I had planned for. Things seem to be coming up unexpectedly spoiling everything for me. I am then not able to be happy with what is happening and so find it difficult to do my best in the particular situation.

A solution was given in the same mail:

It is as important to be flexible in my thoughts as it is to be particular about my daily schedule. Flexibility allows me to accommodate the unforeseen situations that come up my way and enables me to make the best use of everything. And so I enjoy everything that comes my way.

The solution might sound simplistic but I sense they are right in emphasizing the importance of flexibility in any schedule. Forget the long term planning, planning 'precisely' on a daily basis like the time-table of classes in a school or an assembly line factory doesn't work for most individuals.

An important aspect of this planner, Cockpit, is that it doesn't make you do precise slotting and scheduling (though the option is always open) but it does aid immensely in listing just the important things you would like to accomplish/execute in a day's time.

This is not the end of the book;

On the backside of the jacket of This is Not the End of the Book, is a quote from Umberto Eco:

The book is like the spoon: once invented, it cannot be bettered.

It struck me like lightening and I just picked it up.

Am halfway through the book and, needless to say, it mesmerizes me by the way it surprises me every second page.

A notable thing is the book is in the shape of a deep deep conversation between Umberto Eco and Jean-Claude Carriere curated by Jean Philippe de Tonnac. And the most notable thing is, a thought by Eco is followed by/responded to by a thought from Jean-Claude and then followed by another thought from Eco and so on. It feels like once Eco speaks, Jean-Claude naturally responds. Once Jean-Claude speaks, Eco naturally responds. The conversation unfolds like the feet of a walker. After one foot lands, another foot naturally takes a step accordingly.

Isn't it how you would love to respond? Isn't it how you would like others to respond to you? Wouldn't you want to remember to respond, so that you respond in the way you would love to respond?

Individual Resource Planning

Type these words in Google and you can see what you get. Practically nothing.

Effectively what that reflects is perhaps the (lack of) respect that an individual gives to the most important resource he has every single day - his time. Or it reflects how important an individual is considered by those who can so readily deploy ERP and include the individual as a part of the resource to be managed by ERP.

Fact is an individual's got life - a certain amount of time to live out every single day. A certain amount of time after spending which he might feel productive and satisfied, every single day. And this kind of life's bigger than any ERP deployed for whatever purposes.

When the individual's resources are taken care of, enterprise is taken care of.

What my nephew forgets...

My nephew paid a visit a few days back. He saw me filling things in my Cockpit AIT Planner. He asked me how what is Cockpit all about. I tried (I realize I can only try) explaining.

After I was done speaking my bit, and thinking, "Wow! I've gotten him to understand what Cockpit is about. I have another convert!" I hear this from him.

"Actually, I also make a list of the Things To Do in my diary. The only problem is sometimes I don't remember the things I need to note down..."

Made me realize instantly that what I spoke didn't quite register.

So I informed him again. What Cockpit does is offer those important prompts to you every time you sit to plan so that you don't forget whatever you've to do.

To Do = Action + Interaction + Transaction

Action = The tasks which an individual has to do all alone - physical or cerebral. Including tasks like researching, finding, thinking, designing, arranging things, cooking, dropping the motorcycle for servicing... Hope you get a hang of this.

Interaction = Connecting with someone, Responding to someone, Following up with someone, Informing someone, Meeting someone

Transaction = Buying and Paying

Pic source: http://thacolorgray.com/tag/forget/