http://arf.berkeley.edu/

http://arf.berkeley.edu/

 

Digging In:

Productivity can be a very hard thing to measure many times. How do you define if you are being productive or not? Is it by the number of things that you get done or the size of the thing you got done? What counts as a normal maintenance task and what counts as moving you along in your journey? These are questions that we all must answer for ourselves, but there are some tricks on how to help increase productivity once you have decided what that is. Here are two life-hacks for increasing your productivity.

The first hack is to schedule and focus your time. Instead of diving into the heap of things that need to get done without a plan, you want to organize that heap and then create a plan on how to tackle it. Chances are there are a lot of things in that heap that are similar to other things or similar enough in nature that they do not take a shift in your mental processes to get done. If you dive in without a plan, you would run across the similar things as they came and would be shifting your mentality constantly to get things done. That shift is very detrimental and adds time and effort to the job that can be avoided. It can take over three minutes to refocus your mind on a new task. Instead, take that time to gather the tasks of a similar nature together and then do them together.  This will make them all far easier to get done and will not require multiple changes of our mental state. When we do group similar tasks, the tasks get done faster and more efficiently, and honestly with a better quality of work since you are not shifting gears all the time.

The second hack is to focus on each task type for a schedule amount of time. Put your phone on silent and out of view, lock the door, and isolate yourself during that time. Remove distraction and interruption while you are working. Very few things in life can’t wait an hour before they have our attention, if they even need it then. We are bombarded regularly with always being in contact, always being available to others, facebook, email, twitter accounts and the like. This constant stress detracts from our ability to get things done and be effective in our work. So remove the distractions and really focus on what you are doing. You have already scheduled the time, let the people that might want your attention know the schedule and then focus while in that time frame. You will see your productivity go through the roof as you buckle down and get it done.

How we measure our productivity are going to be different for everyone, but the skills to increase that productivity are simple to practice. Go ahead and try it now, sort the activities for the day and create a schedule to get them done.  Then focus in on the tasks while holding yourself to that schedule. If you follow these simple hacks you are going to see your productivity skyrocket!

~Dominic

Life’s too Short to Have Bad Days!  What are YOU doing to make today Fantastic?

I am digging in and getting things done.