The Action Method: How I Get Things Done Despite My 15-Second Attention Span

Disclaimer: This might come off as a complete infomercial for the Action Method line of products, software, etc. But the truth is (unfortunately) I am not financially benefiting from this rave review in the slightest. That's right. I didn't even drop a single affiliate link in this post. I'm just an awesome guy, trying to make your life a little more awesome with my awesome advice.

I waste a lot of time trying to be more productive.

What I mean is I'm always trying to find new ways to increase my productivity---at work, at home, even in my social life. The goal is to get more accomplished in a shorter amount of time. But often what happens is the exact opposite. You introduce new tools, methods or behaviors to increase productivity and you end up spending more time trying to stick to your new processes than you do getting things done.

I'm 95% confident that The Action Method is the cure.

The Action Method is a self-described radical approach to productivity and project management. Really it's just a system for getting things done with a strong bias towards taking action. It assumes everything in your life can be sorted into "projects." These projects can be divided into three parts:

1.) action steps
2.) references
3.) backburner items.

It's ridiculously simple, but for me at least, has been incredibly effective. If you're interested, I highly recommend reading the founder, Scott Belsky's book, "Making Ideas Happen." It helps lay the groundwork for how you approach the "projects" in your life and gives you extremely actionable advice---something not very common in most productivity books. Trust me, I've read most of them.

Then if you're a pen and paper kind of person, look into the action method paper products. But if you spend a good chunk of your time on a computer, go sign up for the Action Method Online. In my case, I dropped the roughly $90 (with discount coupon) for a year's subscription and haven't regretted it a bit. And once the next generation iPhone makes its way into my hands, I'll be adding the Action Method app to my productivity weapon set as well.

This ends my gross public display of affection for the Action Method line of products (for now).

Nathan

2 Comments

1. 

   February 20, 2011 @ 7:56 pm

   Bruce Holladay says:

   Okay...6 months later. Do you still use it? I'm almost ready to pull the trigger.

2. 

   February 21, 2011 @ 9:22 am

   Nathan says:

   @Bruce - I'm happy to report that I do in fact still use the Action Method Online application as well as the iPhone App. In fact, just last week, I did a massive reevaluation and Spring cleaning of my current projects (even the most action-oriented to-do lists sometimes fall flat).

   Some additional thoughts 6 months later:

   Pros: Still the best "personal" system I've found for getting things done.

   Cons: Haven't seen any updates to the application---no further improvements, features, refining, etc. Considering the subscription-based nature of the application, it'd be nice to see some improvements and updates to the current web application.

   Another gripe that has come to light in 6 months of usage is that the system doesn't seem to play well with those who are not signed up for the service. Considering the price, this doesn't make collaboration with friends/family/co-workers or any group with changing team members and/or personal projects involving others very easy. I'd like to see a better setup for working with those outside the system without requiring another paid, or at least full-priced, account.

   I could go on with a list of personal requests for features and/or tweaks to the system, but ultimately I'd just like to see progress. Part of the value of a subscription service should be the understanding that you are paying for a service that will evolve with your needs. Lucky for the Action Method Online, there's really not much out there that does a better job, and certainly nothing that looks as good. But I imagine this won't always be the case.

   Final Verdict: If you commit to the Action Method Online, you will accomplish more than you would without it. For that reason alone, it's worth it.