Managing more in less time?

Will you define your new normal or let it unfold? The most common complaint of new normal, that is often heard is people are overwhelmed with work. Work from home, becoming a new normal, there is a thin line between personal space and professional space. How do we manage time? Is a big question mark for many.

 There are many productivity hacks you can look out for to feel more powerful, productive and energetic.  

1.    Meditate and exercise – I read this somewhere and I’m stuck with it ever since. Time is limited but Energy is infinite. Yes, we all have the same limited number of hours in a day, but we all can have different energy level. To boost up your energy levels, you need to work on it. Meditation helps you to calm down and reduce the stress level. It helps in increasing attention span and focus better while exercise helps you to build stamina and energy levels.

2.    Start saying NO – Opportunities, tempting offers, great ideas, keep coming your way. It takes guts to say no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully what you need to focus on. Be equally proud of the things you haven’t done and allowed to let go, as the things you have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.

3.    The Pomodoro technique – Choose a task that deserves your undivided attention. Anything - big, small, or something you’ve been putting off for a million years. Set a Pomodoro for 25 minutes and take a small oath to yourself that you will spend 25 minutes on this task without interruption. Work on the task till the Pomodoro rings. Immerse yourself in the task for the next 25 minutes. If you suddenly realise you have something else you need to do, write the task down on a sheet of paper. And when you complete the Pomodoro task, put a tick mark against it. Congratulations! You’ve spent an entire, interruption-less Pomodoro on a task. Now take a short break, Breathe, walk, grab a cup of coffee, or check on your friends, make a call (not work-related). For every 4 Pomodoro tasks accomplished take a longer break.

4.    Meaningful & productive meetings – The most time draining activity is having meeting. Choose to have only meaningful and productive  meetings.  A common problem I’ve experienced as a remote worker is being part of teams that seem to have meetings every week for the sake of it with without having must to talk or discuss. If you are having a meeting for reporting thins, try to come up with a reporting way of communication thru form, mail, message etc rather than calling a meeting.  Always schedule your meetings on calendar and have a limit on number of meetings per day.

5.    Prioritise - Each morning, take out few minutes to identify the most important tasks to be done during the day. Make a habit of maintaining a list of activities. Eliminate what are not important. Identify what can be delegated. Identify which are the most important. Time the activities and set an alarm. Don’t go beyond the time on any task. If need back, re visit the task but do not prolong beyond the scheduled time.  

While I’ve listed here only a few of the hacks, that you can chose to be more productive, don’t restrict yourselves to only these. Give it a thought and Im sure you can come up with your own innovative ideas. Share your ways of managing time (and energy) in the comments below.  Remember, to become more productive, you have to be willing not just to change the way you think about organising and completing tasks, but you’re also going to need the right kind of team