[cpro]

There are two techniques/strategies I have used to become more productive. Both strategies revolve around the idea of not becoming distracted.

1. Stop "planning" everything and start "doing" things. I believe planning is a great way to procrastinate because you convince yourself you are being productive when you are not. Instead, I try to minimize my planning and keep things moving.

I stopped using planning tools such as Trello or other Kanban systems because they are so heavy and in the browser it makes it easy to get distracted and surf the web but also, those tools suck you in and you soon start 'planning' a lot of details instead of actually doing work.

I replaced my task manager with a simple command line tool I made myself (https://goo.gl/YF6Wsk). I am not sure if it would help anyone else but I use it every day. The premise of the tool is simple, minimize the time I spend outside of my editor. If I have to log tasks I do it and jump right back in my editor.

2. The Pomodoro Technique has helped me "get in the zone" because the technique makes you focus right off the bat.