Module 1: MINDSET
Lesson 10: PRODUCTIVITY & TIME-MANAGEMENT
Resources:
Pareto Principle (Wikipedia)
Parkinson’s Law (Wikipedia)
Pomodoro App – Befocused (iOS)
Audio Version
Download link for the single MP3 version of this lesson
Note: All the lessons in audio version for the entire mindset module can be downloaded as a single ZIP file, here.
Transcript:
This lesson is all about productivity and time management.
Needless to say, this is a very important topic. The more that you can do with your time, the more you’ll be able to achieve in a day (or the less time you’ll need to achieve the same amount as others).
When it comes to productivity, output per hour matters more than the amount of hours worked. It is definitely about quality over quantity. You can work for twelve hours in a day but that doesn’t mean you get much done at all, whereas you could get more done in 2 hours if you are super focused and productive.
Here’s several suggestions how to increase your efficiency and productivity:
The Pareto Principle (80/20)
You’ve likely heard about the Pareto Principle before (commonly known as the 80/20 rule).
This rule states that for many events, 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes. The majority of results come from a minority of actions.
For example:
20% of your daily tasks that will bring you 80% of the results.
20% of your clients bring in 80% of your revenue.
20% of your ads make 80% of the sales.
20% of your products make 80% of the revenue.
So what you want to do is identify that 20 percent which brings you 80 percent and focus as much of your energy as possible on increasing that 20 percent. One easy way to do this is to ask yourself with whatever activity that you’re doing, “is this action helping me achieve my goal”. Is what you’re working on right now part of the 20% that brings in 80%?
Let’s say you’re out there posting on social media, creating videos on YouTube, writing blog posts etc. Is all that time and effort you’re dedicating to these activities bringing in the bulk of your revenue? If it’s only responsible for less than 20% of your revenue but is taking a large part of your time, then it may be a better decision to stop posting on social media and dedicate this time to the mediums that are bringing in 80% of your revenue (perhaps ads, webinars, JV’s etc.).
So the Pareto Principle (80/20) states that 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes.
Identify those 20% causes and focus on them.
Stop doing other stuff that’s only bringing you in 20 percent but sucking up 80 percent of your time and resources.
Parkinson’s Law
Parkinson’s Law is very important to understand as it can dramatically affect your overall productivity and output.
Even if you don’t the name of this law, you’ve probably experienced its effects. Parkinson’s law states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
When it comes to setting deadlines, whenever you set a deadline to finish something, you tend to complete the work in that amount of time to the deadline. So if you set a deadline three months away, you tend to either slow down your work or speed it up (depending on the amount of work) to reach that deadline.
For example, if you have work that you could finish within a month but your deadline is in three months from now, somehow you’re going to stretch that out (whether it’s consciously or subconsciously to be able to only have it done in three months time).
Be aware of this law when you set deadlines. You don’t want to set a deadline for a project that’s too far away. You don’t want to give yourself too much flexibility because it just means you’re going to procrastinate and you’re going to find ways to stretch out your work and delay it to meet that deadline.
Focus on setting tight deadlines and high standards, because you are going to aim to work towards these deadlines and standards. It’s better to set a deadline and have it be a little bit too tight and move that deadline by a day or by two days, than it is to set the deadline weeks away and actually just waste all that time and be inefficient because you’ve set your deadline too far away.
By setting tight deadlines and high standards, it is more likely that you will achieve completion of your task within that time or within that quality that you set for yourself.
The Pomodoro Technique
A concept and a technique that I use personally to work and to be able to maximize my productivity is the the Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francisco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It is named after an Italian tomato.
How it works is as follows:
Work is broken down in segments of time called Pomodoro’s, which are 20 to 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. Typically there are 4 Pomodoro’s with a 5 minute break inbetween, and after the 4th Pomodoro a longer break of 30-60 minutes is permitted.
