My own dirty secret revealed

Last week really hit the spot for a lot of you when we discussed the concept of productivity.?

Our dirty kiwi secret that we suck at. Kiwis work more and produce less than workers in the average OECD economy. Consequently, lower wages and lower wealth.?

We simplified the concept of productivity to thinking about how we could get some time back into our days because, as we know, time is money, right?

If we can put a bit of time back into our week, perhaps the week will feel better for us. This concept has certainly changed my life and made it a different life.

Along my journey, I went pretty full noise and built my physical location around the 3 things I would go to most regularly which were; the gym & sauna, work and the supermarket.

Getting to and from the 3 most common places I go to was going to be where I lost most time to travelling, so I plonked myself right in the middle of those 3 things.

Every week, shoppers spend about 41 minutes in a grocery store. Around 35 hours a year.

'A working week’ for most, spent in the supermarket. Add on travel both ways to work out how much the supermarket is chewing up your week.

We moved to online ordering and picking up our groceries via click and collect. Saving even more time because we usually order the same food and pick it up when it suits us, avoiding going inside the supermarket.

Just like saving money, saving time is a concept and something you have to WANT TO DO in order to see the ways you can save.?

Remember, time is your most valuable resource, so don’t judge people who buy their time back. I used to do that and then I realised how they thought vs how I was thinking and how I seemed a lot more stressed and time poor. Perhaps I was the one doing something that could be changed?

Here are some more of the ways I have put time back into my day in order to spend that time on the things I want to do. I hope they get you thinking. Remember: you do you, these are IDEAS.

? Set my life up to reduce travel where possible

? Have a structured routine, so days are quite similar?

? Turned off nearly all notifications on my devices (they remove my focus)

? Monthly review of inbox to unsubscribe and think about what I shouldn’t work on

? Use Uber eats to save time where necessary (use uber eats don't let it use you)

? Ask ‘can it be a phone call?’ to avoid 1 hour (+ travel) coffee/beer catch ups

? Say ‘how can I help you’ to get to the point & avoid ‘hows the weather where you are’?

? Set up most used websites as saved bookmarks on my computer

? My most used apps are on the front screen on my phone

? Set up group chats to get out of ‘the middle’

? Live by my calendar - structure and awareness of my time to squeeze free time

? I have had to say ‘no’ a bit more

? Buy 5 of the same shirt styles, wear the same style of shoes

? Got a cleaner at one stage

? Added on Calendly, and other tech solutions, YouTube Premium + Spotify ad free

? Ask myself why is there paper in a process? Can it be technology?

? iPhone syncing to iPad and computer to copy and paste between the 3 (Mac devices)

? I try and avoid ‘complex’ to keep things simple and similar?

? Set up saved message responses to send to people who call when I can’t talk?

? My phone voice message asks people to text me as voicemail is so slow to get through

? Send audio to people instead of typing (be careful as people will do it back to you and can suck at it, chewing up huge time)

? Listen to things at double speed where possible?

? Set calendar and phone reminders to trigger action taking (i.e. monthly review of inbox)

? Have good friends, family, a life partner & a business partner who understand how I am trying to think and act

? Pre-made good quality meals for hectic times where necessary

? Make decisions fast and be ready to fail and get over it (don’t over think)

? Make repetitive decisions once i.e. 'where should we go for dinner'? Make a list of places you know you'll end up going to and select from those 5

? Do things, instead of writing down a reminder to do them

? Have an emergency fund so that I don’t have to worry about things that will pop up (removing worry)

? Accept that most things you worry about won’t actually happen, so stop worrying about it

? Accepted that I will die one day, so now I don’t need to worry and think about that

? Again, don't over think. We are powerful, we will figure it out

? Yup some of those will be pretty initimidating for you but like I say, you do you.

I am ALWAYS looking for ways to save time. I’ve wired myself that way now.

Years ago it was ‘spend time to save money’. I’ve gone the other way now; spend money to save time.

Finally, this one is huge; how you start your day is usually how your day will go.

? Up and into something negative? This is very hard to come back from

? Up and into instagram? Probably check it all day without realising

? Up and into notifications on your phone? Probably alert to them all day

? Up and into reading news? Probably checking it throughout the day

? Get the picture? Be very careful what you give your time to first thing because it could be the rest of your day without you even knowing.

Finally, before you go down the rabbit hole of automation removing peoples' jobs just ask yourself whether it was a good use of people's time to stand and direct traffic before the traffic light?

And yes, I know some of you love 'going to the supermarket' for one working week of your year, you don't need to email me to tell me this :).

Be even more productive,

Luke

Did you know:?For the last 25 years, kiwis income per person has stayed at about 70% of that in countries in the top half of the OECD - Productivity Commission.

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