This is how I get work done! Here is the workflow I use to help me maintain control over the tasks I put my energy into during the day. This deck also explains the rationale behind it and the core tools (both on Mac and iPhone/iPad) that allow me to be remember more and keep focus on what needs attention. I hope it helps you - would welcome feedback, here or at my blog on www.purplesalix.com. BTW - I've also got a Productivity Newspaper that I curate. If you find the presentation useful I'm sure you'll enjoy the newspaper too. It's call the Purple Patch and you can read it and subscribe to it at http://purplesalix.com/the-purple-patch/ Having reviewed this presentation, why not download my guide to Productivity Tools. Over 50 tools are reviewed covering everything from Task Managers, Note taking apps and utilities I use every day. Get it at at http://productivityguideform.purplesalix.com/productivityguide

1. Be More Productive by Design
A peek inside my personal productivity setup
Pete Jakob, Purple Salix
email: pete@purplesalix.com
Web: www.purplesalix.com
Twitter: @curdridge

2. You were never taught HOW to
accomplish your work
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• Our approach evolved organically over time
• Much of it works fine
• Just working longer/harder is the default

3. The challenges become greater as we get
more responsibility, more connected
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Eventually we run out of Time and/or Energy
This is Leadership and Culture challenge

4. Why is this important?
 EXTERNAL OUTCOMES
– Leadership
– Output
– Productivity
– Efficiency
– Focus
– Success
 INTERNAL OUTCOMES
– Stress Management
– Mindfulness
– Health & Wellbeing
– Balance
– Self-worth
– Happiness
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5. Ready to do something about it?
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6. Caveat
 Choosing your productivity setup is very personal
– Other applications undoubtedly offer functions that will
suit your requirements better
– Your setup doesn’t need to be digital – Paper is fine!
 Don’t overtinker – “Perfect is the Enemy of Good
Enough!”
– My setup could certainly be improved, but it works for
now
 There are hyperlinks throughout this deck linking to
the key applications and articles

7. •What could you do?
•What do you want/need
to do?
•What won't you do?
•What will you do this
week?
•What will you do today?
•What other
commitments do you
have?
•Why do you want to be
more productive?
•What will you do with
the time saved?
•What would your ideal
week be?
•Are you progressing
towards your purpose?
•How do you feel?
•What needs Adjusting?
Balance Purpose
ListsCalendar
Purple Productivity Principles
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How?Do
• How do you maintain Focus?
• What tools?
• How productive is your
environment?

8. I am convinced you need a TRUSTED
SYSTEM to support you getting stuff done
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Take Notes
Capture Ideas
Make Lists
Save for Later
Eliminate Distractions
Track my Time
Scan Documents
Create Invoices

9. Building Your Trusted System
 Essential Elements
– A list manager (might be paper)
– A Calendar
– A place to store reference
material (might be a hanging file)
– An email program
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10. Your Choices will be influenced by..
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 Hardware
 Inclinations towards
digital v paper
 Budget
 Willingness to invest
time learning

11. Considerations that drive MY selections
LIST MANAGER
• Flexible & Configurable
• Synchronise between
devices
• Easy capture
• Good Integration with
email, Calendar,
Reference
CALENDAR
•Handle Multiple
calendars (multiple work
accounts + home)
•Multi-device
•Integration with List
Manager
REFERENCE STORE
• Multi-device
• Support multiple doc
formats
• Easy capture
• Good Search, Tagging,
etc
EMAIL
• Multiple accounts into
single inbox
• Good offline capability
• Good search
• Easy List Manager
integration
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Hardware
MacBook Air
iPhone 6
iPad Mini
Pen & Paper

12. My Current Choices (simplified)
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13. Why I Chose Apple Mail
 I have 7 email accounts (work, personal, plus 5
client accounts) on different platforms (Gmail,
Exchange, iCloud)
 I don’t use mail folders much – I find it’s quicker
to use search instead
 Apple mail feels fast and light compared with
many web-based email clients
 Extensive use of keyboard shortcuts aid
productivity
 Integration with Omnifocus means I can create
actions direct from Mail (with link back to
original email)

14. Why I Chose Omnifocus
 Services allow me to create tasks directly
from emails, or web pages
 Otherwise can email a task directly into
Omnifocus Email address
 I can drag Tasks directly from my lists into
my Apple Calendar
– particularly useful when scheduling tasks for the
coming week
 Consistent but separate UI optimised for
Mac and iOS
– iOS works particularly well offline
 Highly customisable to my environment
 Note: OmniFocus is for MacOS/iOS only.
Windows users may want to consider
Todoist or ToodleDo

15. My OmniFocus Setup
 Contexts
– Inbox
– This Week (by Friday)
• Big Tasks
• Little Tasks
– Next Week
– Next 4 Weeks
– Later
– Someday
– Routine
– Waiting
 Project Folders
– Client Work
• Separate folder for each client
– Business Development
• Prospecting
• Blog
• Lead Generation
• Offering Development
– Administration
• Business Admi
• Expenses & Invoicing
• Productivity
– Home & Balance
• Fun
• Health & Wellbeing
• Home Maintenance
• Car-related
• Garden
Operation
• Tasks get into Omnifocus by direct typing, adding
direct from Mail (via Clip-O-Tron) or via Siri in
iPhone (using iOS Reminders integration)
• Any new actions, by default come straight into
the Omnifocus Inbox. I can worry about
categorising later.
• Contexts. I no longer use the traditional contexts
(@home, @computer, etc) as my work choices
are rarely based on my location. Instead I use
them to group activities by when they should be
completed.
• In my Weekly Review I transfer all the large items
for the following week onto my calendar.
• The Today Perspective (as described by Brett
Kelly) is used to show me which tasks are due
today, along with any items that I have flagged
(from whatever context)
• I use Due Dates only when absolutely necessary
– the contexts implementation largely takes away
the need.
• Flags are used to denote actions that I want to
add to my focus for today.
• The OmniFocus user community is very active
and a great source of inspiration for whatever
you are trying to do with OF.

