PART 3: Productivity 101 — Motius’ approach to more productivity
In this blog post series, we give you some insights into the Motius way of being more productive. Not to write a general “How to be more productive”-guide but to find out more about our own employees and our company culture.
What happened in Part 1:
In the first article of this series, we summarized our basic understanding of productivity and talked about the productivity risk. Then, we introduced you to the first productivity approach — a smart to-do-list-system to get things done. Check it out here.
What happened in Part 2:
The next article was dedicated to all the procrastinators out there. To be honest, most of us have a tendency to procrastinate at some point. So why not learn how to manage this better and actually procrastinate the right tasks while focusing on other important stuff? Want to know how? Read more here.
Method lll: Make time for things that matter
Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky’s book “Make Time” is the basis for the third popular Motee approach to more productivity. This approach is about focusing on things that really matter. According to the authors, you basically need to do three things to enhance productivity in your life. They are stated in a quite general manner but we will dive into detail in a second.
1.Pick a highlight for every one of your days that is either important, meaningful or brings you joy.
Let us just make this clear: the aim of this approach is to enhance life productivity, not only work productivity. So, picking a highlight really is about your very personal highlight of the day — may it be a work task, an activity or even being lazy.
Whatever it is, it is simply there to get you in a psychological feeling-good-state which automatically makes you more productive. If possible, highlights are best-placed in the morning because that is when the positive achievement-loop can unfold the most impact for the rest of the day.
2. Minimize distractions from both work and fake entertainment by designing your environment.
The second point also makes you focus on things that matter. May it be turning off mail notifications at work or turning off your phone when spending time with your family — it is important to design your environment in a way that supports your focus.
Through focus come productivity and enjoyment so that you find yourself in the feeling-good-loop. At Motius, for example, we have silent rooms for those who really need to focus and work without distraction.
3. Do some of the things your ancestors would have done each day to stay healthy and full of energy.
Last but not least, you somehow need to focus on staying healthy and energized. This enables you to be productive in the first place. According to Knapp and Zeratsky, you do this by doing very basic things that even your ancestors did all the time. Move your body, talk to people, eat healthy food. All of this is possible in private and work life.
Actually, quite a lot of Motees prefer so-called walking meetings outside of our offices, work at standing workplaces and are super excited about the fresh fruit on the kitchen counter. On most days, groups of Motees also enjoy cooking in our office kitchen (which is why our Instagram stories sometimes look like a food blog).
If you are able to integrate these three guidelines into your life, you might notice a significant productivity boost. As it highlights the importance of your private life, this approach is very popular for finding a proper work-life balance.
What to take away from all three methods
In this blogpost series, we have introduced you to three approaches to more productivity. To summarize, let us give you a brief overview of them:
Getting Things Done
Set up a to-do-list system to organize and prioritize tasks. You reduce the risk of forgetting tasks and always have an overview of all your to-dos. The “Pomodoro” method is a popular method which works hand in hand with this approach.
Learn to manage your inner Panic Monster
As we said, we do not really recommend this approach as a default. But from time to time it can be used on purpose or has to be used, e.g. when a lot of ad-hoc tasks slowed you down. If you use it on purpose, do things that are important but not urgent while you wait for your Panic Monster. As soon as it comes, focus on your task, learn to deal with the Panic Monster and make sure you produce the desired outcome. Always keep in mind that this approach comes with huge time pressure which can cause e.g. stress and anxiety, so please be careful.
Make time for things that matter
You need to do three things to enhance live productivity. First, you need to pick a personal highlight for every one of your days. Second, you need to design your environment, i.e. minimize distractions to enhance focus. Third, you should stay healthy and full of energy. A great way to do this is to move your body, talk to people and eat healthy food.
These are the three most popular approaches to more productivity among Motees. But are these the best ones or are there other ones that you need to consider?
Find out what suits you best
When it comes to productivity approaches, there are numerous ideas, concepts, frameworks, etc. Definitely, it is a good idea to take some time, inform yourself and consider which ones might suit you best. But in the end, it all comes down to trying.
It is on you to put in the (productive) work of finding an approach that works for you. Based on our experience, that can take a while. You might experience some setbacks, get frustrated or simply cannot decide which one to try first. But do not worry about it, just keep going. Put in the effort every day and eventually, you will find an approach that works for you.
If you want to talk to us about this topic in person or if you have any approaches that are worth a try, comment on this blog post or just contact us! We would love to hear your ideas!