Most of us have very short attention spans these days. We’re just so distracted by so many things wanting our attention all the time, that it’s really hard to focus for longer periods of time.
Focusing for long periods of time is difficult to do anyways. Compare it to sprinting as fast as you can. This is possible to do for short bursts and short distances at a time, but it’s not sustainable for longer distances and longer periods of time. However, in shorter distances you can achieve faster times for those sprints but you can’t run a marathon at the same pace of a sprint.
In the same way, you can’t work 8-12 hour sessions with the same amount of focus and productivity as you could if you only had focused for 20 or 25 minutes at a time with a break after each focus session. This is why the Pomodoro Technique works so well, because for a period of 20 or 25 minutes you can work with extreme focus and productivity and then you can take a break to recharge.
Typically how it works is you do a 20 or 25 minute session, followed by a five minute break where you step away from your work. Walk around, do some stretches, go to the bathroom… whatever you want to do and then you go back to start the next Pomodoro session.
There’s actually many apps available for the Pomodoro Technique on your smartphone. You can just download the app and it will have a timer and a little alarm will ring after each session is done and tell you when to take a break. This way you can also track how many Pomodoro’s you work every day and over time you’ll have a log of your productivity.
In my experience, doing just 8 Pomodoro’s in a day (so that’s four hours of super focused work) is way more productive and you get way more done than 8-12 hours of a marathon work session, sitting there and procrastinating and actually just being super super unproductive.
So, by using the Pomodoro Technique, it is actually possible to get much more done in a very short period of time. Even if you need to do two hours in the morning and two hours a night, you can find a way somehow to work that in and you can be much more productive part-time than a full day of work.
I highly recommend following the Pomodoro Technique and using that when you’re working.
Cutting Out Distractions
Cutting out distractions makes a huge difference to being able to focus and be productive.
We typically have so many distractions happening all the time, especially with instant messengers, chat apps, smartphones, social media… and then also our daily duties and responsibilities to parents, kids, spouses, partners, friends, etc. There’s always so many things that demand our attention and it can be very difficult to focus and be productive.
Here are my recommendations how to deal with distractions:
Cut out all social media. Social media is terrible because it is literally designed to make you addicted to it. It is designed to make you want to spend as much time on that platform as possible because that is how they make money. Facebook wants you to stay on Facebook for as long as possible because you’re going to be clicking on ads and generating revenue for them. It’s the same with YouTube, it’s the same same with Instagram and whatever other social media platforms you use. They are designed to keep you on there as long as possible and it just sucks your time.
If you can handle it, completely stop using social media.There is no benefit to it unless you’re using it for communicating with with people that normally you cannot contact (hard to imagine these days people have email or smartphones).
It’s possible that you need social media for business (such as running ads or moderating a Facebook group). In that case I’d suggest creating a separate account where you don’t follow anyone so that you cannot be distracted by your newsfeed or notifications and you purely use it for business.
If you really feel you have to use social media, only use it at the end of the day after you’ve finished your work day. Don’t use it during the day, especially not when you’re working. It is the biggest distraction that I personally know of.
Turn off your phone and instant messengers. Another big distraction is your smartphone and any sort of instant messengers that you have on your computer. If messages or notifications pop up while you’re working, it’s incredibly distracting.
I’d recommend that you sign out of your instant messengers when you’re working (or put them on mute) and do the same thing with your phone. You could switch your phone to “do not disturb” or “airplane” mode to avoid being distracted by any apps, messages or phone calls. If you really need to be able to be contacted, there are settings on your phone that allow certain numbers to contact you but block the rest. Alternatively you could get a second phone with another SIM card for people that you’d like to be able to contact you at all time. However, I’d suggest to tell them to contact you there only in case of an emergency.
Set rules for people you live with.
