My Three-Step Secret Productivity Weapon

I have a thing for learning about productivity systems. It's a strange fetish, but it's one I am grateful for - it has definitely helped me to make my life richer and more interesting...

• I regularly volunteer at my kids' schools and attend almost all of their events.

• I have started eight businesses, including ArcStone which has been in business since 1997.

• Companies I own and run currently employee 18 people.

• I have recorded an album of original music and am working on another due out this summer.

• I published my first ebook last year, Brady Carmichael and the Poodle of Mass Destruction.

• I regularly take extended vacations to exotic places with my family.

• I actively exercise and meditate on a consistent basis - ongoing practices that give me a reasonable perspective and good health.

I'm a busy and extremely fortunate guy. I feel incredibly blessed and thankful to have had all the opportunities in my life to do these things.

I'd like to pass on the one, most significant thing that I do that has helped me to achieve a happy and productive life so far.

Anyone can do this, regardless of education or circumstance. This methodology is an amalgam of two systems borrowed from Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and David Allen's Getting Things Done.

My system is simple and only requires a little discipline.

Set Goals
Set specific goals in writing for yourself with a date that they will be due. Share those goals with at least one close friend or family member. This should be done at least annually and then update your list as needed. You should not work on more than three big goals at a time. The fewer the better.

Prioritize "Rocks" Weekly
Review those goals once a week. Sunday nights work for me. Create a todo list for yourself that has a weekly perspective - but keep those goals at the top of your list. It is imperative that they stay in your face. Schedule the tasks that will help you achieve your goals into your calendar and keep that time sacred. These are your "rocks."

Prioritize "Pebbles" Daily
Review your weekly todo list every morning before email, calls, etc. and prioritize all the other little things that have come up around your pre-scheduled rocks. These are your pebbles. Schedule out your day to fit the larger, most important pebbles in first. Remember to keep your rock time sacred!

The rock and pebble metaphor is based on Stephen Covey's concept of your life being like a glass jar that you fill. If you pour a bunch of sand and pebbles in first and then try to fit rocks in, they won't all fit in the jar. If you put the rocks in first, the pebbles and sand naturally flow around the rocks and everything fits - a brilliant metaphor.

I use a weekly task sheet that I developed to help me stay on task. This weekly review concept is what I learned from David Allen. I have posted my weekly sheet as a PDF for anyone who wants to try my system or see it. I encourage you, however, to create your own. Studies have shown that if you come up with your own system for task management, you're much more likely to stick with it. Scott Belsky describes several interesting systems in his book, Making Ideas Happen. Belsky's book is another great read if you are afflicted with a productivity fetish like me.

Please drop me a note if you have a personal productivity system that is working well for you, I'd love to hear about it!

Good luck and happy goal setting. Here's to a great 2014!