There’s a lot coming at us all day long, amirite? And it’s tough to manage it all. We have commitments, families, work, hobbies, books to read, podcasts to listen to, politicians to support (and hate), shows to watch (Netflix, slow down with all the new content!), and many other things that pull at our time.

Here are the high points of what I’m dealing with on a daily basis:

• Family comes first, and that includes my wife and five children
• CEO of Dragon Army
• Board Chair of 48in48, Ripples of Hope, and Central OAC
• Board Member of The Carter Center, Co-Chair of the Executive Advisory Board of AMA Atlanta
• I blog three times a week (and one of those times is via my email newsletter…you’re subscribed, right? This Friday in the newsletter I’m going to be sharing two tricks I use to help me knock my task list out each week)
• I’m an author and I speak quite a bit at events and corporations, and I’m currently working on my second book

Alright, so that’s a lot. But we all have a lot going on, and I don’t spend any more time working than anyone else. I do, however, accomplish a lot throughout the week and I rely on various tools to help make it happen.

The tools

Google Calendar

It all starts with my calendar. I color-code everything that I put on the calendar according to various buckets: family, Dragon Army (internal gets one color, client meetings get another), doing good, and random. This helps me see if I’m spending time in the right places throughout the week.

One hack I use with my calendar is to always try to have gaps. Gaps in the calendar allow me to be flexible and problem-solve as issues arise.

Trello

Trello is my task manager. I have Trello set up by day, with a list for Monday, Tuesday, etc. Then I put tasks into those days with the *hope* of knocking them out on the assigned day. This doesn’t always happen, so each morning I look at the tasks that I didn’t finish, move them to the appropriate day, and then see what else I need to accomplish on that particular day.

Often times if I’ve moved a task several times, it’s an indication to me that it can’t possibly be that important. That’s a hard one, but killing tasks is really the key to getting more done, ironically.

Slack

Slack is the tool we use at all of my companies to communicate. Direct messages take the place of individual emails, and the ease with which we can communicate to everyone and have spirited dialogue is terrific.

If I had to guess I would say Slack has reduced my email intake by over 50%, easy.

A good old fashion notebook

That’s right, as digital as I am I still carry a notebook to meetings to take notes. I just find that it’s more personal to be talking to someone and jot down a note with paper and pen vs. using my phone or computer. I also think I’m more likely to remember things if I write them down by hand, but that could be just something I read once.

Google Keep and Evernote

I’ve used Evernote forever, and it really is my long-term brain. I store things in Evernote that I’ll want to have forever, like information from my doctor, an important client note, or special memories with my family (I often will scan and store the art my kids make for me in Evernote with the tag #memories.)

I use Google Keep for short-term notes. These are things that I know I’ll need soon but don’t need to store forever. I find Keep to be a bit easier to jump in and out of than Evernote, and thus its easier/faster for me to use it for the quick-turn items. I store things like notes for an upcoming speech, some bullets for a meeting I might have that week, or a phrase that I ultimately want to do something with (right now I have ‘relentlessly pursue your dreams’ in Keep because a friend shared that with me and I really like it.)

Google Reminders

I’m a Google Pixel guy, and I use a Google Chromebook for my laptop. So I’m all Googled up, and thus I use Google Reminders all the time. Works like Siri, of course. When I’m driving and want to remember something, I tell Google.

One thing I really like is that the reminders then show up on my Google Calendar, which helps me see them in the context of everything else I’m doing that day.

Inbox Zero via Gmail

Ok, this is not exactly a tool, but I work had to get to Inbox Zero (cleaning out my email completely) each day. It doesn’t always happen, but when it does, the sky parts and the sun beams down on me and I hear angels singing off in the distance. It’s glorious :)

Bonus: Strava

I’m a runner. I can say that now that I ran my first marathon (Jan 2019) and I run 2–3 half marathons per year. I use a Garmin watch connected to Strava to help me track my runs, and the community attached gives me a bit more accountability. I only wish I was a bit smarter with the analytics…what should my heart beats per minute really be? And what the heck is VO2 Max?!

Those are the tools I use to stay sane and get more done. How about you? What tools do you use that allow you to be more efficient?

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