Being More Productive – Because of the rise in technology and an increase in competing interests, it is much more difficult to be and feel productive today than it ever was in life. This post will include some tips for being productive, and just as importantly, feeling more productive in day to day life.
Tips for Being More Productive
Technology is supposed to be an enabler of being productive. If you think about it, we have access to more information than we ever had in history. It would seem that this would allow us to be more productive every day. However, what it does is actually open up the opportunity for us to be more distracted and to take away from what we are actually doing each day.
Below are some tips that should support you in being more productive today and moving forward -
Segment Your Day and Have Specific Objectives for Each Part of the Day – There is no way to avoid having to do a lot of things every day. If you are like me, you have responsibilities to your family, responsibilities to work and have a litany of other activities that will force you to have to put out fires each day. The best way to combat this is to attempt to be able to box out each of the individual activities during the day and have a specific objective for each segment. Even if you break your day into blocks of about 30 minutes and have an objective for each section, you will be able to better monitor what has been done and what has not been accomplished. It does not need to be a highly formal process but that mind is a goal seeking tool. Give it a goal and it will find a way to achieve the goal.
Set a Time Limit for Each Activity – Parkinson’s Law dictates that work expands to meet the activity that is being completed. We can use Parkinson’s Law to our advantage or to our disadvantage. Set a time limit to complete each task that is lesser than the amount of time that you expect it would normally take to complete the task. If you are able to do this, even if you miss, you are more likely to get the work done more quickly than if you did not set this time limit at all. When we have specific deadlines to get work done, we have a tendency to find ways to be more productive and to be more efficient in our activities. Use this to your advantage and do not buy into the fact that you have a lot of time to get something done. That rarely is the case and if you get too comfortable, you will most likely be scrambling at the end.
Interrupted 11 Times Per Hour – People are interrupted at least 11 times every hour. If you are in an office, these interruptions can come with coworkers or if you are working alone, these interruptions can come from our minds wandering off and taking our focus onto something else. Minimize these interruptions. A technique that I use is the Pomodoro technique which has me working in 25 minute blocks and then taking a 5 minute break. I put my headphones on during the 25 minute working session which is a good indication that I should not be disturbed during that period. Even if I have music playing into my ears (I usually choose Bach), it is easy to get into the zone and just focus on my work.
Focus on One Thing at a Time – There is a misconception that multitasking allows for being more productive. Nothing can be further from the truth. Multitasking actually causes us to be less productive and diffuses our focus so nothing really gets done completely. If something that we are doing is worth doing, then it is worth doing with complete concentration and trust. Do not multi-task under any circumstance. You will find when you complete one task successfully, it is very easy to move on to a second task with a lot more power and a lot more gusto. If you try to do too many things at once, you will probably find that you are a lot less productive.
Do a Little Each Day – As opposed to trying to cram all of you activity into one block for a long period in a day, try to break up the activities into smaller segments that you can complete over a shorter period of time. This will allow focusing on the item and recovering after. You will find that if you employ this approach, you will get incrementally better each day. All of those incremental improvements will actually cause major shifts in results over time.
Complete Always Beats Incomplete – People who go for perfection in what they do rarely are successful. I operate under the model that complete always beats incomplete. That means I will modify what I am doing if it does not look like I will be able to complete my work in the timeframe that I set for myself. Usually, these modifications do not impact the final product. However, the product will be complete, and almost everything is subject to post completion review. As a result, I work to complete things knowing that modifications can be made later.
Follow these Tips for Being More Productive and you will see the value of your time skyrocket, along with the amount of quality work that you are able to complete each day.
Tips for Being More Productive – Empower Network @ 2012
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