Post written by Marlon Ribunal. Follow me on twitter.
Productivity is really just doing the right things while doing things right.
Andy Kessler in “Eat People”
As knowledge workers, we have to deal with a lot of information as part of our job. We’re processing hundreds, if not thousands, of information every day. With responsibilities, personal obligations, and other commitments we’re involved with, we can easily become overwhelmed.
[ Want an alternative to the GTD Method of David Allen? Take a look at "The Instant Productivity Toolkit" by Merson ]
Think about this. There are only 24 hours in a day. A third of that is allocated for rest (sleeping time and other relaxing rituals). The other third is for work. The last portion of those 24 hours is for recreation and family or friends. Add an extra hour to your rest and you’re oversleeping or slacking. Add an extra hour to recreation and you’re too lax and lazy. Working on extended hours might just be OK once in a while but doing that over and over up to a point that it becomes a habit can only mean two things: You’re either workaholic or mismanaging your work.
The challenge is clear: Finish work within the time allotted for work. The only problem is you don’t have enough time. Process overflowing information within very limited amount of time – that’s Information Overload delight.
[ Want an alternative to the GTD Method of David Allen? Take a look at "The Instant Productivity Toolkit" by Merson ]
Your first lifeline is delegation. But delegating tasks to others has become a luxury that we can hardly afford given the new environment we’re dealing with in this Information Age. Everybody has his or her own problems to solve in the first place. Because of the availability of tools and technologies, we’re now expected to yield more than what we’re willing to output. When we’re given a job, we’re expected to deliver results with all the parameters that were required to accomplish the job.
These are some of the things that will help you ease or mitigate the weight of Information Overload that is bogging you down:
Take Productivity On The Road
Keep a pocket notebook in your car for jotting down important notes. With an overloaded brain, it’s easy to forget things. Write ideas down as you remember them. Jot down notes on stop lights. Review your ToDo list while stuck in the traffic. Remember to stay focus on the road, though.
A safer way to do this is with a reliable voice recorder. Most smart phones have built-in voice recorder. A good use of a voice recorder would be for dictating email content, ToDo’s, or maybe questions that you may want to ask during a meeting with the higher ups. It’s also good to keep some pieces of index cards and Post-It notes in your car for note taking purposes. Make your car a mini-extension of your office or cubicle.
Use Technology To Automate
Study the patterns of your recurring tasks. Are there any parts that can be automated with existing software? If there is no available out-of-the-box solution for specific tasks, does building a new tool satisfy ROI? The tasks that you may want to automate are the ones that are rudimentary or the boring stuff.
[ Want an alternative to the GTD Method of David Allen? Take a look at "The Instant Productivity Toolkit" by Merson ]
Modern Programming Languages make things possible. Many tasks that have something to do with computers can be automated. Programmers and developers take advantage of the Application Programming Interface offered by some productivity applications and services to address certain needs.
Eliminate Redundancy
Analyze the methods involved in your job. Scale down the processes to simplify task completion. You’ll be surprised to find steps that are unnecessary. Reduction of steps needed to put tasks into completion will increase efficiency and, thereby, productivity.
The book, “Eat People” by Andy Kessler has a good explanation of what efficiency and productivity are and how they are related. According to Eat People, “efficiency is about inputs while productivity is about outputs.” Kessler further explained:
To really understand all this, we need to add another word. Effectiveness is how outputs compare with what was planned or desired – doing the right things, while efficiency is the ratio of the amount of actual outputs to actual inputs – doing things right.
Productivity is really just doing the right things while doing things right.
Procrastinate
This seems to contradict what I stand for in this blog; but wait, let me explain myself here. What I mean to say is procrastinate when it’s inevitable. There are some legitimate reasons that allow procrastination. Wikipedia defines procrastination this way: “Procrastination refers to the act of replacing high-priority actions with tasks of low-priority, and thus putting off important tasks to a later time.”
[ Want an alternative to the GTD Method of David Allen? Take a look at "The Instant Productivity Toolkit" by Merson ]
That’s what I mean by procrastination. When nagging deadlines confront you head on, learn to negotiate. Some tasks are just impossible to turn in on their deadline. Negotiate deadlines if possible to give yourself more time to finish your tasks or project.
Marlon,
This is a great post. Love the tips. Particularly the one re: using technology to automate mundane and repetitive tasks. In doing some research for my post this week “5 Steps to Maximize Your Attention at Work” http://bit.ly/eII3FS I also resurrected an awesome piece by Clay Johnson from a year or so that gave some fantastic advice — namely…focus on managing your attention instead of managing the deluge of information coming at you every day — with some great processes to keep from getting distracted. His article and Twitter handle are linked in my post as well. Keep writing and I hope my post is helpful to you and your readers.
Cheers,
Mark
One of the best books I ever read on task management was Think Lazy, Grow Rich. Basically it just says to let go of the superfluous. One good example would be to reply directly and in one sentence on the faxes you receive. Another is not to file everything.
Hi Marlon,
We should make and then follow a procedure to do work efficiently.
There are many applications available in smart phones to take your notes, remind you about tasks and you can also make a To Do List.
Regards
nazimwarriach recently posted…Hostgator Coupon Code
Yes, Nazim. That’s what task management is all about – organized procedures and efficiency :-)
Hi Marlon,
Thanks for leaving a reply to my comment.
Waiting for your next blog post.
Regards
nazimwarriach recently posted…GoDaddy Coupon Code
I always carry something to write on, no matter where I am going. Post it notes, index cards, or just a folded piece of paper. There’s no telling when inspiration will strike.
Matthew recently posted…Finance Tracking
Matthew,
That’s right. You just don’t know when will that million dollar idea hit you. People don’t realize they’re losing ideas – great deal of ideas – that could have been captured. They think that they’ll “remember it” when they do so.
Some ideas – those that can change millions of lives – are hard to come by. Smart phones cannot replace notebook – never will. The first thing I want to do when an “Aha!” idea strikes is to grab my pen and Moleskine notebook and just jot down. I can write faster than I can type on my smart phone with small keys.