Ahh, the New York Times is covering Life Hacking. You know, how to wring every bit of productivity out of your life. This is a topic that interests me greatly. I was one of the attendees in that Danny O’Brien talk that’s covered here. I don’t always follow David Allen’s program, but I’m very close to being back on it.

I have only five emails unanswered in my inbox now. A week ago it was more than 500. How did I dig out? ClearContext. How did that help? By putting things in a priority system. That helped me get a handle on the job ahead and gave me almost a game to play. “Can I get to the next level?”

Another thing that helped me get going? Having a wifeless week. I just stayed up until 4 a.m. a few nights this week until I powered through my email stack. Another way? Have a reward waiting for you. Today’s Toyota 400 race was my reward for getting caught up. And I wanted to be caught up so I could enjoy this weekend without the nagging thought that I had so many emails I hadn’t caught up with yet.

How do you get more productive?