
Personal Productivity Checklist - icey
http://blog.asmartbear.com/personal-checklist.html
======
DXL
While "20% of the activity is responsible for 80% of the problem," I doubt if
"dialing the wrong number," "opening the wrong document" and "making spelling
mistakes" are the kind of problems you should be spending lots of attention
on.

Introspection and self-improvement can both be powerful tools, but it is best
used against much larger problems, many of which will not become apparent by
keeping track of writing down every little stupid mistake.

~~~
JayNeely
When I was reading, I wondered if I just consider different things as
"mistakes" than Jason, or if he was actively censoring himself. I agree with
you that "dialing the wrong number" isn't the kind of mistake I feel like is
keeping me back. But I can imagine that if I were to do the 'Week of Pain',
I'd have a lot of mistakes written down along the lines of:

\- Procrastinated Task X

\- Spent too much time watching CSI marathon instead of working

\- Didn't reply to Person Y soon enough.

Those are the kind of mistakes it might be worth keeping track of to see which
ones are the kind of "D'oh!" mistakes everyone makes once in a while, and
which ones are really bad habits that are holding me back more than I realize.

~~~
Periodic
He lists all active mistakes, you list passive mistakes. I expect that passive
mistakes are much more insidious, and they are the ones that really sap my
productivity. They are also very ambiguous.

For example, I should probably be configuring that new web server instead of
writing a comment on HN, but I like to take a little while to collect my
thoughts and get back in the mood after lunch, which often involves HN. I'm
not sure if it's a mistake or not.

