Sometimes, despite your best efforts, what you are trying to create is just not coming together. Maybe the time is not right. Maybe you need to wait. Here are some dynamic tips and/or critical questions.
Urgent versus important
There is a crucial distinction when it comes to productivity: the difference between urgent and important. Important things are those that contribute to your goals, both short-term and long-term. Most of your time and energy should be spent on them.
Priorities
Get your priorities straight, then label items on your “to-do” list with A or B. A’s must get done today. B’s get done if time allows. Some B’s that miss out today will become A’s tomorrow.
Morning
A lot can be achieved first thing in the morning before the day fully begins. This is where that extra time can most easily be found. Get up earlier than normal and get into the day. Morning achievements turn into momentum for the afternoon and evening. You can also set yourself up for success by preparing the night before: lay out your exercise gear or writing tools or study material. Set an alarm. If you are not a ‘morning person’, you can train yourself to become one. The resulting sense of achievement will spur you to do more for the rest of the day.
Just do it
If you have a thought about an action, do it within five seconds (For example, “I should: get out of bed or have a drink of water or put the bins out or send an email or put milk on the shopping list”). If it’s not practical to do it straight away, use the five seconds to write it on your “to-do” list. Don’t procrastinate – just do it.
Hardest
Do the hardest task first. As you get it out of the way, you free up energy that would have been otherwise used to worry and procrastinate, and it will fuel you with enthusiasm to keep going.
Schedule
A schedule is a list of tasks within a time frame. It outlines what you need to do and when. For maximum productivity, create a schedule daily and, to the best of your ability, stick to it.
Pomodoro technique
Developed by Francesco Cirillo, the Pomodoro technique uses a timer to break work down into 25-minute intervals and then a five-minute break. Check it out.
Fast
Top speed is not always the most productive approach. Before you start, consider the best pace for the task at hand. You don’t want to burn out and not be able to go the distance, or negatively impact the quality of your output.
Daily
What daily habits can you change in order to increase your productivity? What can you do more of or less of (for example, fewer cigarette breaks, fewer trips to the cookie jar, drink more water)?
Coffee nap
A coffee nap is a simple secret to a more productive day. Drink a cup of coffee, wait ten minutes, then have a 20-minute sleep – no more and no less. Set an alarm – the exact amount of time is important for your ‘sleep cycle’, otherwise you will wake up groggy. Your brain and physiology will be refreshed and re-set, enabling you to go again.
Begin
Planning is important, but sooner or later you have to begin. Finishing is impossible without it. If you must, break the task down to the smallest single next step you can think to take and do that. Then repeat.
Les Watson, The Time Lord, www.getmoretime.com.au
