The 2 Pillars Of Productivity (How To Get More S*** Done, Faster)
We live in a world today where people are more and more distracted, and less and less effective.
Nowadays, someone could literally sit down at a desk and get 30 minutes worth of work done. And it would take them 8 hours to do that.
At the same time, we live in a world that’s now more saturated than ever with productivity tools and productivity hacks... (which is great btw)
In this article, I want to bring it back to basics.
What are the few things you, or I, can focus on to make this day, this month, and this lifetime, the best we possibly can?
How can we use accelerated achievement (the art of speeding up goal attainment) tools to squeeze as much juice — as much happiness, output, success, legacy — out of our lifetimes?
And just like there are only so many ways to grow a business, there are only so many ways to be more productive (2 to be specific).
THE 2 PILLARS OF PRODUCTIVITY
Productivity is 2 things; elimination & optimization
The only 2 ways to become more productive — in the workplace, in your business, in your life, or anywhere else — are by either, eliminating the things that don’t matter (hence, focusing on the s*** that DOES actually matter) or by optimizing the processes you are using to get stuff done.
Now, let’s me dig a little deeper and make this crystal clear for you…
PILLAR #1: ELIMINATION
For too many people, their to-do lists are getting longer and longer, yet their output (our results) aren’t seeing the same rapid level of growth (or worse, are declining).
Maybe you can relate? (I sure use to feel like that)
Let me let you in on a little secret;
More isn’t always more.
If you are attempting to… personally run & build your 12 different businesses, successfully parents 7 kids, become a Olympic gold medalist at skiing, become the world’s best computer gamer, become a Kung Fu instructor, work 3 jobs & become the president of your country — if you are attempting to do all of those things, you are unlikely to achieve any of them.
Now, I’m all for human ambition (it’s the frickin’ reason I get up in the morning) however, I’m also the first person that will tell you that what’s missing is FOCUS.
In productivity, less is more.
Hence, pillar 1, elimination.
If you look at your day, your week, your year, how can you eliminate the things, that in hindsight, don’t matter, so that you focus on the things that do?
PILLAR #2: OPTIMIZATION
And I mean, optimization on the process-level.
Unlike the first pillar, optimization isn’t always about getting rid of stuff for greater effectiveness.
After you’ve gone through the first pillar and you’ve gained a greater level of focus in what your doing, the next step is this…
How can you maximize your resources (and the resources around you) to achieve a particular outcome better, faster and more effectively?
In business, this may mean, you switch the roles of two of your employees because their skills will be better utilized in a different role.
In sports, this may mean, instead of training inside a sports hall, you start training outside… in the rain, so that you can get better results during the game.
In learning, this may mean you go to a seminar instead of reading a book because you understand the power of immersion & environment.
There you have it. The basics… the building blocks of greater productivity, greater output and greater levels of success.
The 2 pillars; elimination & optimization