16. Alternative List Managers
 Todoist
– Haven’t tried it, but the UI looks very simple and gurus like Mike Vardy and Erik Fisher use
it. If I hadn’t already invested in Omnfocus, I would probably start here.
 Asana
– Very popular platform for teams rather than individuals.
 eProductivity (Lotus Notes)
– Integrates fully with Lotus Notes (replaces mail template)
– Workflow and Reference in one environment
– Highly recommended for Notes Users
– I no longer use Lotus Notes – Does anyone outside IBM?
 ActiveInbox (Gmail extension)
– Powerful tool if you want to manage your day from within your email. I want to separate
the 2 items
– I found it limited around printing and the lack of a native iOS became a real issue so I
ditched it
 IQTell
– Looked promising for a while. Tries to become a dashboard over your email, todo lists,
Evernote etc
– I found the UI a little cumbersome and struggled with it’s implementation of projects.
– However, a strong candidate and good support
– Ultimately I left the plaftorm because I found having mail and todo lists in the same
platform to be a distraction more than a benefit. If I’m doing work I want email out of sight!
 Evernote
– Some people try to use Evernote as their GTD system – after all if it’s already the reference
system, why not extend it further? Read more here from Ruud Hein
– I found it too clunky– simply asking a great tool to do something for which it wasn’t
designed.

17. Why I Chose Apple Calendar
 Unified calendar across all my mail accounts
(including a “home’ calendar shared with my wife
 Omnifocus tasks can be dragged directly to the
calendar
 In my weekly review I look at the big tasks for the
next week and drag them into free slots in my
calendar
– I use a separate iCloud calendar for scheduling work
– Forces me to confront the time available for work between
meetings
 I work from the calendar rather than an
Omnifocus list during the day
– Simple principle: What gets scheduled gets done
– When I start work on a task, I also start the Toggl timer – I
have the same Project structure in OmniFocus and Toggl.
Therefore I can track intention versus reality.

18. Why I Chose Evernote
 The Evernote Web Clipper allows me to copy and file
any web page straight into Evernote. I use this
CONSTANTLY
 Evernote offers Tagging – more flexible than folders
for retrieving information (items can have multiple
tags)
 Offline storage on Apple device – so all info always
available
 Import folders – allows, for instance, PDF downloads
to be automatically imported for later reading
 Outstanding search capabilities
– Advanced OCR capabilities allow even
handwritten/scanned notes to be indexed and
searched
– Evernote search can be integrated with Google search,
allowing you to search the web and you Evernote
library at the same time.
– I don’t use Folders very much these days – Search plus
tags is perfectly sufficient,

19. My Evernote Setup
 After many years I’ve now greatly simplified my setup. The reality is that Evernote
has great search capabilities (including saved search) and tags – with that I can do
all I want from a reference bucket
 Most things get into Evernote directly, or emailed, or using the Evernote Web
Clipper
 I tend to use the following Notebooks
– Inbox (this is the default Notebook). During my Weekly Review I will process any items
in here so that it is empty
– Reference. This is a single notebook into which I place anything I want to keep. I use
tags to group them under key topics (eg recipes, receipts, garden, client names, etc)
– Read. This is a Notebook I use for articles/PDFs/Presentations that I find on the web (or
get emailed) that I want to read later. Once I’ve read them I’ll move
 With the Clipper I can automatically place articles into folders and tag them
accordingly
 By Default, emails etc go into Evernote into Folder called “Inbox”. I can then tag
them
 I use searches and saved searches to get rapid access to information. Check out
Brett Kelly’s list of saved searches.

20. Other Key Players in my Productivity Team
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Function Application Platforms
List Manager OmniFocus MacOS, iOS
Reference File Evernote MacOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Web
Note Taking Notability MacOS, iOS
Mind Mapping iThoughts MacOS, iOS
Typing Accelerator aText MacOS
Accounting (UK) Quickfile Web
Time Tracking Toggl MacOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Web
Flow Charts LucidChart Web (Chrome)
Read more about each of these at my Purple Salix Blog

21. My Full Productivity Setup
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22.  I offer bespoke coaching for
individuals or teams wanting to
become more intentional in the
way they use their time
– Aligning Activities with Goals
– Prioritising
– Focus and Balance
 Please get in touch
– pete@purplesalix.com
Found this Useful?

23. Additional Resources
 I write regularly on my blog
about various topics related
to personal productivity
– The Purple Salix Blog
 I also curate a weekly
newspaper of latest articles
from around the world on
Productivity and Marketing
– The Purple Patch
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24. Thank You!
Pete Jakob
Purple Salix Limited
www.purplesalix.com
pete@purplesalix.com
+44 7710 820512
@curdridge
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