5 Effective Productivity Tips

Woke up this morning thinking about this newsletter and the top two productivity tips I wanted to share. By the time I showered and got to my desk I had added three more. While I want to keep this newsletter a quick read, I also want it to be of value. This week, "of value" wins out over "quick read," and so you get all five productivity tips.

I've been thinking about productivity lately because my Pluralsight course on productivity has been pretty popular this month (more than usual). It is here, and has more tactical ideas to help you become more productive:

Prioritizing Tasks and Managing Time for Greater Productivity

Productivity Tip #1: Choose the Right Things

If you are like me, you have a to-do list. And if you are like me, your list is long and gets longer every day. And, you never cross everything off in one day.

So you choose what to work on. The Franklin Covey program was to prioritize things like this: A1, B3, C5, etc. The letter and the number carried different weight (an A5 was a higher priority than a B1). But sometimes you have twenty A things and you wonder why in the world you have even written down the C things, if they are so low in your priority list.

Or, you just mentally pick things to work on without formally prioritizing. The reasons you pick what you pick varies, but usually it's based on (1) when something is due, (2) how easy it is to cross off your list, or (3) how impactful it is on overall outcomes. At least that's how I've done it.

What I've found, though, is many times we'll work on not the right things. We'll work on things that are within our comfort zone, or safe things, or fast things (more on that later), or things that others want us to prioritize, but we don't work on things that help us accomplish objectives, goals, KPIs, or whatever you call them.

My first tip is to make sure you have a WHY for each task. Why are you doing it? Just to get it off your list (that can be valid)? Or is this something that will really help you get to where you want to be.

Stop putting filler stuff on your list. Stop letting others put filler stuff in the high priority slots on your list.

Productivity Tip #2: Start Painting

Years ago I was on stage and talked about a task I had while finishing my basement. It was time to paint the walls and ceiling. I do not love painting but I didn't have money to hire it out.

I spent at least an hour walking around making sure I had all the tools and supplies in place, ready to go. And then I found myself walking around more, double and triple checking. As I was walking around, I knew I was avoiding the actual job. And then I did it... I picked up the roller, got paint on it, and did the first roll.

And that was all I needed... too much time spent preparing (analysis paralysis, anyone?) was finally interrupted by actually starting the task at hand.

Sometimes we spend way too much time overthinking simple tasks. Maybe we have fear. Maybe who-knows-why, but we just don't START.

Once I got that first roll on, the rest of the job was easy. I painted the basement pretty fast. Of course, I had to prepare, but once I was done I had to roll that first roll. Sometimes you just need a to start.

For me, this morning, I skipped my normal morning routine (checking the news, looking at email, Twitter, etc.), opened up this newsletter page, and started writing. Sometimes you just have to start.

Maybe it's fair to say that not starting is a major impediment to being productive....?

Productivity Tip #3: Marry Consistency with Time

I have a really hard task I've been putting off for months. It's a task I know I can get done in a couple of weeks, but it hurts my brain to even think about starting. To say I'm going through burnout with this particular task (that I've done dozens of times over the years) is an understatement.

Coincidentally, I just wrote this yesterday: 7 Tips to Help You Work Through Burnout and Be Happy

I'll talk more about hard things in the next tip, but for this one I want to talk about *how* I'm tackling this. First, I am scheduling a little bit of time on my calendar to work on this task. The thought of doing it for four hours a day is mind-numbing... so I'm scheduling one hour.

Second, I'm scheduling that one hour over multiple days. I talked about consistency last week so I won't go into it again, but my point is something powerful happens when you do something consistently... just make sure you are scheduling an appropriate amount of time to actually make some progress.

Note: Thinking about working on something is NOT the same thing as working on something (unless you are in the early brainstorming phase, maybe then I'd give you a pass).

Productivity Tip #4: Remove the Chickens

Years ago I wrote about the chicken list. This was one of the most profound ideas I'd heard and just had to share it. Please read this post: Get Out Your Chicken List and Make a Call!

That post was written for job seekers who were focused on networking. If you've been there you know you have a list of contacts you need to call. You also know there are a few people on that list that for some unexplainable reason put an inordinate amount of fear in your body.

Seriously, when you think about calling them you have a physical reaction!

In that post the guy who taught me about the chicken list said to just get them off your list by doing the only logical thing: calling them. (No, not crossing them off without calling them)

You do the hardest, most fear-inducing things and get them off your list. Maybe they'll answer, maybe they'll be helpful, but even if they are not in the least bit helpful, and even scream at you on the phone (highly unlikely), at least they are OFF YOUR LIST.

They were on the list because they needed to be, and you needed to take action. Leaving them for tomorrow, day after day, only keeps an unhealthy amount of stress and mental clutter hanging around.

You don't need that.

Get rid of the scary things by addressing them. Don't let them live rent free in your head for longer than they need to. Free up your mind so you can better focus on the other right things you need to focus on.

As we said pre-internet, stop kicking the can down the road.

Productivity Tip #5: Get Rid of the Fastest and Easiest Tasks

This might sound a little contradictory to what I've written above, but hear me out. On my to-do list I'll have things that require different levels of effort.

One task might take days to accomplish while another task might be "write that quick follow up email to so-and-so." That email could literally take five minutes.

Yet it sits there, hogging up the same amount of space on my list as the big things.

Sometimes, when I feel like I'm unproductive, and need some wins, I go through and look for those tasks I can easily and quickly cross off. The quick email, phone call, or bill to pay. I can cross a few items off my list in, say, ten of fifteen minutes, and then I can see I'm actually making progress.

If I were to focus on the multi-day project, I might feel like I'm never making progress. I'm not finishing that task anytime soon and nothing else is getting crossed off.

This tip is a mind game. I'm not saying to fill your list with filler junk... I'm assuming you have the right things on your list. I'm just saying to feel like you have a sense of accomplishment by knocking some things off your list.

It's okay to take a few minutes to get your mind in a better place, switching from "I'm so behind!" to "I'm making progress!"

Productivity Tip #6: Your Turn!

These five tips are things that have helped me write books, make courses, juggle businesses, etc.

What are productivity tips that have helped you?

If you are in the market for a productivity course, check out my Pluralsight course for more ideas.