Most people spend roughly only 60% of their time on things that are important. What do you think your percentage is?
Tina asked me “How can I be highly productive when ‘everything’s important’ and when there’s so much pressure to deliver within tight timeframes all the time?”. Underpinning her want of a holy grail answer was wanting to thrive and be recognised for her contribution. Why does your productivity matter to you?
Chances are:
- You make more decisions in an average day now than in the past
- Your attention is being bombarded with more information than ever before
- Your problem solving requires more complex thinking than it used to
- Your adrenalin is being hit more and more
Here are the “5 D’s” daily habits and tips that could be the holy grail to you managing yourself and your productivity at the next level.
1. DISCERN what’s important
- Set up your day. Know your priorities and don’t put things off by being distracted.
- Say yes and no to the right things through your day in line with your priorities. Also, don’t multi-task – focusing on one thing at a time will get you there faster.
- Take time to self-reflect at the end of your day to help make sound judgements for your next set of decisions. Your success is the quality of your thinking.
2. DECIDE to connect in
- Don’t settle for your role being simply a list of tasks to get through. Find something in your role that you care about and connect with, in line with your values, who you want to become as a leader, with the belief of what extraordinary will look like once you achieve it. You’ll achieve more of what matters to you I promise you.
3. Be DISCIPLINED with time and planning
- Track your progress against the goals you’ve set and do what it takes to stay/get back on track when things go wrong. Do you manage to 90-day plan cycles?
- Don’t be in a meeting unless there’s a purpose for it; either to make a decision, or get people up to speed. If you reduced your meeting time by 10%, which meetings would you say no to?
4. DEVELOP your emotional
- Be self-aware of where you invest emotional energy. It’s easy to create drama and make it about ourselves – we’re human! Our worries about what people think are nearly always created in our minds eye only.
5. Have DOWN-TIME
- Research shows our productivity increases when we take breaks, manage our energy levels, and get enough sleep. Giving our minds and bodies time to rest is just as important an investment, as is our professional development.
Bringing it all together
Your success lies in what you are prepared to do consistently. Habits that keep you on track, in line with what you care about, will serve you best especially when things are hard and uncertain.
What could you begin to expect of you that would give you the biggest bang for the least effort, to create your productivity holy grail?
