5 Easy Tips to Enhance Your Productivity Like a Boss

“Money is a great servant but a bad master”

What Francis Bacon famously said of money in the 16th century is even more true of technology in the 21st Century. 

On the one hand technology gives us unparalleled access to resources and convenience in getting things done (who would have imagined typing on a bed, with spelling being auto-corrected and communication being sent to thousands of people across the world in the blink of an eye even 40 years ago!)

The big question then is despite this tremendous amount of power in our hands, why do we still always seem to be overloaded with work. Are we really working that much more than our predecessors or are we just being ineffective?

For an entrepreneur like me, money equals time so, it’s even more imperative to be productive.

So, I summarize my learnings as well as self-identified failings from the corporate and entrepreneurial world to recommend five steps that can hugely improve your productivity. These tips are even more relevant today as most of us are obligated to work from home and find being productive even more difficult than earlier.

1.   Stay Off “Productivity Tools”

No - I didn't mistype this. While I’m all for tools that ACTUALLY enhance productivity, more often than not communication tools like messenger

Unless used for communication in transactional roles (where you need instant responses from others to act on), the so-called productivity tools can be remarkably unproductive. Remember, that ping on your office messenger software that inevitably pops up when you’re in the middle of doing something important? A quick exchange like that can make you lose your focus and set you back tens of minutes in your thinking. The convenience and WhatsApp like nature of instant messaging often makes people think it’s OK to ‘ping’ you with frivolous questions they won’t normally bother emailing or calling you with.

So, the next time you sit down on your system, make sure you log off all the office instant messaging apps – the same, of course, goes for personal messaging as well.

Task 1: For the next couple of weeks, set your instant messenger status as ‘away’ with a status message with an auto-response that reads something like below:

“I am trying to enhance my focus and as such avoiding the distraction of instant messaging. From now on, I will not access the XYZ messaging app anymore. Starting Date so and so, I will be permanently offline on the app. Should you need to reach me – feel free to drop me an email or call me for urgent requirements.”

2.   Try Some Gin (Or Think - Then Do)

When given a task, like say writing a slide-pack – a lot of us tend to go on instant action mode. We start writing the first slide, without really giving a lot of thought to what the final output would (or should) look like. This approach invariably leads to a lot of rework and sub-optimal quality of the final output.

In situations like this try some GIN before getting down to the actual work (I’m not advocating drinking at work). Here’s what the GIN methodology looks like:

• Goal: Starting with the end in mind. Have a clear picture of the end outcome that you want to achieve from any given task.
• Inclusions: To meet your goal, you need to present evidence. What is the evidence in terms of key items/data points that you should include to drive the message across
• Narrative: (Also called a storyline) Even the best content shown wrongly can confuse the audience and result in disasters. Build a clear, compelling narrative that logically walks the audience using the right inclusions towards your goal.

In this example, you should create a skeleton presentation with key messages (slide title) for each slide using the GIN methodology. Once you’re done thinking, the rest of the content pretty much writes itself.

3.   Use Templates

Remember those things called templates that are suggested when you open a new Word or PowerPoint document? Are you guilty of ignoring that message and simply starting with a blank document instead?

Let me tell you from personal experience – it’s a big mistake. Templates not only look good (they’re designed by professionals so they better be), they’re also a great way to think through the contents as most tailored templates will contain items you’re expected to include in your document/presentation/model/website, etc.

At the end of the day, your work will be judged on aesthetics and content. If you use templates judiciously it is more than half the battle won as they help on both counts.

It is also worth keeping in mind that templates are not just the defaults that come with your software.

If you’re working on a project similar to something you’ve done in the past, reuse anything good from the relevant project. Last time I checked there were no marks for reinventing the wheel.

Last time I checked there were no marks for reinventing the wheel.

So, the next time you’re tempted to start with a new blank document, remember - God created templates for a reason.

4. Solving the Problem of Choice

Most of us are flooded with a multitude of tasks at any given time. Unfortunately, this task list keeps expanding as new emails regularly keep popping into our mailboxes. This leads to the “problem of choice”.

Most of us react to the problem of choice by acting like a butterfly. We jump from task to task without really putting our head down to finish one task before moving on to the other.

The result: At the end of the day, we are overwhelmed with a bunch of unfinished tasks and while we’ve worked hard, we have nothing to show for it in terms of completed results.

Did I also mention that by shifting focus from one thing to another we lose precious hours?

But you, my friend are lucky, you’ve now learned to keep the pesky problems at bay and you don’t have co-workers flooding your instant messenger, so this should be easy for you.

Start each day with a list that’s set-in-stone. Remember, you don’t get to choose to respond to an email, even if it takes only a minute or to work on two projects simultaneously (oh yes, no one can multitask effectively – not women, not men, not transgenders – NO ONE). You need to have a clear list of activities that you will work your way down sequentially. You finish one and move to the next and only after you’re done with the tasks listed down do you respond to emails and such.

Cheat: If your tasks will last a few days or weeks, allocate 30 minutes to 1 hour at the end of each day to clear emails – this is acceptable in most circumstances

5.   The Drastic Step – Limited Email

This is something inspired by Tim Ferris’ 4-hour workweek (a highly recommended read by the way). The biggest issue most of us face is the melodious but irritating sound of emails constantly hitting our inboxes. Ironically, most of these emails aren’t even meant for you (if you don’t believe me just check your last 30 emails and see how many had you in CC with no action expected). To make you ultra-productive, you need to set up an autoresponse that reads something like the following:

“Dear Sender,

In my quest to give my best to <Your organization name>, I am limiting spending time reading emails that may not be urgent or relevant to me. As such:

• I am redirecting all emails where I am in CC/BCC to a folder that will be unmonitored If your email needs my attention, please make sure to mark me in the to field of the email
• I will be checking and responding to my emails twice (or once if you prefer) daily at 10 AM and 4 PM. If you need an immediate response, please feel free to call me on my cell/office line

             I appreciate your understanding in the matter”

Now that you have rid yourself of most distractions, you should be able to focus and prioritize like a champion and be your most productive self.

HOWEVER, while these office hacks will go a long way in enhancing your productivity this article will be incomplete if I don’t talk about the elephant on your palm. You guessed it right – Your Cell Phone.

Bonus Tip - Timebox Your Phone

I have already spoken about how distractions can increase time taken to complete a task, but the tiny cell phone is, in all likelihood, harming your productivity much worse than you can imagine.

I understand it is impractical to move back to a Nokia 3310 or disconnect ourselves from our cell phones. But do you know on an average person spends almost 4 hours on their phones daily? Even discounting business calls, a good part of our work (and family) time is used in staring at a mind-numbing tiny screen.

The fact that most of us a hooked to social media apps that are designed to be addictive doesn’t help. Remember the number of times a quick glance at Facebook turns into a few videos and pointlessly checking other peoples’ life. (I’m barely active on social media but on the rare occasions that I log in I can almost feel myself getting sucked in).

This, however, is not a sermon on whether or not you should broadcast your life.

My humble point is that in order to be effective, we need to timebox the usage of our phones. Realize that the time you spend at work is paid for and therefore belongs to your company (even if you own the company). Earmark small ‘break-time’ windows where you will access your cell phone. Take care that these windows are small (around 15 minutes max) and that they coincide with the time where you would be away from your desk anyway. Lunch and coffee breaks are a good time to check your phone.

If you can implement these simple tips, you will not only find yourself with more hours in the day, the quality of your work, and your overall satisfaction will see significant improvement as well.

I’d love to hear what you think of these tips and if you have any other ideas for improving productivity.

Cheers

Gaurav