The Biggie Smalls Guide to Productivity

How to attain hyper-focus, happiness, and a healthier life with a few minor tweaks to your day.

Published in

Mission.org

6 min readFeb 20, 2016

Ever notice that you can’t seem to get enough done during the day? Either there isn’t enough time or you simply don’t have the energy.

Instead of working on a pet project, you find yourself slipping into your favorite television series. “One more episode” becomes your most reliable refrain, and rightly so: work is tiring.

The question is, how do you break this cycle? How to lead a more productive life — a happier life?

The Biggie Smalls Framework

“Fuck the world don’t ask me for shit. Everything you do, you gotta work hard for it.” — Notorious B.I.G.

In order to stay on task, I suggest the Biggie Smalls framework, a clever renaming of the 1, 3, 5 rule by my friend

Robleh Jama

of Tiny Hearts.

Instead of trying to accomplish everything on your to-do list, simply break your day into 1 big task, 3 medium tasks, and 5 small ones.

Hence, Biggie Smalls.

Decide what is most pressing, prioritize and plan your day according to the next.Then, find a time when you’re free from distraction and focus on each task individually. By doing so, you avoid losing your train of thought and delegate less important tasks to a more appropriate time.

The key to being productive isn’t being able to do everything at once (as your to-do list might imply), but channeling your attention so you can do your best.

The Importance of Focus

Flow is defined as a mental state in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.

In other words, flow is a state of complete absorption. You lose track of time, daily concerns drift away, and you become fully engaged in the moment. Most importantly, it is intrinsically motivational — the enjoyment derived from the act is its own reward. Ideally, this is the state you want to achieve whenever you work.

Every time you’re interrupted, your flow comes to a screeching halt.

Interruptions are Costly

The average worker is interrupted seventy-three times a day, which adds up to four hours by the time an employee punches out. Cognitive studies show that we allow interruptions to take precedence over more important tasks because of their immediacy.

And while each task may only take five minutes to complete, it takes roughly half an hour to return to a state of flow. As a result, flow is seldom achieved and a good portion of the day is spent tending to trivial interruptions.

1 out of 5 interruptions are so distracting that initial responsibilities are completely forgotten.

Once focus is lost, it’s an easy opportunity to go to take small breaks: check your email, respond to a text. What starts as a simple question from a colleague can quickly turn into a long series of diversions.

Off-Screen Breaks Are a Necessity

The average attention span lasts between 90–120 minutes. Once that threshold is met, people tend to lose focus.

That’s why it’s important to incorporate breaks. For those who work on a computer, a pit stop on your favorite online news source or a quick Ted Talk doesn’t count as a break.

Time spent off-screen, whether it’s a brisk walk or a brief conversation with a co-worker, is necessary. Simple interactions like these not only take your mind off work, they’re stimulating and keep you energized.

This is why so many offices, especially in creative fields, have ping-pong or foosball tables: they get the blood flowing and promote conversation.

Tools for Productivity

Let’s face it: distractions are unavoidable, especially if you work in a busy office. Headphones, closed doors, and letting your co-workers know when you’re free to talk help to fend off trivial conversation. Whatever you do, the important thing is to stay focused even if it’s for short blocks of time.

If you’re the type of person who’s easily distracted or receives a lot of messages, you may need to resort to more extreme measures. There are several programs that silence notifications and block access to websites for a set period of time.

However, apply them thoughtfully — once you block access, there’s no going back. It sounds scary, but it works. Here are just a few:

Gestimer: A timer that provides reminders so you don’t have to keep track as you work. You can focus solely on the task at hand. I suggest implementing the Pomodoro Technique with Gestimer — a method that suggests you break down your work into 25 minute intervals separated by short breaks.

SelfControl: A free, open-sourced application that blocks access to distracting sites, email servers or anything else you fear may get in the way.

Inbox Pause: A plug-in for gmail that will prevent you from receiving emails during specified times.

The Old Fashioned Approach: You don’t necessarily need to download a program to stay on task. A few simple adjustments, such as putting your inbox on hold, adjusting your phone to Do Not Disturb, or keeping it out of reach can help you avoid common distractions.

Alternatives

Sometimes it helps to have days set aside: focus days, buffer days and free days.

Focus days are reserved for a single task, usually something large that you’d like to devote a great deal of energy or time to. Buffer days are for prep or follow-up; little things that need to be completed. And free days are just that, a day to do as you please.

Again, by focusing on single tasks, you spend less time shifting between responsibilities and more time accomplishing what needs to be done.

Balance is Key

Striking a balance between life and work is not easy, as prioritizing work over personal life seems to be a necessary sacrifice to get ahead. It may seem counter-intuitive to boost productivity by incorporating more breaks into your routine, but it’s necessary. Down time is central to functioning at a high level. Without it, burn out occurs.

Keep in mind, the Biggie Smalls Rule can be used as guideline to attaining hyper-focus and productivity, but it’s also a valuable reminder to lead a more balanced life, which we can all benefit from.