I’m connected to the internet eighteen hours a day. My Android phone has more than three different e-mail accounts associated to it; my home office is connected to high-speed Internet; my computer is a laptop, and I rarely leave home without it. And yet, I would love to be more productive.
Just to give you an idea on how efficient I try to be with my time… I’ve dedicated different ringtones to my email accounts, phone calls and texts messages, so I know who is trying to reach me, and the urgency of the message.
I am on my A-game!
Until I read this article: 7 Things Highly Productive People Do
I’ve taken a couple excerpts from the article, and posted them here to discuss. If you want to read the actual article, click on the link above.
Want to be more productive and get your focus back? There are no secret tricks here… do one thing at a time. Stop multitasking—it’s just another form of distraction.
As the author put it, “easier said than done,” and I completely agree. I’ve trained myself to be so hyper-focused that I’ve convinced myself that multi-tasking doesn’t effect me. But, if I’m 100% honest with myself, I know I’m not as effective as I can be when I focus efforts on one thing, let alone two, three, or more.
Here are some of the tips that got me thinking. Again, you can check out the rest of the steps from the original author above.
- Stop multi-tasking. No, seriously—stop. Switching from task to task quickly does not work. In fact, changing tasks more than 10 times in a day makes you dumber than being stoned. When you’re stoned, your IQ drops by five points. When you multitask, it drops by an average of 10 points, 15 for men, five for women (yes, men are three times as bad at multitasking than women).
Well, that just cut me to the core. The article actually links to a post on CCN World – E-mails ‘hurt IQ more than pot’. Since I’m not into that sort of thing, I’m going to take their word for it, rather than trying it out.
- Be militant about eliminating distractions. Lock your door, put a sign up, turn off your phone, texts, email, and instant messaging. In fact, if you know you may sneak a peek at your email, set it to offline mode, or even turn off your Internet connection. Go to a quiet area and focus on completing one task.
If you are any bit like me, the slightest noise or distraction gets my attention. The author has some great advice that I think helps some people, but I can’t cut the wires that severely. So, I’m going to try out this tip in baby steps thanks to some help from Dr. Leo Marvin.
- Work on your own agenda. Don’t let something else set your day. Most people go right to their emails and start freaking out. You will end up at inbox-zero, but accomplish nothing. After you wake up, drink water so you rehydrate, eat a good breakfast to replenish your glucose, then set prioritized goals for the rest of your day.
I have had these days; where I get up in the morning, go right to work, clean out my inbox, and feel that I’ve accomplished nothing! Then there are those days when I’ve felt like I’ve done just the opposite. The irony about the difference between the days is that I find out that after a truly productive day, I’ve come to find out that that 50% of my e-mails answer themselves. OK, They don’t really answer themselves, but the solution was found out by someone else that was cc’d on the conversation, or it was a trival request that was left wanting
Overall, very good points that I’m going to take to heart and work better at. And, look at this… it’s just in time for new years resolutions. Fancy that!
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