25 Ways to Become more Productive

One of the problems of the information society in which we live is the constant barrage of information, blogs, projects, duties, social contacts and job-related issues. We tie up our entire day in tasks, projects and events that eventually lead us to feeling like there just aren’t enough hours in the day. We cut back on sleep to have time for more things, we rush through tasks that need more attention and we try to multi task, which all eventually just leads to worse results. Chin up, however; there are a couple of great ways of improving our efficiency and at the same time saving time. Here are 25 of those ways.

Let Stuff Go! This has to be the first on my list, as it’s the best one on the list. Still, it’s so often overlooked. How much in your daily life is actually something that you really need to do. Do you have to watch those three TV-series weekly? Do you have to spend 90 minutes in the bathtub every day? Do you have to follow 113 different blogs? Do you have to watch the news morning, evening and then again just before going to bed? My guess, for most of these questions, is that your answer is no.
Worst stuff comes first! This sounds a little counter-intuitive, I suppose, but if you have ten tasks and one of them looks like Satan developed it just to annoy and spite you; do that one first. It will make the other ones feel like a breeze in comparison and you’ll be more motivated to finish them.
Ask a friend! Sometimes, no matter how much of a genius you might be, somebody else might just know better. Ask a friend how (s)he would do something you’re trying. Don’t say “No, I’m not going to do that”, but seriously consider – or even try – their idea before rejecting out of turn.
Do it now! Instead of getting a new question and thinking “Huh, interesting. Let me just finish this off first”, ask yourself how long it will take. If it’s going to take you less than five minutes; chances are you’re better off doing it right away and then returning to whatever it was you were doing.
Timebox! For those difficult-to-finish tasks, where you’ve hit a dead end and just can’t seem to get anywhere, timeboxing is often a good idea. In essence, you’re telling yourself that “For the next X minutes, I’ll be doing nothing else than this”. By forcing yourself to focus on a single problem or issue, you stand a good chance of getting somewhere.
Subdivide it! If you’ve got a large project that you need finishing, divide it up into ten or twenty smaller blocks. See if you can’t divide the blocks into even smaller blocks. Dividing it up like this will help you get a better overview and allows you to finish things piece by piece until everything is done.
False Deadlines! Before starting a task, guess how long it will take to finish it. Don’t exaggerate in any direction; just make an educated guess. Then try to finish it within that time line. Race yourself!
Single-task! When we multi-task, we’re dividing our attention into many different parts. If you try single-tasking, you’re putting your entire attention into a single issue. Close down your Instant Messenger client, Twitter client and E-mail software, turn off your cell phone and any other non-essential software. Then focus everything on this one task.
New Environments! When I’m working on my book, I often find that a change of environment helps me with ideas. Something as similar as sitting in a park or just outside of my house or in a crowded cityscape allows me to come to completely different ideas and have new perspectives on what I’m already doing.
Delegate! Are you the right man for the job? Odds are that you can pass it on to somebody else; maybe even trade it with another person for a task that they’re hoping to get rid of.
Procrastinate! Even though this is the biggest no-no in efficiency and productivity management; there are things you can procrastinate. Take, for example, that blog entry you wanted to write. Take that book you want to finish. You might not have to walk the dog right this minute, unless he’s trying to climb the door and whimpering in fear of soiling himself.
Prioritize! Tagging all of your tasks with their urgency on a five point scale (I use “NOW!”, “ASAP”, “Now”, “Soon”, “Any day now”) will give you an indication of how much attention you need to put on it today. Finish your “NOW!”-tasks first, then do your “ASAP”-tasks, etc.
Plan your time! Also tag your tasks with the estimated time it will take to do them, in rough estimates. I use ” <5 min”, “5 min”, “5-15 min”, “15-30 min”, “30-60 min”, “>60 min” for my tasks. This allows you to quickly find something to do when you’ve got half an hour before your favorite TV-show starts.
Relax! Spending too much time being stressed and overworked is never good. Plan for relaxation as well. Surprise yourself by just breaking off mid-task and taking a warm bath with a lavender bath salts and a face mask. You deserve it.
Skip it for now! Sometimes, a part of a task can trip you up and trap you. In my fictional writing, for example, I often find that I’ve been staring into the air for ten minutes just trying to think of a name for a character in my book. Just call him “John J. Placeholder” for now and get back to it when the idea comes and get on with the rest of what you were doing.
Schedule it! Some goals are worth doing regularly. If you’re unemployed, for example, schedule something like “Apply for at least three new jobs” on a daily basis. Even minor things like “Clean the bathroom” or “Dust the bookshelves” can be scheduled on a 30 or 40-day repeating schedule so that the task doesn’t just pop up and surprise you when you should have done it long ago. I love Things for doing stuff like this.
Triage! Triage is a process of prioritizing patients based on the severity of their condition. Similarly, one can identify tasks and projects that are going to die and just let them die in peace without trying to save them while other projects are suffering.
Opt out! Are you a member of a club, community, forum secret society or subscription that takes time? Is it giving back as much as the time (and money) that you’re investing in it? If not, cut it out from your life!
Return it! If somebody asks you to do something, bounce it back to them and ask them to explain it in further detail or justify why it needs to be done. This saves you from having more and more tasks looming over you.
Dance to it! Music affects us all in different ways; check if you work best with or without music. Also see how different music affects you differently.
Shut yourself in! Try closing the door, turning off all ways of communicating with you and forgetting that there is a world outside of that room. Isolate yourself with your task and immerse yourself in it.
Change it! Does the task have to be completed in a specific way or are you free to play around with it? Try finding different ways of doing something. Sometimes, making something more complicated makes it more interesting and forces you out of your ordinary mindset. Try writing your next blog entry in the form of a sonnet even if you’re just describing the clothes you just bought.
Shoot from the hip! Give yourself a 30 or 60 second window to make a decision. Don’t agonize back and forward about whether you should wear the blue jeans or the black jeans, just pick one and get on with it. If you’re not happy with it a few minutes later, you can probably change your mind.
Do something else! There’s no need to stare yourself blind at the same tasks for hours on end. You probably have other things waiting for your attention, so why not do them for a while and then return to your task a little later?
Let Stuff Go! This one was so important that I just had to get back to it one more time. How many of your current tasks are mindbogglingly important? How many will change your life as you know it? How many will save the world? I’m guessing that your total list of critical tasks lands somewhere between zero and one (unless, of course, you are Barack Obama, in which case I welcome you, Mr. President, to this blog). Drop pointless tasks and stick to what’s important.