The Four Pillars of Productivity

Many conscious leaders and busy professionals are at risk of burnout from the challenges of workload and its associated stress and sense of overwhelm.

The problem is that many are attempting to outperform others without a reliable system in place that enables sustainability and well-being.

Does any of this sound like you?

1. You are sometimes unclear about your top priority, that which will have the most impact.
2. You start the week with great intent and a long To-do list. By Friday, you have not achieved what you intended.
3. During the day, you start by being productive but fade and cannot focus or concentrate for long.
4. You find it difficult to say 'No' and set boundaries, and your schedule can get out of control.
5. You sometimes sacrifice the healthy habits that support your well-being to get your stuff done.

Don't worry, the above are common - but also easily avoidable.

These are early signs of high performers who are heading for burnout.?

What if?

Tragically, many people forsake things they care about, such as family or personal goals - and worse still, their health.

Have you had enough of this cycle?

What if you could achieve consistently high performance without burning out?

What if you had a system to manage all the important things across all the areas of your work and life - without the stress?

What Most High Performers do is this:

1. Prioritise in a random manner often dictated by urgency
2. Plan their time weekly but without any basis in reality
3. Work and Rest as others dictate rather than consciously taking control of their schedule
4. Try to focus in an environment that is screaming distraction.
5. Say 'Yes by default' to every 'opportunity', thinking that gets them closer to success.

In short, most people TRY to be organised and do some or all of the above but in an ad hoc manner. What they lack is a simple, reliable and repeatable system.

The Four Pillars of Productivity

That is where the Pillars of Productivity come in. It contains a set of connected rituals, the longest of which is 30 minutes. Together, they ensure that you master the four pillars, which are:

1. Prioritisation: You always know the most valuable thing to do - so you maximise your potential.
2. Time Management: You commit time to do the highest value work - so you don't feel overwhelmed.
3. Energy Optimisation: You align activity with your natural circadian rhythm - so you don't always feel tired.
4. Focus: You easily enter the state of flow without distraction to get it done - so you rest and recover.?

Mastering these pillars will move you from committed to consistently creative. You will become a Productivity Warrior - and you can do it in less than 1 hour a week.

Imagine what taking Friday off every week would look like. Set yourself that challenge this week. By following the SPIRAL method, you can get all your important work done early - any time you want to.

Strengthen Your Productivity Muscle

So, how do you improve each of the four Pillars of Productivity above?

Let us explore each one in more depth and give you practical tools and tips to strengthen each of the four pillars.

Pillar 1: Prioritisation

Prioritisation is deciding the most valuable thing to do out of everything we can do.?

Why is it important?

Without this ability, we become overwhelmed and have a high likelihood of not being successful.

How To Prioritise

While prioritisation is partially an art, we can become more scientific. The bottom line is this - we cannot do everything that is on our list - and we do not need to. Prioritisation is a deliberate trade-off where we force ourselves to decide what is most important.

The easiest way to prioritise is to do a Brain Dump of everything on your mind and select only the Top 4 in order of impact.

Pillar 2: Time Management

Time Management is committing the right amount of time to the most important work.

Why is it important?

Without this ability, we feel guilty and fail to achieve our goals as we cannot get the important things done or we burn out trying to.

How To Manage Time

While prioritisation may be an art, time management is much more scientific. The bottom line is this - we have 168 hours every week, of which (for example) we might have 40 hours for work, but we have even less for thinking - even if we don't want to admit it.

The easiest way to Manage Time is to set aside 30 mins every Friday and plan next week. I use the MAGICAL weekly planning technique (more on that later).

Pillar 3: Energy Optimisation

Energy optimisation is aligning different types of work with the appropriate circadian energy.

Why is it important?

Without this ability, we struggle to do the important work consistently or we sacrifice our physical health and well-being.

How To Optimise Energy

Energy optimisation is a pretty simple recognition of the power of our circadian rhythms. This means tuning into our body and noticing the time during the day when we have high, medium or low mental energy.

The easiest way to Optimise Energy is to sit down every morning and plan out the ideal day where you do your best work at the point of highest mental energy and admin at another time.

Pillar 4: Your Attention

Focus is the elimination of distractions to achieve the state of flow.

Why is it important?

Without this ability, we waste a lot of time or cannot do the deep thinking typically required for success.

How To Focus

The ability to focus is more likely if we have mastered the other three pillars.?

The easiest way to focus is to follow the Pomodoro Technique to harness our brain capacity to its fullest. I have created the DETER technique (more on that later).

The outcome of strengthening these four pillars is that you can achieve stress-free productivity and enhance your well-being at the same time.

When I come back, I'm running a 12-week coaching programme with the aim to 'Free your Fridays' for a small group.?

Register your interest by emailing me with FRIDAY in the subject + your reason for wanting to participate.

I’m writing my second book to help CONSCIOUS PROFESSIONALS AND LEADERS.

If you’re a busy professional struggling to consistently perform (amidst chaos) without sacrificing other areas of your life, this book will give you a simple repeatable system to get to the next level and maintain balance.

Ask me any question about productivity, well-being or habits at [email protected].?

I will respond personally to each one.

Have a great day,

James

#TheSpiralMethod #ThePromiseProject #wellbeing #learning #leadership #productivity #mindfulness #corporatewellness #wellness #coaching #neuroscience #habits #thewellbeingacademy #thewellbeinggym #mindset

My mission is to help you and your team with wellbeing & performance via habits and mindset.

Learn more at www.TheWellbeingGym.com.