You’re a Super Producer
in Training
Are you productive some days but then feel like you can’t get anything done on other days? Do you want to get your productive game on most days, and not just some?
Moving up the productivity ladder means making small but impactful changes (even tweaks) to your habits to build your productivity muscle. This means experimenting with different tactics and tricks and finding out what works for best you.
Here are some tips for turbocharging your productivity to the next level.
Define Your Sacred Buckets
Take a step back and think about the sacred buckets in your life. These are the parts of your life that matter most. They may be your spouse, kids, health, career, side project, or community involvement.
We all have different buckets. We can make them any size we want, and we can swap them out depending on our goals and stage of life.
What are your top buckets? How can you structure your to-dos and plan your time around these buckets?
Straddle Your Zones of Comfort
Are you knocking off things from your to-do list every day, but stuck in the comfortable zone? Or are you in a tailspin chasing your big audacious goals?
Review the systems and processes in your life that are working, not working, existent, or non-existent. Now, think about your stretch goals.
Plan and straddle your work across these zones to keep your goals, your energy, and your day in balance.
Pick Your 5 Top Things
When you look at your to do list, what are the 5 top things that you want to do today? Which ones will nudge you forward?
Maybe it’s getting back to the gym. Maybe it’s making that important call. Maybe it’s a task you have been procrastinating on.
The point is to pick those top things that take you to where you want to go.
Master Your Workflow
In our knowledge-based economy where information is our currency, we are walking information processors.
Workflow or information flow (or “infoflow”) is the bloodstream of our work.
Take a hard look at the information that comes into your day. Maybe its your emails, sales orders, invoices, ideas, transactions, notes, actions from meetings.
Don’t settle for mediocre workflow practices in your work life. Get serious about moving this workflow to the next level.
Practice Batching and Chunking
When it comes to time management, here are two great techniques touted by the experts to ramp up your productivity: batching and chunking.
Batching is about putting your tasks in strategic groups to eliminate the cost of switching between tasks. (Next: hammer to get them done.)
Chunking is about scheduling your tasks into 20-30 intervals to work at maximum speed and intensity (like CrossFit for your work).
Make Email Your Powerhouse
Email can be a superpower if you know how to use it.
Minimize the amount you check email but maximize the value of your responses.
Be responsive. Be connected. Be a communicator. And accelerate your flow of information.
Treat email as a critical skill.
Write Things Down!
Don’t carry too much in your head. It will weigh you down over time.
As a Super Producer in Training, you probably write some things down but struggle to write down other things.
Up your writing game in whatever ways you can. Memo that idea you had. Create a file for your ideas. Send an email to recap that great conversation you had with a co-worker. Draft a project plan.