10 WAYS TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE
Given the choice, everyone would be more productive. The only trouble with that is that it can become to overwhelming for most people. Our frantic new age lifestyles ensure that we are constantly busy but not particularly productive. These 10 techniques will help ramp up your productivity and embed it deep into your habits.
1 BATCHING
In the long run it makes sense. Jumping from task to task, each one causing your mind to change tempo as it ebbs and flows from the levels of concentration it needs for each of them. Scheduling your activities in chunks will give your brain some breathing room so it can concentrate on one thing at a time. Giving you better results and taking less time.
Batching works best with mundane activities such as emails, planning etc. when you develop the habit further then you can batch more focus based tasks such as creative writing, photography.
Batching day example:
9-12am focus work
1-3pm client meetings
4-6pm emails and response
Batching week example: Monday/Writing scripts
Tuesday/Filming
Wednesday/Social media
Thursday/Blog
Friday/Emails and networking
2 COUPLING ACTIVITIES
It sounds a lot like batching but is ain’t. Coupling activities is when you combine the tasks you want done into one. I find it works best when you combine exercise with learning, something a lot of people already do without realising. Listening to podcasts while doing cardio, listening to audio books while weight training, brainstorming ideas in between sets of shadow boxing. This kills 2 birds with one stone as the learning material you choose is what you would have consumed anyway. I first become aware of this technique through the amazing book ATOMIC HABITS by James Clear.
You can become very creative with this, hear are some ideas
skipping rounds and juggling
walking and writing through voice notes
watching television and stretching
treadmill desk
3 PREP YOUR MEALS
It is the age old generic advice of prepping your meals, the thing everyone tells you to do but you never get round to doing. A practice that many bodybuilders use to keep their bodies fuelled and their eyes away from the bad stuff. There are many ways to go about prepping your meals.
Some people do it weeks in advance and freeze it. I don’t know about you but I am not the biggest fan of frozen produce and I don’t use a microwave so re heating is not ideal for me. I lose brownie points in the fact that I like my meat cooked fresh and at most left for a day in the fridge. The same goes for grains such as rice and quinoa. I like to focus on prepping for at most two days at a time. That way it is still to my liking with the freshness and it still saves me time.
This is my personal list and it really is up to you how and what you prep and for how long.
Prep
salads, cucumber, tomatoes, onions, red cabbage, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, pasta, sweetcorn, all fruits, meats(because I eat them cold, not a fan of reheating meat)
on the day: avocado, rice, quinoa, Bulgar,
freeze: mainly fruits and vegetables
4 PLAN YOUR ROUTES
when out running errands it is really easy to go back and forth, overlapping multiple times and now a couple hours have turned into a whole day. The worst thing about it is that most people would consider that a productive day. When going out for multiple reasons be sure to plan ahead and take the shortest round possible. Creating a round journey is ideal, making no location crossing paths and going back on yourself. If the tasks don’t need your personal presence then delegating them is your best option.
5 BULK BUY
you need to tread carefully when buying in bulk. You need to think long and hard at what items will improve your health and productivity and what items will not. Buying a mega family pack of crisps just because they are on offer will not help you, it will just give you reason to binge on them. On the other hand keeping your self topped up with healthy snacks and ingredients will save you time and stop you from opting for take out. I suggest trying a few items that you have used for years, if you use them all before there sell by date then it is worth bulk buying. It will take some trial and error until you have figured out your staple bulk buys.
6 HAVING A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING
Tell me if this sounds familiar, you are running late for a important event and you are running around like a headless chicken searching for your keys. You cant remember the last place you put them and tear apart the sofa and look five times in the draw with random crap in it. This was me multiple times a week until I became serious about where I place my things. Having a designated place for items that like to go on walkabouts like your keys and the remote is always a great idea and will save you plenty of time in the long run.
7 AUTOMATE
Automation is your best friend if your looking to improve your productivity. Being able to program something then letting it passively work in the background is something everyone trying to tighten up their time should be looking to do. I find it is most effective in the digital realm, scheduling, notifications, direct debits, saving information for reuse. They all take time and brain power and now thanks to the age that we live in, they can be automated. Not taking advantage of this really is handicapping yourself.
Some automating examples:
taxes
banking information
passwords
direct debits
social media posts
key words and meta data
subscription based products
8 PASSWORDS
I know it was mentioned above but for me it feels like I have spent literally hours throughout my life remembering and resetting passwords. I think I am clever and pick a impenetrable password that is slightly modified from my others. What inevitably happens is I forget, try multiple times to gain access to my accounts, reset my password which tells me I cant you use the one I have tried 10 times and the whole experience leaves me frustrated and wasting time.
Find a good trusted password holder
9 FIND LOST TIME
Most of us just float through our lives, never realising how much time we leave on the table. People will always have the excuse that they just don’t have enough time. This is a false belief, we make time for what we consider important. People can binge watch a Netflix show but cant find half a hour to workout. Hundreds of hours are wasted on furthering their level on their favourite video game but they can’t find a hour a day to write the novel they always dreamed of writing.
It is so easy to become sucked into the world of consumption, feeling a sense of achievement because you beat a game on hard mode or stayed up all-night. Five years down the line the game is obsolete and you have nothing to show for it accept wasted time. Trust me I have spent countless hours on video games having a great time on the headset with my friends, but their comes a point where enough is enough. Please don’t flush your life away on games and television.
10 REVIEW YOUR DAY
Being able to measure what we do in a day in terms of productivity really puts it into perspective. I done this for a week and I was shocked at just how much time I was wasting. You don’t have to go that far to get a insight into your day. A couple of days is enough. The way I done it was through colour coding and in half a hour intervals. Keep this paper on you at all times and ideally out in the open.
Each category has a colour
red/wasted time/television, music, you tube, video games
green/productive work, writing, painting, photography(whatever you feel is productive)
blue/family time playing with the kids, holidays, activities, gatherings
yellow/fitness gym, cardio, weights
If your day consists of mostly red then you are wasting your days. Try and opt for mostly green, then blue, then yellow. As little of red as possible is the ultimate goal but realistically speaking everyone needs some down time. Remember not to be to hard on yourself as you are only human. Even slightly improving your time management will yield plenty in the long haul.
