You know better than anyone what a typical day is like for you. Does your job require you to attend three meetings per day? Or travel to multiple locations? Perhaps you have to respond to a lot of emails. Whatever the case may be, we’re going to try to adapt your typical workday to improve your productivity.
Identify the Time of Day When You’re Most Productive
Neuroscience teaches us that most of our brains are predisposed toward morning work. Some professions, however, aren’t so well-suited to that time of day. Look at these highly contrasting responses from several people who were asked when they feel most effective at work.
The time of day when I feel most productive is the morning, because my energy level is at its max and my brain isn’t clouded up with all the crises of the day. — Lawrence, training manager
I feel most productive in the morning. I’m not as tired, I have fewer outside demands on my attention. But later in the evening (after 7:00 p.m.), I get a second wind! — Charlotte, team manager
I get the most done in the afternoon, after 4:00 p.m. By then, some of my colleagues have left and I’m not disrupted by the phones and background noises... — Dan, IT Deployment project manager
The time of day when I can get the most done is the evening, because I’m never interrupted! — Sandra, HR manager
Try to Start the Day With a High-Value-Added Task
Once you’ve arrived at your clean and tidy workstation, as we discussed in the last chapter, don’t immediately start checking your emails unless you have to.
Before doing anything else, take care of the task that has the most value for today. To determine what that task is, ask yourself: “If I only had to do one thing today, what would it be?” or “What is the most important thing expected of me today?”
It might be a thankless, complex, or unpleasant task, but that doesn’t matter. To gain time, efficiency and productivity, start with the most thankless or difficult task. Then, all the tasks you do after that will seem easier and more pleasant.
The advantage of this habit is that it will free you from the weight of that task on your consciousness, plus you’ll have saved the simpler assignments of the day for the times when you might have less energy. Set aside between 60 and 120 minutes to do this complex task at the beginning of the day. If you think you need two days to complete the task, the simplest solution would be to split up your project into smaller steps. Don’t schedule meetings or appointments during this time, and when possible, tell your colleagues that you’ll be unavailable.
The best tip I’ve been given for saving time is to always stay focused on my top priority of the day. I apply this on a daily basis. — Virginia, CEO
To gain productivity and efficiency at the beginning of my career, in addition to learning my profession, I learned to concentrate on the desired subject or objective. By keeping that clear objective in mind, I was able to get things done faster. — Patrick, executive manager
Organize Your Productivity With the Pomodoro Technique
Pomodoro is a time management technique that will help you stay focused and disciplined while working on a task. The method is based on using a timer called a pomodoro to measure out 25-minute intervals of work, alternating with five-minute breaks.
To try this technique yourself, take the task or tasks that you absolutely must finish in the next hour and set a goal for yourself to finish everything within the allotted time.
Here’s How to Use the Pomodoro Technique:
Set a timer to 25 minutes and get going! Keep working to the end without disruption.
Brrrrring! Now that the sprint is over, take a five-minute break. A real break—no other work. Don’t forget to set your timer to five minutes.
Ding...back to work for another 25 minutes.
Ding...five minutes of break time.
And so on. Repeat this four times in a row. When you reach your fourth break, take an extra 15 minutes if you feel the need.
Start the cycle over again if necessary, but don’t go longer than two hours.
What makes this method so appealing is that it doesn’t wear you out and helps you stay efficient, even over the long term. After a week or two, you can start increasing the length of your work intervals. Personally, I enjoy doing cycles with 45 minutes of work and five-minute breaks.
Go ahead and try out the technique yourself tomorrow using this free online tool: Pomodoro Tracker.
Timebox Your Day
There are 24 hours in a day, and one of the rules of work-life balance is to divide the day into three equal parts. Eight hours for rest and relaxation; eight hours for family, friends, and leisure; and eight hours for work, training, and education.
With very few exceptions, we all have our routines, and not all routines are bad. Every morning, we do the same things in the same order 80 percent of the time, if not more. That morning routine is a kind of ritual that prepares us for the day ahead.
Let’s take a look at the following example of a pretty busy day that’s been nicely timeboxed, meaning there’s a scheduled time slot for each item:
Morning routine: 15 – 30 min
High-value-added task sprint: 60 – 120 min
Email session 1/3: 15 – 30 min
Meeting/calls/briefing/appointment: 30 – 60 min
Lunch: 45 – 60 min
Email session 2/3: 15 – 30 min
Pomodoro sprint for lower-priority tasks: 60 – 120 min
Meeting/calls/briefing/appointment: 30 – 90 min
Email session 3/3: 15 – 30 min
Update to-do list and prepare things for the next day: 15 min
Ideally, this day would only take five hours, but in the worst-case scenario, just over ten. We won’t be discussing the more extreme cases of 15- or 18-hour “crunch” days, which should be avoided at all costs. But while we’re on that subject, consider Illich’s Law, also known as the Law of Diminishing Returns: “Beyond a certain threshold, human efficiency decreases, even becoming negative.” So don’t go overboard with too many of those long days.
It’s important to find your personal productivity threshold. Once you know it, you can adjust it to better suit your needs.
Let’s Recap!
Start your day with a high-value-added task, even if it’s something tedious or unpleasant; the rest of the day will be all the more productive.
Use the Pomodoro method for 60 to 120 minutes once or twice a day to boost your productivity.
As much as possible, try to schedule dedicated windows of time throughout your day for certain tasks (calls/meetings/work sprints/training, etc.).
Now that you know how to put together a productive day, let’s talk about the task that has the irritating tendency to cause constant interruptions: emails. I’m going to show you how you can spend less time in your inbox. Yes, it is possible!
