We all face the same challenge – there are only 24 hours in a day. Yet some people seem to have an uncanny ability to get things done no matter what. Even when juggling multiple projects, they achieve what they set out to do without fail.
We all want to get more out of life. There’s arguably no better way to accomplish this than by finding ways to do more with the time you’ve been given. With the right approach, you can massively increase your productivity every day. You don’t need to work longer – you just need to work smarter.
Below are 10 strategies the most productive individuals I have met use. If implemented consistently I guarantee your productivity will soar.
- Only Check Email at Designated Times
Productive people don’t allow email to be a constant interruption. In addition to checking it at scheduled time, they take advantage of features that prioritise messages by sender. Some people even set up an autoresponder that lets senders know when they’ll be checking their email again.
- Get Ready for Tomorrow Before you Leave the Office
Productive people end each day by preparing for the next. This practice accomplishes two things: It helps you recognise what you’ve accomplished today, and it ensures you’ll have a productive tomorrow.
- Eat Frogs
“Eating a frog” is the best antidote for procrastination (as identified by Brian Tracey), and the most productive people start each morning with this tasty treat. In other words, they do the most dreaded item on their to-do list before they do anything else. After that, they are freed up to tackle the stuff that inspires them.
- Focus on the Important
There is a tendency to focus on those activities that have to be done now to get in the way of what really matters. This creates a challenge as urgent actions often have little impact. If you succumb to this, you can find yourself going days, or even weeks, without touching the important stuff. Productive people are good at spotting when putting out fires is getting in the way of their performance, and they’re willing to ignore or delegate the things that get in the way of real progress.
- Never Touch Things Twice
Productive people never put anything in a holding pattern, because touching things twice is a huge time waster. Don’t save an email or a phone call to deal with it later. As soon as something gets your attention, you should act on it, delegate it, or delete it.
- Stick to the agenda During Meetings
Meetings are the biggest time-waster there is. Productive people know that a meeting will drag on forever if they let it, so they inform everyone at the onset that they’ll stick to the intended agenda. This sets a limit that motivates everyone to be more focused and efficient.
- Don’t Multitask
Productive people know that multitasking is a real productivity killer. Research conducted at Stanford University confirms that multitasking is less productive than doing a single thing at a time. The researchers found that people who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information cannot pay attention, recall information, or switch from one job to another as well as those who complete one task at a time.
Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can only focus on one thing at a time. When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks successfully.
- Say No
No is a powerful word that productive people are not afraid to use. Saying no to a new commitment recognises your existing commitments and gives you the opportunity to successfully fulfill them.
- Delegate
Productive people accept the fact that they’re not the only smart, talented person in their business. They trust people to do their jobs so that they can focus on their own.
- Go ‘Off the Grid’
Go ‘off grid’ when you need to. Give one trusted person a number to call in case of emergency, and let them be your filter. Everything has to go through that person, and anything they don’t clear has to wait. This strategy is a sureproof way to complete high priority projects.
