Getting Things Done +6: Ended a lot of my problems, mostly because I’m no longer forgetting about things. Now I at least know what I’m not doing when I don’t do it, although I still don’t do everything I intend to.
Regular Exercise +2: Helped some, but the amount of time involved in exercising seemed to negate the advantage if I wanted to do some other fun activity rather than work later. Generally find I’m happier and do more if I just don’t make time for exercise, since it inevitably pushes out work rather than family and fun.
Meditation −2: Didn’t do anything for me. In nearly a year of practicing meditation for about 1 hour every day, I only ever once reached that special meditative state where you cease to experience your brain and just let it do its thing. In all, I just lost a years worth of hours sitting outside in the grass trying to sit still.
Being Watched +4: Although if this goes on for too long I find I get stressed because I feel like I can’t take a break and my quality of work starts to suffer because my mind hasn’t had a chance to rest, I find it helpful, especially when a deadline is a long way out and I’m tempted to procrastinate until I really have to get down to work.
Take every other 20 to 40 minutes off −4: I have a certain temptation to do this anyway, but it seems like forcing myself to take a break too often damages my productivity, taking me away from work when I’m enjoying it. I guess I don’t need help to know when to take a break, and forcing myself to take breaks is just less effective.
Strict Scheduling −8: Staying on a strict schedule is, for me, one of the worst possibilities. I get stressed, feel like I have to do things I don’t want to do, and in the end spend even more time playing around rather than working because I feel like I need to do something to get back the time I was forced to give up to the schedule.
No multitasking + 4: Only really useful if you’re currently over multitasking. Some multitasking can be good, such as working on a secondary project while waiting for something to happen with the primary project (code to compile, report to run, numbers to crunch, etc.). Other times it can be bad, like trying to answer e-mail, write code, and have a meeting at the same time, because you simply don’t have enough attention to do all that.
Here’s some data on myself:
Getting Things Done +6: Ended a lot of my problems, mostly because I’m no longer forgetting about things. Now I at least know what I’m not doing when I don’t do it, although I still don’t do everything I intend to.
Regular Exercise +2: Helped some, but the amount of time involved in exercising seemed to negate the advantage if I wanted to do some other fun activity rather than work later. Generally find I’m happier and do more if I just don’t make time for exercise, since it inevitably pushes out work rather than family and fun.
Meditation −2: Didn’t do anything for me. In nearly a year of practicing meditation for about 1 hour every day, I only ever once reached that special meditative state where you cease to experience your brain and just let it do its thing. In all, I just lost a years worth of hours sitting outside in the grass trying to sit still.
Being Watched +4: Although if this goes on for too long I find I get stressed because I feel like I can’t take a break and my quality of work starts to suffer because my mind hasn’t had a chance to rest, I find it helpful, especially when a deadline is a long way out and I’m tempted to procrastinate until I really have to get down to work.
Take every other 20 to 40 minutes off −4: I have a certain temptation to do this anyway, but it seems like forcing myself to take a break too often damages my productivity, taking me away from work when I’m enjoying it. I guess I don’t need help to know when to take a break, and forcing myself to take breaks is just less effective.
Strict Scheduling −8: Staying on a strict schedule is, for me, one of the worst possibilities. I get stressed, feel like I have to do things I don’t want to do, and in the end spend even more time playing around rather than working because I feel like I need to do something to get back the time I was forced to give up to the schedule.
No multitasking + 4: Only really useful if you’re currently over multitasking. Some multitasking can be good, such as working on a secondary project while waiting for something to happen with the primary project (code to compile, report to run, numbers to crunch, etc.). Other times it can be bad, like trying to answer e-mail, write code, and have a meeting at the same time, because you simply don’t have enough attention to do all that.