“Rarely have I seen a situation where doing less than the other practitioner is a good strategy.
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Prepare and then rework your to-do list.
A counter intuitive but effective method for increasing productivity is to limit how many items you add to your to-do list.
The list is the origin of culture. Wherever you look in cultural history, you will find lists. – Umberto Eco
A simple way to do this is by choosing one to three Most Important Tasks, (MITs). These are the big, often hard tasks for your day that you really need to get done; the ones that will drag your time at work on for too long. Then break these down into 2 or 3 smaller easy to complete sections.
This means do the important things first – regardless of how hard they are. Then focus only on today.
The rest of your to-do list can be composed with minor tasks that you would do as long as you complete your MITs. Make sure you work on those before you move on to less critical tasks and you’ll find you feel a whole lot more productive at the end of the day.
One valuable tip that can reduce work anxiety is to write your to-do list the night before. Writing a to-do list before you go to bed helps you relax and sleep better and in the morning your tasks are clearly set out..
Also separate your “today” list from the master list of everything you need to get done.
A solution is to make a big list of everything you need to do. Then, every night, move a few things to your to-do list for the next day.
Remember your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” Park your ideas on your to-do list, but make sure you create a “today” list and a “someday” list. That way you won’t waste energy trying to remember important ideas and you’ll ensure today won’t feel overwhelming.
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Measure your results, not your time.
One way to do this is to adjust the way you measure productivity. If you evaluate yourself by what you actually get done rather than the time it takes to get something done, you’ll start to notice a difference in how you work.
For example, if you have a big project to complete, try breaking it down into small but discrete sections, so each one can be crossed off as they are completed, until the whole task is done.
This aspect of completion really helps with the idea that you are progressing through the days needs.
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Build habits to help you start working.
If I don’t have a plan for what to work on first, procrastination can creep in and time will be wasted One way to overcome this problem is building a regular routine that tells your brain and body it’s time to work.
Routines aren’t a sign of boring, regimented people. Routines are a sign of people who have goals and have found the best way–for them–to actually accomplish their goals.
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Track where you waste time.
If you’re struggling to be productive, it’s tempting to change your routine or try new solutions before you uncover the real problem. The first step in becoming more productive is to identify your regular time wasting events. Start by tracking what you do every morning to get ready for work. You might find you’re spending time on things such as choosing your clothes, something you could do the night before.
Then, keep going: Track how you spend your time during the day and look for patterns. Maybe you’ll find you’re getting caught up on social media too often. Or that what should have been a two-minute work conversation regularly turns into a 10-minute chat session.
Once you know what takes up your time or leads you to procrastinate, start making specific changes around those habits.
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Build habits to help you stop working.
This one might seem a bit strange, but it really works. Creating a daily deadline makes you focus and commit to completing the task and avoiding over run.
It’s easy to just keep going for another hour, or to get your computer out after dinner and work until well after bedtime. The worst thing about these habits is that they encourage us to put off our MITs; we figure we’ll be working long enough to be sure to get them done. (But, of course, we don’t.)
Here are a few ways to switch on at-home time and leave work behind:
- Quit while you’re ahead. Stopping in the middle of a project can work well: You know what you’ve done, you know exactly what you’ll do next, and you’ll be excited to get started again.
- Set a firm cut-off time. You could make this work with an evening cut-off time to get you out of work by, say, 5.30 p.m.
Another benefit of a strict cut-off time is you’ll be a lot more motivated to complete your MITs first; the pressure of a looming deadline will help keep you focused.
- Create a wind-down routine. Having a routine to help you wind down from work can be helpful if you often struggle to switch off. Light exercise works well for me, so I like to walk home from the office or take a walk after work.
