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I spend a lot of time thinking up ways to be more productive. My hypothesis is that if I can figure out how to be productive during the hours of 7am – 5pm and compartmentalize my work into those hours – I might have a shot at being a normal, healthy human being.
Here’s some context. Some days I’m the energizer bunny and attacking my to-do list with extreme vigilance. Sometimes I’m the ADHD kid – an impulsive click-happy freak that bounces between email, twitter & youtube in the guise of “relaxing” before starting real work.
In order to control my multiple productive personalities, I’ve had to invent some ground rules for myself. These rules seek to control my varied attention span and keep myself on task, sane and contributing work of value. So without further ado, here’s my personal rules for productivity:
1) No tech in the morning - I used to check my email immediately after my alarm went off in the morning. I found that this was unproductive and an extremely stressful way to start the day. I now have a strict “no tech” rule for my mornings. I shut off all electronics including my phone and pack them for the office the night before and don’t touch them before I leave the house. I save stress & actually get to the office sooner. Win-win.
2) Controlling Email - Email is evil. You pretend it’s productive – but hate to tell you, it’s not productive. I’ve found a couple things that work for me to control the email monster. I check email first thing in the morning (usually between 7-9am) and try not to touch it again for the rest of the day. Of course I respond to the occasional exciting / emergency email that comes through, but I’ve become comfortable with leaving most things until the next day. I’m also daily zero-inboxer thanks to a genius service called Boomerang as I can ignore / send messages back to my inbox when it makes sense.
3) Three Things – I’ve adopted this after reading several articles which recommended it. Creating a list of priorities for what I’d like to accomplish for the day has changed my life. The three things are not just any three goals, but the three most impactful things you can get done that day. Suddenly the little crap you feel like you “should do” fades away, those things don’t matter. I spend 30 minutes in the morning breaking each of the 3 things down into a list of smaller tasks. If I get fall into a 3pm energy slump, I fall back on these mini-plans to help me keep marching in the right direction.