How to be become more productive

Make a reasonable to-do list.

Don’t overwhelm yourself. To-do lists often fail because we make them way too complex or the tasks are unequal. Some tasks will take a long time, others won’t take any time at all. This creates an unbalance in the way we distribute our time. What happens then is that our to-do list then becomes a procrastination tool. Yes, that’s right. Because then we do the easy stuff, and then become really distracted on the hard stuff.

Don’t lie, you’ve done that before. So then you need to …

Set small goals for the tasks.

With every new project or assignment, the scope may seem too large. But once you start breaking it down and realizing what can be accomplished, you’ll notice how each part builds upon the other.

One of the easiest and most practical things you can do is to break down your marketing project or deliverable into smaller goals. What are the pieces and assets needed? Who do you need to talk to first? Break up these pieces before even setting timelines, and then estimate how long they’ll take you to accomplish. Understanding the scope of what’s being asked, putting the steps in place and then estimating the time needed will help you get a grasp of what’s being asked. Sometimes what seems like a big project won’t take much time at all, or vice versa.

Focus on one goal at a time.

How do you determine what’s important? How does your organization determine what’s important? Well, whatever your company’s priority is, it’s your job to execute. One way to do this is through the 90-90-1 rule. It also works if you’re managing a team. of your day for 90 days to the most important task, it will focus your priorities before the day even really gets going.

It’s also very practical. It’s not spending all of your time every day on one single thing.

You can also set up projects to focus on this one goal and to make sure that it aligns with your overall company goals.

Track your time to identify patterns.

Tracking your time, even if no one is asking you for it can help you understand your work habits and the time of day when you finish work most successfully. Tracking your time efficiently, knowing what your tech habits are, from when you check your email to how often you check your favourite websites or social media can affect your workday in a big way. By re-arranging some of those things, you may be able to get more done. Tracking your time for a week or two will help you see where you spend your time, and will help you better estimate your goals from #1 a little bit better the next time around. The next time you’re asked to repeat a task, you’ll have a better sense of the amount of time needed.

Find a method for delegating and following-up.

It’s one thing to give your team tasks and projects; it’s another thing to make sure they finish the work and get it done. Then passing it off for approvals is another piece of the pie that you have to tackle. Finding a reliable method for tracking your team’s projects will make your work more efficient can definitely help with this (more on this later), but you also have to commit to using tools like this so you don’t let down your fellow co-workers. But your individual part is important in this, too. The more you update and follow-up with next steps, it’ll help your co-workers stay on track, too.

Create a proactive dashboard.

If you’re noticing that a certain task is having a big effect on our business or is a necessary task that you need to keep doing, then list out the number of times that you need to do that task each week. The goal here is to record inputs, not just outcomes. This is especially useful for marketers. If you know you need to tweet or write a certain number of LinkedIn posts, then you can list these out and make sure you do that number for the week. Here’s an example of my proactive dashboard:

Figure out your 2 peak hours.

Some of us are morning people, some of us are night owls. But the modern business environment doesn’t always accommodate that. Maybe the office doesn’t open until 9, but your peak is at 5am to 7am. Personally, I find high energy levels when most people are winding down their day, around 4pm to 7pm and then after 8pm. Often, I’ll purposely take some of that time away or schedule more less-strategic tasks during hours when I’m not as engaged.

Pick one task and then do it.

This is very difficult because sometimes our projects aren’t a 30-minute or onehour job. It may take 8 hours or multiple days. What’s the answer then? Break it up into one task and then do that one task to its completion. But how long should that be? And what’s reasonable? I think most of our days are broken into hour segments. Which then is really 45 to 50 minutes. We have meetings that start on the hour or we take a lunch hour or we schedule a call for an hour. Working consistently for 45 minutes on one thing makes sense, but is very difficult.

Throw stuff away and declutter.

Did you know your physical environment impacts your work? And I don’t mean just if you work in a “cool” office or not. Depending on your company and your role in the company, that’s largely out of your control. But you can control your workspace. It helps you be more productive when you don’t have to hunt and peck for whatever that missing thing is.

Find time to walk or exercise.

I’ve worked in office parks, in downtown business districts and from home. And in every place, I try to find time to walk at least once a day. That could be around the parking lot, down the street, or in the park, and it’s more refreshing than anything on social media.

Stop and reflect.

When you’re responsible for getting multiple projects out the door, you have to take a step back and see what’s working, what’s not, what needs to be prioritized and what needs to be changed. Building in time to review isn’t wasting time, but optimizes your work moving forward.

Follow the 2 pizza rule for meetings.

Meetings definitely can slow down momentum, especially when there’s a huge crowd of 30 people to “brainstorm.” We know how that goes. The same people who always talk will talk. The silent ones will stay silent.

There will not be enough discussion. Not enough ideas will be expressed. Instead if you have a team made up of only people who would eat two pizzas, more vibrant ideas will emerge. More people does not necessarily equal better ideas or faster action. It slows things down considerably.People are less interested and feel less personally responsible if the idea stalls and stagnates. The accountability is lost.

Group similar tasks together.

When we switch between tasks, we naturally create friction. Starting and stopping. Opening and closing. Beginning and ending. All of those small moments add up and break our concentration. Then we get distracted and forget why we even were reviewing something in the first place. But the way to cut down on switching between tasks is to group similar ones together. Don’t respond to just one email and then move on. Respond to all of them and then don’t come back until several hours later. Or batch all of your emails together. And on that note…

Stop multi-tasking.

Because the switching is making us more tired. It’s taking up brain energy to switch and change that often. We aren’t being more productive, we’re skimming over the surface of things. The modern workplace environment won’t support you in your quest to be more focused–it’s virtually an impossible task when Slack, Skype and Salesforce are jockeying for our attention.

Be accountable to another person.

For those that work in teams, this seems obvious. Using an automated project management system will notify you of the next task when it’s finished. But you may need accountability on everyday tasks too. Like if you accomplished the goals in your proactive dashboard (see #…), or spent another time on strategic brainstorming or setting up campaigns. But find someone you trust that will support you and not beat you up for your failure. You need an encourager. This could be your supervisor, but more than likely it’s a colleague that can help you stay on track. And maybe you can help them as well.

Ask for help on stuff you don’t understand. 

If you’re prideful (like me!), you don’t like to ask for help on things you feel like you should be able to do. This manifests itself in my life by taking way too long trying to format an Excel sheet or create the perfect Power point presentation. Instead, smart people ask for help. And they’re actually viewed by their colleagues as being smarter. Not to mention, this could save you tons of time in the long run. Yes, it may be difficult at first to sparse out a few extra minutes here and there to watch a video or call a support line, but in the end, it’ll help you be more efficient with those tasks.

Get sunlight.

According to recent productivity studies, you’ll boost your productivity and alertness with more natural light. Why do you think offices with windows are in such high demand? It also affects the timing of the circadian clock which then impacts your wakefulness and fatigue.

I used to work in office buildings where I also found myself in the middle of the floor or stuck in a conference room with no window. Plus, where I live it would get dark early in the winter time, including the last part of the working day. Not good. What could I do? I bought a lightbox to bring an extra glow to my workspace. Try it if you’re in a similar position.