Productivity

I am often asked ‘How do you fit it all in?’  The short answer is that I don’t.  in fact, I probably only ‘fit in’ about 1% of what I want, must, need to do in any one day.  Apart from prioritising and timing as the lynch pins it is the productivity of what I do that gets me the real results.  So here are a few of my favourite productivity tips to maximise your bang for your buck;

• Set time limits on meetings, have an agenda, publish action points with lead times.
• Plan, plan and more planning of tasks within defined time frames.  Don’t put too much on your plate for the day and always leave wriggle room.  Give yourself an even split of want, must, need items.
• Be on time for everything.  Start when you are supposed to start.  Pretty soon everyone will too.
• Don’t be a slave to your inbox.  But don’t let them pile up either.  I check them every 30 minutes.  Prioritise.  Action.  Touch them only once.
• Manage your stress times.  There are times in the day when it hits the fan.  You know when they are.  Plan for them, plan around them.  Use your lower stress periods to do the more cranial of activities.  Use the high stress times to do the menial.
• Then there is that old chestnut of creating time.  Yes you can.  Get up 30 minutes earlier.  Get to work earlier.  Turn off the TV 30 minutes earlier and do stuff.  What could you achieve with an extra two and half hours a work week?  Start that email campaign?
• Draft a schedule.  Know your milestones and due dates.  Visualising them will help with the planning process, which helps your productivity.

Hey did you notice no mention of tools?  And you won’t either.  Use one, use heaps, use hard copy, soft copy, smart devices, stupid devices.  Just use what is best for the job on the day and change or review if it doesn’t work.  Easy!

previous blogs;
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