The Five Productivity Laws You Must Abide By

Recently, many of us have begun to work from home, which only a few months ago was coveted as flexible and relaxed. But now, it seems that workers are finding it more difficult to work from home than they had previously imagined. Without the structure, leadership, work space, and like-minded coworkers provided by an office, productivity and focus can suffer. It may help if you can identify the five laws that play an important role in what you can accomplish. I present to you,

 The Five Laws of Productivity!

1. Pareto Principle - The first law, I admit, isn't a law at all, but a principle. This is also known as the 80-20 rule. It states that 80% of results are produced by 20% of efforts. This implies that with any output, the majority of what is accomplished comes from 20% of the work. For example, if you are working for 10 hours, you will get the majority of your work done in just two of those hours. If you are making 20 sales calls, your best sales will come from 4 of the calls. To apply this principle, learn to identify and focus on the things that have the most impact, and prioritize based on this.
2. Carlson's Law - Swedish economist Sune Carlson proposed that all interrupted work is less effective and takes more time than un-interrupted work. This is due to the mental switching costs incurred when changing tasks. To apply this law, focus on one task at a time and reduce distractions as much as possible. This includes turning off notifications, not answering emails, not having the television on; while focusing on work.
3. Parkinson's Law - In 1955, British author Cyril Parkinson wrote in the Economist, "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion" This means that often times our work takes as long as the time we allow it to take. If you set a goal to complete a project in one hour, it will take one hour, if you set a goal to complete that same project in two hours, it will take two hours. Apply this by setting aggressive and realistic goals for your work at all times.
4. Illich's Law - Also known as the 'Law of Diminishing Returns', this law states that beyond a certain point, productivity on a task goes down. The longer we work on a project, the less productive we are at the work. A quick example is when writing this article, I wrote 80% of it within the first 20% of the time I spent writing it! (See what I did there?!) Studies have shown that around 90 minutes is the maximum time for productivity, after which we will benefit in taking a short break then starting again. Our brain needs a break every 90 minutes or so of hard work.
5. Murphy's Law - This is by far the most commonly cited law. Best known as, 'Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong', Murphy's Law teaches us to anticipate and prepare for potential problems ahead of time. If you do this, then when a crisis or work barrier does come up, you will have a head start on the solution and have a plan.

Although I started this post talking about working from home, you can really apply these laws at any point and with anything you are looking to accomplish. Keep these laws in mind while you are working throughout the day. Reflect on them and internalize the values, and start enhancing your productivity!

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