Own & Simplify; A 6-Point Productivity Playbook
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Effective management of our day to day builds our self-efficacy and agency, moves us toward our goals, and brings peace of mind. Productive days begin by setting a tone every morning, and capitalizing on well-crafted habits and routines.
High-value habits and personal productivity go hand in hand. Whatever our work and daily tasks may be, finding ways to simplify and organize our physical space, our mental chatter, fitness, home, and work lives moves mountains. Habits are often associated with rigidity and limiting rules, but habits are actually the opposite of limiting. Well-considered habits are about freedom, ease, and automaticity. Habits lead to routines, and routines can replace hundreds of decisions that we face every day.
Work toward adopting habits that work for you and serve you, your craft, goals and purpose, by trying these six points:
Create Enjoyable Mornings . Use the beginning of each morning to set a tone by meeting the day and greeting the day by taking some time in gratitude and peace. Make the morning yours by creating a routine that includes phone-free, notification-free quiet, stretching, moving, and putter time.
Do Important Work First - Urgent Work Second. People who reach lofty heights do important, high-value, high energy, high-brain power work first, before attending to urgent, administrative, or transactional work. Reserve the first hour of every work day for digging in on vision, purpose, and long-haul goal work beginning today. The cumulative benefits will amaze you.
Make a Short List and Do Tough-Stuff Early . Highly productive people plan and work to complete or advance very few items each day. They also tend to tackle the most difficult item on their list early. After your Important Work hour, jump in and eat the frog. Get on the other side of the toughest item on your short list.
Cultivate Single-Task Deep Work . When it’s time to work, be dressed and set up to perform and produce in a distraction-free prepared space. Be a professional. Focus on detail, craft, and follow-through. Take care with and pride in how you do things. Do good work in 75 or 90-minute blocks of time, and take breaks. The body and the mind benefit from change of focus, walks, and breaks throughout the day.
Manage your Energy and Your Time . Productive people use energy as a metric to gauge what to do and when. Time is finite and non-renewable. Be deliberate in the way you use time by scheduling, guarding, and prioritizing exercise, family time, personal development, rest, and rejuvenation.
Learn to Say No. People often categorize tasks and events that are not obligations, as obligations. Determine what works for your wellness, priorities, career, and family. Politely decline invitations, commitments, and requests as needed and when it’s time to do so.
Productivity is important for our focus, confidence, and careers. The habits and strategies listed represent effective ways highly-productive people address and manage their work. While some consider habits to be limiting, in truth habits free up our energy and time. Habits lead to routines, routines lead to systems, and systems move us toward vision, goals, and success.