If you live with other people, (partner, spouse, kids, parents, roommates etc.), when you’re working make it a rule to tell people to leave you alone. This is especially important when you work from home. It can be really difficult when you’re working from home and you live with other people because they may think that just because you’re at home and you’re physically in the same space that they can walk in while you’re working at anytime or that you’re constantly available to listen. That’s not the case. It’s very difficult to focus on something and have someone come in and interrupt your thoughts to talk about something completely different to what you’re working on. That is super distracting.
So, when you’re working, tell people to leave you alone. Lock yourself in your room or office and don’t allow people to talk to you when you’re working, unless it’s an emergency.
How To Deal With Procrastination
Procrastination is a big enemy of productivity.
You’ve likely experienced it, finding excuses and reasons not to get started or not to do a specific task. You’ll find yourself making yourself some coffee, going to the gym, watching TV (just one more episode)… anything to actually not do your work which you should be doing.
Procrastination can be difficult to deal with. Everyone kind of has it to a certain degree but I believe you can train yourself to actually get better at not procrastinating. Here are a few ways how I personally deal with procrastination:
Just get started. Getting started with the actual task is the hardest part. The first 10 minutes of doing something is often the biggest hurdle. If you force yourself to just do something (even if you don’t feel like it at all), just force yourself to sit down for 10 minutes and start that task and then see how you feel. After 10 minutes you’ll usually find that it becomes easier to continue and to be able to complete it. If you can’t continue after those first 10 minutes, then take a bit of a break and then come back later to try again.
The key ingredient to overcoming procrastination is just to start for at least 10 minutes. Ten minutes is not that long. Sit down, start for 10 minutes and a lot of the time you’ll feel it becomes easier to continue or even complete the task in one go.
Meditation. Another very helpful method to overcome procrastination is meditation. When you feel like you’re procrastinating and you don’t want to get started, just meditate for 10-20 minutes. Find a peaceful place without distractions, sit down, focus on your breath and try and think of nothing else. Meditation will usually calm you down and you’ll feel more relaxed and more focused. You’ll likely be able to get started with the task at hand and have no more issues with procrastination.
If you must procrastinate, do something useful. If you absolutely don’t want to get started after forcing yourself to start for the first 10 minutes and you tried meditation you can’t get anything done then procrastinate by doing something useful. Do something that will benefit you so that even if you’re not doing your task at hand, you’ll be gaining from it either way. For example, chores that need to be done at home (washing dishes, mowing the lawn), going for a walk, going to the gym, prepping your meals for the next few days, reading a book, studying a course or video related to your business, etc.I find that exercise typically helps me overcome procrastination pretty quickly due to the endorphins released into the bloodstream (the feel-good hormones).
To Sum Up
Let’s sum up the lesson.
The Pareto Principle. 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes. Identify that 20 percent and focus all your efforts on it. Cut out the 80% that only brings you 20%.
Parkinson’s Law. Set deadlines tighter than you usually would. It’s better to not be ready in time by the deadline is there and you have to push it forward a few days than it is to set the deadline too far in advance and waste weeks or even months when you could have done it much much quicker.
The Pomodoro Technique. Download an app for your smartphone. Work in 20-25 minute bursts with five minute breaks. You get way more done in a much shorter period of time. Aim for at least 8 Pomodoro’s per day.
Cut out distractions. Stop using social media or if you must, only use it a little bit at the end of the day after you’ve completed all your important tasks. Mute your phones and instant messengers when you are working. If you live with people, tell them to leave you alone while you are working. When you’re working lock yourself in your room put up a do not disturb sign on your door.
Procrastination Cures: Start by forcing yourself to sit down and do the task for 10 minutes. Usually you’ll find that it will become easier and you’ll be able to continue or even complete the task. If you can’t continue after 10 minutes, then I suggest meditating for 10-20 minutes, focus on your breath, clear your thoughts and think of nothing else. If you really must procrastinate and you absolutely don’t want to start, do something useful like exercising, chores or reading a book. Do something that will help you progress in some way, in some area of your life (ultimately it’ll help you relax and hopefully help you overcome that procrastination).
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