Although Google Docs has been around for years, I am still trying to get into the habit of using it regularly. Without a doubt, having access to certain documents anywhere in the world, from any computer, is an amazing luxury that far surpasses the inconveniece of carrying around USB keys and portable harddrives. I always seem to misplace my USB keys, and they have to shuttle between the three bags I carry routinely, only varying in size to meet my storage needs on any particular day.

Google Docs can save you from all that USB key misery though. There is nothing to remember to bring with you, and nothing to really lose, when using Google Docs. Any document is available at any point in time, basically making your documents in progress mobile. And with “mobile” I actually mean portable, not necessarily restricted only to being available on a mobile device (although that, too, is possible).

The secret to using productivity tools

Like any productivity enhancing tool, the tool is only as useful as the user makes it. In other words, if you don’t get yourself in the habit of using something, it will of course not do anything for your productive output. Google Docs is exactly the same, and as I mentioned, I am also still getting into the habit of using it regularly.

However, essentially there are factors we cannot change in our day that influence (or reduce) our productivity. One of them is time: there are, and probably always will be, only 24 hours in a day. No sense in wishing there were more, I’ve tried and it doesn’t change anything. We also cannot change activities that cost a certain minimum amount of time without having to deal with serious long term consequences, like sleeping, commuting, and socializing. What we can do, is make use of those minutes here and there that are lost by simply not filling them with a useful activity.

Using two minutes here, and five minutes there, to work on your next novel (for example), will actually result in said novel being done years sooner than when you are constantly hoping to free up three solid hours of writing time. Anyone who has tried to sit down and seriously write, will know this will never happen. Although this is an example for writers, it applies to anyone trying to produce something over a longer period of time. If you are a student and are given an assignment, you should really start early and do bits and pieces of it. Yes, most students (and I used to do it too) cram all the work into the evening before the deadline. This is setting yourself up for reasonably bad habits though, because deadlines will still exist in the “real world”.

How Google Docs ramps up your productivity

When you upload your documents that are a work in progress (reports, assignments, novels, short stories, poems, you name it…) to Google Docs, and keep a Google Docs page open in one of your browser tabs to function as a reminder, then you can easily fill those lost minutes with some productive typing. Even if you are just free writing, you are probably going to produce something more useful than if you don’t try at all. You might also spend those minutes you are on hold on the phone editing some of your work uploaded to Google Docs. I almost ‘lost’ at least an hour and a half on hold with various airlines and organizations this week, had I not filled that time with some editing and some writing as well. It is amazing how much more you get done by just not wasting the five minutes here and there that tend to get lost during the day. It is almost like reckless spending, but instead of money we’re losing time. There are people who routinely buy small ticket items that are not really necessary (candy bars, pop, etc), and when adding up the real cost over the course of a year, it is shocking.
The very same goes for our productivity. By wasting those ten minutes on hold on the phone, taken over the course of a year, that’s at least one more chapter for a book, a short story, or an article.

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe in time-well-wasted on occasion, but the reality is that there are many instances during our day when we might as well use our time wisely, and productively.

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