10 productivity tips to make 2015 your most successful year ever
Photo by Jeff Sheldon on Unsplash.com
Let's face it: everyone starts the year saying they want to be more successful. However, most people fall back into their old habits and lose sight of their goals before flipping the calendar to February.
In today's busy world it can be easy to blame this on "not having enough time," but for the vast majority of us, that's a cop out. As Jason Fried says in the excellent book Rework, “When you want something bad enough, you make the time—regardless of your other obligations. The truth is most people just don’t want it bad enough. They
protect their ego with the excuse of time."
This may sound harsh, but accepting this reality—that we make time for anything important—is the first step toward doing your best work. That’s not enough on its own, however, to make 2015 your most productive and successful year ever. Putting a plan into action requires shifting in your priorities to change your results—starting with these ten keys to unprecedented productivity:
1. Prioritize sleep. One of the biggest myths of our hyperactive 21st century is that less sleep leads to more productive time. In fact, the opposite is true, and anyone who brags about burning the midnight oil eventually burns out. There is no more foundational productivity rule, nothing that's more critical to everything that follows, than the simple act of getting 7-8 hours of sleep every night. Make this one non-negotiable, and you'll have more focus and more energy every day.
2. Eat healthy. What you put into your body ultimately dictates what you'll get out of it. Like getting quality sleep, it's important to think of eating healthy as an investment. It may take a little while to get into the practice of preparing healthier meals and avoiding fast food, processed carbs, and sugar, but doing so will pay serious dividends in the long run.
3. Fit exercise into your schedule. Remember that whole thing about people protecting their ego with the excuse of time? Nowhere is this more applicable than when it comes to exercise. If you don't make time for exercise now, you're making yourself vulnerable to chronic conditions later. It's also important to remember that exercise doesn't have to take hours out of your day. One of my favorite workouts—and one of the most effective I've discovered—is 20 minutes of high-intensity interval training. You probably can find 20 minutes in your day if really you want to.
4. Find a "second brain." David Allen, author of the productivity bible Getting Things Done, says “your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” In order to clear out the clutter, you'll need a system to deal with everything you have to remember. One tool that people often overlook is a "second brain"—a way to store and access all the information you need to know sometime, just not right now. Your top client's favorite restaurant, for example. Your wife's favorite perfume. The code to give the security company when you trip the alarm at the office. For me, that's where Evernote comes in. It gives me a reliable place to inventory a wide variety of information that I'd otherwise have to keep in my brain and it's accessible from my phone, tablet, work laptop, and home computer. I even use it for my to-do list. There are several other good options out there, however, and many are free—as your mind will be once you stop relying in memory alone.
5. Check email less often. For many of us, checking email has become the predominant activity in our workday. That's unfortunate, because email is merely a conduit to our best work, not where it happens. It may sound counterintuitive, but one of the best ways to put email in its rightful place is to check it less often. What's the "correct" frequency for checking email? It depends somewhat on the nature of your work, but it's almost certain that the answer is "less often than you do now."
6. Say "no" more often. Just as it's critical to say no to the siren song of email, it's also important to say no to low-priority commitments that steal your time and attention. If you're going to do your best work, you'll need more focus, and something will have to give. Start by auditing where you spend your time and make changes accordingly while being more assertive in saying no when needed in the future.
7. Delegate everything you can—and not just at work. There may be times when you can say yes without impacting your calendar. It's simply a matter of being better at delegation. There's a very good chance you're doing work that is better done by others—and not just at work. For example, one of the smartest, most simple changes I made in 2014 was to take my shirts to the dry cleaner instead of washing and ironing them myself. Instead of spending time on a task I hate and am bad at, I pay a nominal price to have someone else do it—and gain back a couple hours every month.
8. Strive to be a producer, not a consumer. What do I do with any time I save by making changes like the one mentioned above? Well, you're reading one of them: I write as much as possible. However, another shift I made recently gives me even more time: I've focused on being less of a consumer of content and more of a producer. In today's communication environment we all have the opportunity to share, and be recognized for, what we know. Doing so, however, takes time—time we certainly have if we prioritize accordingly. (Starting to see a pattern here?) One of the best ways to create this time is to consume less media. While it's critical to continue learning about your industry, it's possible that you're reading too much. Even if not, consider how much time you spend scrolling through your Facebook feed, playing games on your phone, or watching television. There’s a good chance it may be a lot more fulfilling to spend time promoting your expertise and connecting with people who can help you reach your goals.
9. Understand that "perfect" is often the enemy of "done." One thing that keeps many of us from reaching our goals is that we're perfectionists. Whatever it is we're trying to create never gets launched because we focus on the enormity of the task or our inability to make it “perfect,” even though "perfect" only rarely exists. This column is a great example. Is it perfect? No. Will I look back on it in six months and see room for improvement? Sure. But will I ultimately be glad I hit the "send" button instead of continuing to tinker with it? Definitely.
10. Focus on one thing at a time. Another modern myth is that multitasking makes you more productive. In truth, it's usually impossible to do two things at once if you want to get either done well. So, in 2015, slow down in the short run in order to do higher-quality work in the long run. Put your phone on silent. Close your door. Close out of your email program—and work. Focus on what's really important, one thing at a time, instead of putting half your focus into, and getting inadequate results from, everything all at once.
One word of warning: making these changes won’t be easy. If you've read this far, however, it's likely that the status quo isn’t easy for you, either. Make a commitment to doing more than the average person is willing to do this year, and you'll be much more likely to end the year with a level of productivity—and success—that others can only imagine.
