Somehow the modern world has confused the meanings of the words “productive” and “busy”. For some people being busy is a status symbol – a badge of honor that marks them as important, a go-getter, an achiever.
The problem with this mindset is that the people who have it never end being busy: to-do lists keep growing, emails pile up, phone calls go unanswered, and they’re already rushing towards some imaginary destination. In reality, being busy is often a form of laziness – lazy thinking and indiscriminate action, dealing with things as they happen without taking the time to step back and plan.
Being busy doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re being productive. To be truly productive, you have to deliver results.
To become less busy and more productive, you need to:
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Avoid distractions and interruptions
Distractions disrupts your train of thought and cause you to lose focus – some studies have shown that it can take you up to 30 minutes after each distraction to get back “in the zone”. When you need to focus on something, you can take control of some distractions by:
The distractions that you can’t control, you need to plan for and manage:
Explain to your colleagues that a certain signal (like having your earphones in or setting your instant messenger status to “do not disturb”) means that they should send you an email rather than interrupting you. To avoid seeming unreachable, be sure to follow up on those emails when you can, though! Try to change the way you think about meetings. They aren’t quick and easy ways to convey information to a group of people (that would be email), they’re time- and productivity drains: when ten people attend an one-hour meeting, the company just lost 10 hours of productivity – more than a day’s worth of work. If you absolutely must have a meeting, make notes of everything discussed and send these all of the attendees afterwards to make sure that everyone’s on the same page regarding the outcomes.
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Make a daily task list
Every morning, write down a list of things you’d like to accomplish that day. During the course of the day, work through your list from the highest to the lowest-priority items. If you have any “frogs” – tasks you don’t look forward to doing – on your list, try to do them first and get them out of the way. New tasks will may come up during the course of the day, and you should evaluate them based on two criteria: whether they’ll take less than two minutes to do, and whether you’re willing to give up one of the tasks you planned for today to rather do the new task. If it will take less than 2 minutes to do, do it immediately. If not and you’re willing to lose out on one of your planned tasks, add the new task to your list. If you’re not willing to lose out on one of your planned tasks, add the new task to a backlog that you can review later.
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Focus on one task at a time
Don’t multitask, period. Many of us think we’re good at it, but studies show that none of us are – when we multitask we tend to forget things and lose track of what we’re doing. If you absolutely have to break focus and start working on something else, try to capture the state of mind you were in by noting down your thoughts and ideas about the task before switching. When you return to the task, read your notes before you start working on it again.
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Don’t use email as a to-do list
Opening your email client and seeing that you have tens, hundreds, or thousands of unread messages can have a significant effect on your mood and productivity. Rather, learn about and apply the Inbox Zero productivity method to empty your Inbox regularly.
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Plan your work and evaluate your approach
Always assume that you have only eight (or less) hours per day to get your work done. Work tends to expand into the time assigned to it, so if you tell yourself that “if worst comes to worst, I’ll just stay at work for an extra hour or two”, you’ll likely end up working those extra hours unnecessarily. Make time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Think about the work you need to do, how you’ve done similar work in the past, and how you could do it better in the future.
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Say “no” to things
If you always agree to take on more work, you’ll soon bite off more than you can chew. Rather, get used to saying “no” if the work isn’t as important as what’s already on your plate, or if there’s someone else who could do it better.
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Delegate
You can’t do everything you’d like to do, and do it all well. Focus on the things that you excel at and matter most to your position, and delegate work that distracts you from those tasks. If you’re a team leader or manager, try not to do everything yourself – your team is there to help carry the load. If you don’t have a team, consider outsourcing menial or uninteresting work via a service like Elance.
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Aim for regular small victories
Celebrate regular small achievements that build toward your end goals. Having a single deadline for the a large task will cause unnecessary stress, whilst regularly reaching smaller milestones towards completing the large task will instill a feeling of accomplishment and will keep you and your team excited about what you’re doing.
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Determine when you’re most productive
No one is 100% productive 8 hours a day. So, figure out whether you’re energized as soon as you get out of bed or only later during the day and schedule your most important work accordingly. Don’t slack off during times you think you’re less productive! Use these intervals to complete smaller tasks, attend meetings, and review the work you’ve done.
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Review your approach
Make a habit of regularly asking yourself whether what you’re doing at that moment is worth your time and effort – whether you’re being “productive” or just being “busy”. Keep a daily log of the tasks you complete, and review these at the end of each week to see whether those things you thought were so urgent, really were. Learn from your findings, and keep adapting your approach.