SPECIFIC TOPICS: Life Styles

FIVE PROVEN WAYS TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE

By Eric Barker writes Barking Up the Wrong Tree.

Summarized from: http://time.com/4400863/5-productivity-tips/

Whenever you’re not getting stuff done (or not getting the right stuff done), ask which of these five is the problem and apply the solution…

Problem 1: Priorities

Sometimes you do get a lot done… but they’re not the right things.

Ask yourself, “What’s important?” The 80/20 rule says that you often get 80% of your results from 20% of the things you do. So doing more of the 20% is the best way to move the needle in terms of accomplishing things.

Problem 2: Context

Research shows open-plan offices are a productivity disaster. Why? Distractions.

So what do you do when the interruptions keep coming?

Find a place to hide. Book a conference room for an hour and get the real work done where no one can interrupt you.

Problem 3: Habits

“Well, I was going to start on that big project but whenever I sit down at my desk, the first thing I do is check my email. And in my inbox there were 1000 screaming requests I had to handle so…”

All too often you have a plan but something triggers a habit which casts a mind control spell over you and makes you do something else. And that triggers another habit, which leads to another habit and…

So how do we start the rewiring?

First, identify the bad habit. Next, make it a pain do.

Cornell professor Brian Wansink’s research showed that just making food harder to reach caused people to eat less and lose weight.

Watching too much television? Merely take out the batteries of the remote control creating a 20 second delay and it dramatically decreases the amount of television people will watch.

 Problem 4: Stakes

This is why long term goals can be so challenging. If there’s no pressing reason to work on them today instead of tomorrow then stakes are important. To prevent yourself from quitting, you need incentives. Some type of reward or punishment to keep you on track and accountable are necessary.

Research shows that rewards are responsible for three-quarters of why you do things.

Problem 5: Mood

Research shows a lot of procrastination is caused by not feeling so great. When you’re in a good mood or when you don’t think you can improve how you feel, you screw around a lot less.

In fact, your mood in the morning affects how productive you are all day:

…So what to do? Do something quick to make yourself happy.

So this is the part when people’s minds go blank and they can’t think of anything that makes them happy. Really, it’s absurdly simple:

Take a moment to look at puppy pictures on the internet. Crazy as it sounds, looking at puppies has been shown to increase performance, as well as reduce stress. 

 TO PRINT