Boosting Productivity in 15 Seconds (Part 2)

This post follows "Boosting Productivity in 15 Seconds (Part 1)".

Part one of this series was reasonably popular; at least, moreso than my previous posts. I can only assume that there are a lot of people who would like to be more productive than they are. With that in mind, here is part two of the series.

Throughout this series, you may find that what is said is something that you and many others already know. But for those who don't, I'm going to assume that all readers are new to the techniques I put forward.

1. Planning. We have almost been made blind to this word because of its near constant usage. You hear it everywhere, everyone is talking about planning, saying that planning is a good idea. But it becomes the sort of situation where you say a word again and again so many times that you forget what that word means or why you were saying it repeatedly.

Planning is an activity which should happen as your day progresses. When something comes up that you will need to do, add it in your plan. At the start of each day, spend 15 seconds reviewing your upcoming tasks, and use the following ideas.

For planning to be an effective tool for boosting your productivity, it firstly needs to be a commitment, not just a to-do list that you write on a piece of paper. Too many times I have seen people plan to make a particular phone call, or to get part of a project done, but the day comes and goes and the work never gets done, the call never gets made. Because those people failed to make a commitment, they began to procrastinate, causing the job to never get done (or to only get done after the deadline).

When you record your plan, don't just leave things there. Look at your plan, review it to make what changes you feel are necessary, and then walk away briefly. When you return, look at the first day of your plan, or the first week, or even the first planned task and make a commitment that you will get that task (or tasks) done, that you will not put them off until later. As you follow through with that commitment, look at the next set of tasks and commit to them. Keep doing this until you have worked your way through everything you need to do.

This commitment is what ensures that a plan fulfills its purpose. Let's face it, there's no point spending time on a plan that you're not going to use.

Secondly, for a plan to be an effective tool for boosting your productivity, you need to be able to ignore it. Before you start worrying about me contradicting myself, read on further.

When you are writing a plan, you can plan for a year, a month, a week, a day, even down to the hour or less. And while all of this very specific planning might help you to milk your days for all you can, you need to remember what the world does - it will throw things in your way. You will experience illness, unexpected phone calls and guests, equipment failure and emergency tasks. If you plan down to the hour, you put a lot of pressure on your pre-scheduled tasks when these unexpected events come up - because instead of having 6 tasks which need to be done at some point today, you have 1 task that needs to be finished in 15 minutes, but your building has lost electricity (and by the time you get electricity back again, you'll be pushing your second task back, and your third...).

Thirdly, a plan needs to be easily accessible. Personally, I use Microsoft Outlook for my planning. Combining the calandar and tasks list / to-do list with my book of contacts and e-mails provides me with all the planning functionality I need. Some people are happy enough to use a piece of paper with scrawled handwriting. It all comes down to personal preference.

Finally, when you're writing your plan, write it in a fashion that encourages you to get it done. A to-do list is simply that: a list of things you need to do. It's a useful little tool, but it doesn't encourage you to get those tasks done on time. Instead, attach a "Must Be Completed By..." statement to each task, and then sort those tasks by urgency.

So, to summarise:

1) If you plan it, commit yourself to getting it done.
2) Don't get too specific - leave room for the unexpected.
3) Make sure your plan is easy to access, wherever you will need it.
4) Set a deadline for each task, to stop procrastination.

Do you use planning as a technique to boost your productivity? Share your thoughts.

Keep watching for Part Three of this series.


(My apologies for the delay in getting Part Two posted. I've had university exams, work and SES training hit me all at once, so the R.I. slipped to the back of my mind for a while.)