Glenn Wolsey is a 15 year old blogger from New Zealand. I dugg into his site a few months ago and it’s been a great daily read ever since. Glenn has great attack towards his personal productivity and focus. I emailed Glenn last week to see if he would like to write a post on some simple things he does to keep on top of his todo’s, and here’s what he shot back.

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Productivity, a much talked about topic but with many techniques not employed globally as much as they could be. I for one am a strong believer in some common (and not so common) productivity routines which I attempt to follow on a daily basis. I might not be perfect but I’m well on my way to living in a stress free state of mind.

Before getting into the hows and the whys it’s important to state my goals in life and what I want to get out of a “productive” lifestyle. I don’t just want to be productive with my work, I want to have fun, I want to be relaxed, I want to enjoy my days and live for the minute, not next week when I’m going on holiday or next year when I’m buying a house (in theory). My ultimate goal is to get my tasks done in a truly relaxed manner and live in a “zen” life lifestyle.

There are a few tools I use on a daily basis to help keep myself organized. OmniFocus is basically the center focus on my organization. I use it to keep tabs on every single task I need to complete, including tasks for others, blog to-do’s, and home chores. This way I have a clean visual representation of what needs to be achieved, and I have the satisfaction of ticking them off digitally once completed.

The “Quick Entry” shortcut in OmniFocus is excellent as I can be browsing the web, come up with an idea, and quickly jot it into my inbox without disrupting the task in hand.

A hefty amount of my time is spent in Apple’s Mail answering emails from readers, companies, family and friends. I try and employ the “Two-Minute Rule” to Mail, where if I receive an email and I can reply to it within two minutes, I do it right away. I have Mail set to check every minute and leave it open all day, I like to keep a tab on incoming messages as some of the things I do require the need for constant email monitoring.

I’m starting to improve my workflow and efficiency, at the end of the year I hope to be 50% less stressed than I am today, and not have to worry about spending a few days offline without getting anything done.

What are you waiting for? Set some tough goals, focus on them, and achieve a simpler life with less stress and clutter.