When it comes to being more productive there are a lot of top tips, ‘hack’ and different advice that you get. All of it is designed to make you more productive. So here are the top 10 nuggets of wisdom to skyrocket your productivity.
In this short post, I’m going to briefly outline the 10 gems to make you more productive that I have heard most frequently. I make no claim that these are the 10 ‘best’ productivity tips, but they are the ones that seem to be talked about most. The top 10 nuggets of wisdom to skyrocket your productivity.
Write it down
If you don’t write something down…chances are you will forget. So, the absolute most basic tip is don’t leave it to chance. Write it down.
Just as important though is where you write things down. I once worked with someone who wrote everything down on anything that was to hand in the moment. Envelopes, post it notes, random pages of his notebook, random page MY notebook that he would just grab (😡). Anything would do. Meetings with this person often began as he rummaged through stacks of notes written on scraps of paper and scanned through his notebook to try and find the list of things he had for me.
Write it down. Write it down somewhere you can easily access it later.
Plan your work
There will most likely be enough stuff coming at you each day that you could very easily fill your time by just reacting to all of the input as it comes in. Don’t do it. Think through what the important things are and plan in when and how you are going to do them. With no plan, you are at the mercy of every distraction and the one thing you can be sure of is that the important stuff won’t get done.
Work your plans
What use is a plan if you don’t follow it! If all you do is still just react to all the stuff that is shouting at you in the moment, then making a plan was a waste a time. If MAKING a plan is actively saying YES to all the stuff that is truly important, FOLLOWING your plan requires to actually say NO to all the stuff that isn’t.
Turn of notifications, minimise distraction
Key to following your plan is to turn off notifications. Instead, schedule times of the day when you will go through emails and communications. I cannot understand how people have the phone and computer bleeping and blurping at them all day long like a deranged R2-D2 and still expect to get anything done.
K.I.S.S
Keep It Simple Stupid! This is the point, if your system for managing your work is too complicated, you will either resist using it or you will spend too much time that you don’t need to. Keep it simple.
Don’t plan to do too much, allow flexibility
Most of us plan as if we are Superman and will get green lights all the way. We plan on the basis that we will always be operating at just above peak human efficiency and nothing will go wrong. So we plan too much. What ever you think you are able to do in a day, a good rule of thumb is to half it and then plan in 75% of that half. Why? Because if you do not, you will get to a point quite quickly in your day or your week where you cannot do everything that remains and so you will panic and pick the low hanging fruit. Never the longer, harder more difficult tasks that will have the bigger impact. Planning in 75% of half of what you think, means by default you WILL have time for those bigger impact things.
Intend to focus on what is important.
Here, I am not really talking about tasks and projects at all. Though I could be. Often THE MOST important things in life, are things that we do not normally put on a task list. Try putting ‘Have date with wife’ on your to do list and see how well received that is! Family, friendships, exercise, sleep and mental relaxation won’t make it on to your to do list, butm they are arguably more important than most of the things that do. So, in your planning, don’t just use a to-do list. Intend to focus time on what is truly important.
Sleep, diet, exercise and hydration
Your productivity, when you get right down to it, is impacted far more by your mood and energy levels than by anything else. Mood and energy are massively impacted by the amount of quality sleep you get, what and when you eat and the exercise you do (or don’t). Hydration is essential for concentration, thought and focus.
Your calendar is key
Your calendar never lies. It tells you that you have 24 hours and it is right. Whilst your to-do list might not be able to prompt you to focus on the things that really matter (see the point above) your calendar CAN. Harness your calendar’s power by only putting things on it that MUST happen and (under the will of God, all things being equal) WILL happen. Don’t fill it up with tasks and scheduled time that you may or may not do.
Use your calendar to govern your focus.
Take breaks – schedule them.
Tea breaks are what made Britain Great. That’s a phrase of mine. Scheduled tea breaks for all workers were a thing in my Grandad’s day. Now they are not a thing anymore and look at what has happened! Seriously, we can only focus and work well for so long before our cognitive ability drops quite dramatically. We all know this from experience. A ten minute break, outside and active is best, in the morning and afternoon will improve our cognitive function no end. It will improve the quality of our work and indeed the quantity we achieve.
Seriously, we all know this. Taking a break will pay you back and then some for the time you lose.
So that is the top 10 nuggets of wisdom to skyrocket your productivity. I hope these things are helpful for you.
