Easy Tips to Improve Productivity Now
Increasing your productivity is hard in today’s world of constant distractions. It’s easy to make excuses about lack of productivity, too – it’s too nice outside, a big game is on TV, the President just tweeted something provocative again, etc.
Of course, you’ve likely heard that good sleep, eating well, keeping hydrated, staying active, meditating and keeping positive are common methods for ramping up productivity.
Still, to truly be effective, you should have a set of actionable ways that you can implement starting today – though it might take diligence to turn them into habits that get results.
Put Down the Smartphone
The smartphone does wonders for communication, growing your network, and increasing business, but it can be a huge distraction. You can text, see social media notices, track emails, and access zillions of apps, most designed to distract, even those for business (here’s looking at you, Slack).
Here’s how to limit the temptations:
Silence the notifications
Keep your phone out of sight
Turn the ringer off or to vibrate mode
Erase Email Inefficiency
Emails are crucial to business and personal communication, no doubt. But inefficient use of email is a productivity killer. Learning to pay attention to the important ones (personally or professionally) and ignore the time-wasters is key to being more productive.
Emails can instill you with a reactive inclination if you’re constantly replying or answering, especially if it isn’t important. But being reactionary is an albatross. Consistently being proactive is the best way to raise your productivity.
So, here are several ways to reduce email anxiety:
Turn off notifications
Periodically schedule times throughout your day to check and respond
If you do check, deal with an email immediately or set it aside for later
If you communicate regularly via email, then concise, pointed call-to-action subject lines that say exactly what you to happen are imperative (e.g., “1st Draft of Productivity Book Due 12.18.18”). To make it even better, change the subject line each time a response is sent (e.g., “Check Feedback on 1st Draft and Respond by 12.20.18”).
Break the Social Media Fixation
It happens to nearly everyone – whether reading the news, gauging people’s reactions to a breaking story, or seeing how many likes and/or responses you get from something you’ve written or posted – social media quickly becomes addicting. A simple check for something that seems innocuous, and 20-30 minutes pass like a flash of lightning.
Again, like with email, the solutions are simple:
Turn off notifications
Check only every few hours
Keep your time on SM brief
However, you must be diligent about it until it becomes a habit.
Make (and Stick to) a Daily To-do List
For some people, this is like a slap in the face, an affront to their intelligence or memory ability. Yet, the truth is that writing down a list commits you to the act of getting something done.
Not having a to-do list puts you in the aforementioned reactive mode because you’re not tackling a list to get things done.
Follow the Maverick and Swallow a Frog
Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, who stars on Shark Tank and owns the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, among other notable endeavors, claims that having developed the habit of tackling his biggest (and often most unpleasant) task first every morning before anything else is key to his success.
Cuban’s philosophy is based on Mark Twain’s “eat the frog” concept. Basically, if the first thing you do every day is unpleasant or your biggest priority (i.e., “eating the frog”), then nothing the rest of the day will be as bad or important.
Finally, a Good Reason for IRS
It’s not enough to have a to-do list and swallow a frog, though. You have to prioritize, but how do you know what is and is not important?
That why Michael McDevitt, CEO and co-founder of business advisory and consulting law firm Tandem Legal Group, conspired with other highly successful people to create an IRS that actually looks out for your best interest:
Identify your most important professional and personal tasks of the day
Rank them by importance and put the most important or most uncomfortable “frog” first – this could be either personal or professional
Schedule accordingly and dedicate a block of time – say 90 minutes, with no distractions, emails, or calls – to the “frog” and make the rest of the day revolve around it.
Balance
Don’t be so focused on day-to-day goals that you forget the big picture – and vice-versa. Day-to-day tasks lead to weekly targets that evolve into monthly goals, which eventually help achieve those long-term goals.
And don’t forget – any and all of them can be realigned and/or revised as necessary to hit your targets.
Recharge
Americans are conditioned that rest is for the weak, that constant hard work drives greatness. But the hard work cannot be efficient or successful without small daily breaks.
Legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz followed the Rule of 33 – work diligently for 33 minutes, take a short break, and then get back at it. Following this rule made him one of the most successful, highly-paid copywriters ever, while working 3-4 hours a day. It can be adapted to work for you, regardless of your profession or responsibilities.
But there’s more. Get away from things completely, if only for a few hours one evening per week. Unplug from electronics, take a long hike, nap, write a song, whatever necessary to chill and refresh yourself.