{"id":8506,"date":"2008-05-28T05:31:53","date_gmt":"2008-05-28T13:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gtdtimes.com\/2008\/05\/28\/productivity-countdown\/"},"modified":"2014-02-03T14:33:48","modified_gmt":"2014-02-03T22:33:48","slug":"productivity-countdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2008\/05\/productivity-countdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Productivity Countdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"eproductivitycountdownclock02.jpg\" href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2008\/05\/eproductivitycountdownclock02.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2008\/05\/eproductivitycountdownclock02.thumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"eproductivitycountdownclock02.jpg\" width=\"288\" height=\"216\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>I usually do OK tracking individual actions and small and medium sized projects. These are items for which I can easily envision the completed state &#8211; I know what &#8220;done&#8221; will look like and I know I will mark these complete in a few days or weeks. Sometimes, however, I have projects where the completion date is not days or weeks ahead but months or years ahead. I find those harder to keep in front of me. Even with regular review, I sometimes find it difficult to keep a sense of time about a project that is off in the distant future.<\/p>\n<p>As I prepare to launch <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eProductivity.com\">eProductivity, a GTD implementation tool for Lotus Notes <\/a> , I need to keep one or two key milestones in sight at all times. Specifically, we have a few big milestones &#8211; things like &#8220;launch web site&#8221; or &#8220;Prepare for meeting with David&#8221; or &#8220;Deliver presentation to IBM&#8221; that we have been working on for many months or in the case of the product launch, several years.<\/p>\n<p>Several months ago, I watched a NASA Shuttle mission video and I was inspired by their countdown clock and their mission elapsed clock. I decided that I needed my own countdown clock, so I decided to create one for myself.<br \/>\n<a title=\"eproductivitycountdownclock01.jpg\" href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2008\/05\/eproductivitycountdownclock01.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2008\/05\/eproductivitycountdownclock01.jpg\" alt=\"eproductivitycountdownclock01.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"232\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nStarting with a countdown clock mechanism that I purchased on-line, I created a custom clock face and built five eProductivity countdown clocks. I set each one to the date of a key milestone. I kept one clock for myself and I sent the other four to key people on my team. Now, I have a tangible reminder of each event and the time remaining in which to complete it. I&#8217;ve had the clock on my desk for a few months now and it&#8217;s been a fun reminder of an event that I am looking forward to. The key question &#8220;What&#8217;s your next action?&#8221; keeps me focused on the little things that I need to accomplish to achieve my goal.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s been a fun way to get things done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I usually do OK tracking individual actions and small and medium sized projects. These are items for which I can easily envision the completed state &#8211; I know what &#8220;done&#8221; will look like and I know I will mark these complete in a few days or weeks. Sometimes, however, I have projects where the completion &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2008\/05\/productivity-countdown\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Productivity Countdown&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[22,26,144,182,212],"class_list":["post-8506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-productivity-tips","tag-getting-things-done","tag-gtdtimescom","tag-next-action","tag-eproductivity","tag-countdown-clock","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Productivity Countdown  - Getting Things Done\u00ae<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2008\/05\/productivity-countdown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Productivity Countdown\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I usually do OK tracking individual actions and small and medium sized projects. These are items for which I can easily envision the completed state &#8211; I know what &#8220;done&#8221; will look like and I know I will mark these complete in a few days or weeks. Sometimes, however, I have projects where the completion &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Productivity Countdown&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2008\/05\/productivity-countdown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Getting Things Done\u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-05-28T13:31:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-02-03T22:33:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2008\/05\/eproductivitycountdownclock02.thumbnail.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2008\/05\/productivity-countdown\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2008\/05\/productivity-countdown\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"GTD Times Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4\"},\"headline\":\"Productivity Countdown\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-05-28T13:31:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-03T22:33:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2008\/05\/productivity-countdown\/\"},\"wordCount\":346,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2008\/05\/productivity-countdown\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2008\/05\/eproductivitycountdownclock02.thumbnail.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Getting Things Done\",\"www.gtdtimes.com\",\"next action\",\"eProductivity\",\"Countdown Clock\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Productivity Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2008\/05\/productivity-countdown\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2008\/05\/productivity-countdown\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2008\/05\/productivity-countdown\/\",\"name\":\"Productivity Countdown - 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