2 super simple things I did to reboot my productivity
In today’s technology driven world we have a great number of advantages, BUT, we have the flip-side too — Technology can also be bloody distracting!
At one point, I was beginning to feel overwhelmed by all the distractions that seemed to be simultaneously tap dancing on my head — Social media, 100’s of emails, meetings, calls, demos, etc.
I felt my productivity slowly fading in our nascent startup days! I clearly remember, one Thursday around 16.00 hrs., I realised that the majority of the day, I had been doing nothing in the office except social media, chit chatting and catching up with people — nothing major to count as “worthwhile”.
Heck! I’m the CEO, I should be doing anything but THAT.
I beat myself up on this later in the evening and sat until late night finishing my tasks for the day.
Importantly, I decided that I wanted a better version of me in the office the very next day. Period.
There are two things I did and they paid off. I’ve stuck to them to this day. I’m sharing this in the hope that it benefits at least one lone ranger out there:
1. PLANNING
Planning is the only sutra to productivity. Plan your day, your week, your month and keep a set of future goals to be worked on for later. This does not mean you have a strict inflexible regimen. It means you have a general framework under which you operate.
Plan the night before, rather than the next morning.
It is easier to be objective and prioritize your most difficult tasks when planning the night before. PLAN YOUR ENTIRE DAY. Plan it to the hour. Write down what you want to accomplish at the end of the day and what you can delegate to whom. Personal, professional — all of it. (The supermarket visit to buy milk or beer included)
Anything that’s pending from the previous day, carry it forward. Go through your to-do list and review what you have to do for the day. I’ve found the organizers -paper or apps, more useful which feature the option to enter your monthly/quarterly goals. They curb the chance of missing out anything important (even the mother-in-law’s birthday) because since we are human we tend to lapse into the out of sight is out of mind mode.
Stepping into a new day without a plan, on impulse (which many still stand by), can lead to convenience over importance, even if it is done unknowingly.
2. UNPLUG FROM MULTIPLE APPS
I’m really not sure how to categorize a phone. While it helps us to be productive, it’s also a darn nuisance.
Speaking for most of the human race who use smartphones, we are inundated all day with hundreds of notifications. We are plugged into multiple news applications, constantly surfing through bits of information, bits of opinion, bits of gossip across the globe without really imbibing anything.
Unplug yourself from multiple applications and schedule times to look at the updates.
We’re always talking about our dependence on social media and how we should curb it. Seemingly harmless surfing through social media in between work is repetitive and mind numbing. It has reduced our attention spans and focus periods. Apps like Offtime, Flipd & AppDetox will do the job for you and block out your social media apps for the period of time you set it on for.
Optimize your laptop to avoid social media distractions with apps like StayFocusd and Freedom. I personally also use the free laptop app Rescue Time to analyse how productive my day was and what I made of it. Within a week you’re more aware of what your vices are.
I would love to hear from you on what you think are the best ways to increase productivity and extract value out of your day. Drop a comment below or write to me at vikas@plash.media
This article was originally published on blog.alore.io. Please click here to read more such articles.
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