The Real Secret to Getting Things Done.
In this article, I’m going to tell you the WHY behind every productivity tip you’ve read and probably not implemented.
I’m sure that you’ve read loads of articles on productivity hacks; on the 10 things that you should be doing before 8am, what successful people do every day etc.
I certainly have. I’ve implemented a couple of them into my day for a short period, some of them stick, most of them don’t.
What I have come to learn (and this applies to everything), is that if you don’t understand the WHY behind actions, they are meaningless and are not likely to be sustained.
In this article, I am going to share the fundamental concept that underlies all productivity tips. The WHY behind the what.
The secret is understanding how to capitalise on the way your brain is wired to maximise energy.
Understanding Your Energy
What you can get done in a period of time comes down to managing your energy levels. More can be done in a fixed period of time with higher energy pointed in the right direction.
This diagram (from the book Essentialism, Greg McKeown) sums this concept up nicely:
Consider the circle as your energy.
You can grow the circle by doing certain activities that fuel energy levels (see the 4 dimensions of energy in this post).
Morning routines, exercise, eating well, sleeping well, meditation, connecting with others, listening to or watching inspirational content, doing work you are passionate about, all help to boost energy level.
This is the first part of the being highly productive — increasing energy.
Find what works for you.
The arrows are where you spend your energy — energy out. There are all kinds of ways that you expend energy, consciously and unconsciously. If you are not in control of where you are spending it, then there is a greater chance of it being lost to non-value add tasks.
You need to consciously allocate your energy to the task that are going to give you THE MOST value in terms of accomplishing your overall goal.
This is where goal setting, planning on a regular basis, being strict on meetings and surrounding yourself with the right people (having the wrong people in your life is significantly draining for your emotional energy) is important, among other things.
What is the reason behind all of this?
It comes down to how your brain is wired.
Your brain has two distinct, but integrated systems — the Limbic System and the Frontal Lobe. Understanding how these systems work will have a big impact on your wellbeing, productivity, and the success of your business (because it’s how your customer make decisions too).
Here is a great explanation of the two systems, published by Rosetta Stone on the Fit Brains blog:
The limbic system…provides our emotional being and serves as a type of “hot area of the brain.” This part of our brain can cause that inner sense of doom and gloom and set off the “fight or flight” reaction. It is called hot because of its emotionality that can also be impulsive and get us into some trouble in daily life.
The frontal lobe [is] thought by some to be the cold analytic part of our being. This is the part of our being that helps to keep us socially graceful, rule abiding, and capable of conforming to civil order.
The goal in life is to balance these two regions, the hot limbic system with the cold analytic frontal lobe. Sometimes we are able to accomplish such a balance and integration and when this occurs we feel that inner sense of “oneness.” Crisis can integrate these regions quickly, which is why we tend to immediately prioritize those things that are most important in our lives and live in the moment during crisis. The goal needs to be to get to such integration without the crisis. http://www.fitbrains.com/blog/harmony-between-limbic-system-and-frontal-lobe/
The Limbic System is like an emotional powerhouse. To maximise productivity, you want to fuel the powerhouse so it is generating as much positive energy as possible. Emotions drive action.
The Frontal Lobe is the logical conductor that determines where this ‘emotional power’ is directed. You need to have a well-trained conductor with the right systems in place to ensure the right decisions are being made and energy is going to the right places, rather than just exploding in any old direction (e.g. meaningless tasks or meetings).
How this applies to your business on a macro and micro scale.
Macro Application: The Foundations of your Business
The why behind your business should give you emotional energy. This is one reason why doing something that you are passionate about is such a competitive advantage — it fuels your energy levels.
Ensuring that you have a strong vision, mission, values system and a story behind your business is important in this regard. You should revisit these things regularly and make sure that they are compelling for you and your team so that they give you a kick of emotional energy.
Do things to build emotional energy within your business.
Having a roadmap of where you want the business to head and what to focus on ensures that this energy is spent in the right place. The more detailed the better.
Looking at your businesses vision and mission in unison with planning aligns your emotional Limbic System and logical Frontal Lobe, making a more powerful engine.
Micro Application: Your Daily Routine — maximising productivity
You should now understand:
1) The why behind productivity tips
2) The importance of building energy levels for the day and channeling this energy into the right places through planning.
How you get your energy is up to you — everyone is different so what works for one person may not work for another. Just make sure you keep your energy levels up and spend it in the right way!
Final Thoughts
Your life is a constant reiterative process of building energy and spending it.
What you can achieve in life is a function of how much energy you can build and where you allocate this energy.
The more energy you can build and the more precise you can be with where you spend it, the more you will achieve.
The power is in your hands. That’s a scary and empowering thought.
Thanks to Nelson Shaw for sanity checking this.
