From Busy to Productive: 4 Tips for Maximum Productivity
The world around us is changing at a nauseating pace. Each day, I look at my phone to see another video that gives out tips on how to be better at something, a book that I should definitely read, or a morning routine that every influencer swears by.
Thinking about all these heaps of information inspired me to write about ways of increasing productivity in a simple way.
I’ve realized that reading all the productivity tips on the internet can be confusing for many.
You can find yourself procrastinating for hours by reading about how to be productive instead of actually being productive.
So, to end that confusion, I’ve written four basic but powerful principles that would give you the most benefit out of all the productivity tips on the internet.
Saying No to Things That Will Hold You Back
Most of us struggle with saying no.
But saying Yes to things has a hidden cost that not many realize.
As the author of the widely acclaimed Atomic Habits, James Clear said:
“When you say no, you are only saying no to one option. When you say yes, you are saying no to every other option.”
- James Clear
The first time I heard about this, I was shocked at how insightful this was and how I hadn’t thought that way before.
Saying no to an offer guarantees that you only reject a single possibility. But saying yes takes away all the other opportunities you can have at that time.
A famous story about the importance of saying no comes from the life of the visionary behind Apple, Steve Jobs.
After Steve Jobs was fired from Apple, the company started to have financial problems. They were producing many products and theoretically, this should’ve helped them increase their sales and profits. This wasn’t the case and the company was losing blood.
When Steve Jobs returned, he realized the abundance of products created huge problems in the product line.
He realized that allocating resources to all the different products was not feasible and started to say no to the products he deemed insignificant.
This allowed the company to focus its resources on a few products and innovate on them relentlessly, which gave us the iMac and the iPhone today.
You can use this type of thinking not only in business decisions but in your personal life too.
Saying no to a friend who insists on a trip that you don’t actually want to go, or saying no to a work colleague who wants you to take on some of his work because he is busy can be a great start to positively changing your life and open up so many opportunities.
Failing to Plan is Planning for Failure
An unfinished task eats up your attention and decreases your focus on a subject, this is a psychological process called the Zeigarnik effect.
People tend to have a problem of ignoring unfinished tasks, so start planning what you’d like to work on.
You can make a plan of the next day just before going to bed or a weekly plan at the start of the week.
An unorthodox idea would be to also plan the next couple of hours.
Let’s say, you would like to start working on a project for the next 3 hours, plan your steps, this can help with your focus and you can start to work more deliberately.
I use this type of short-term planning to start tasks that I’ve been avoiding. Knowing which steps I need to take often helps with my procrastination.
Prioritize
To plan effectively, prioritization is a must.
A popular prioritization method is the Eisenhower Matrix.
Named after the US. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, The Eisenhower method helps you to categorize what is urgent, important, or both.
Examples:
- Important & Urgent: Preparing a report of your data analysis project to your manager.
- Important & Not Urgent: Cleaning the house or going to the dentist.
- Not Important & Urgent: A small task from a manager that can also be done by your coworker.
- Not Important & Not Urgent: Checking your social media accounts mindlessly.
By prioritizing your tasks this way, you can plan effectively and get more done with ease.
Getting Distracted Demolishes Your Productivity
We live in a world where distraction is profitable.
When a company distracts you with its ad, they steal your attention and make money out of it. Instagram and YouTube are great examples of companies that earn massive profits by keeping you on their apps.
For example, Meta, the owner company of Instagram made $23.2 billion in 2022 while YouTube generated $28.8 billion in revenues in 2021.
While very profitable for their shareholders, these apps won’t help with your productivity.
Research suggests when we get distracted from a task, it can take 20 minutes to get back to it.
So what can you do about distractions?
To avoid getting distracted from your task, use web blockers that block certain websites you want to avoid. I often use the ColdTurkey or the Freedom app.
Another step in eliminating distraction is blocking time.
Plan a time block for working on a goal. Whatever you want to work on, go reserve a specific time for that.
Let’s say you want to learn to play the guitar, plan to do nothing else but practice guitar between 10–11 am on Saturday.
Being productive is a crucial part of being a step ahead in today’s world, by protecting your time from external demands, prioritizing your tasks, and setting specific time blocks for your work, you can drastically increase your productivity.
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Thanks for reading!
