Wrapping Up—A Checklist
Episode #10 of the course How to be more productive by Dan Silvestre
Welcome to the last lesson of this course!
Let’s recap everything we’ve learned about becoming 100-times more productive.
Figuring out the why. Start your productivity journey by asking: “Why do you want to be more productive?” Keep asking why at least five times to uncover the ultimate reason you want to be more productive.
Finding your time leaks. Think of top three priorities/projects and then about everything you did in the last month. Determine those activities that helped you achieve or become closer to your goals. That’s your “meaningful work.” The rest are meaningless activities that steal your time.
Decluttering your routine. For each distraction, figure out as many solutions as you can. Keep applying solutions until you find the one that works.
Prioritizing. Think about your goals for next month. Choose those that most benefit your projects in terms of revenue or cost-cutting.
Creating and sticking to your to-do list. To create a to-do list for the next day, define six tasks related to your goals and order them by importance. Start by doing your first task, and don’t move on until you finished the first one. Repeat the process for each task. If you didn’t manage to finish them all, move unfinished tasks to your list for tomorrow. Rinse and repeat. If you carry an item too many days in a row without working on it, get rid of it completely.
Staying focused. To accomplish each task, set a timer for 25 minutes and work until the timer rings. Then, take a five-minute break. Repeat one to four more times, followed by a 15-minute break.
Getting routine things done. To avoid procrastination on routine tasks that still have to be done, use the two-minute rule. If the task can be done in two minutes, just do it. If it takes more than two minutes, start it and continue doing it for at least two minutes.
Getting things you hate done easily. Combine the things you want to do with the things you should do with “temptation bundling,” i.e. finding tasks you dread and pairing them with something you love. This will help you easily do the things you really hate doing.
Staying consistent. To develop new skills and invest your time wisely, you need to stay consistent. So, define one thing that you want to master, put up a calendar (or use an app), and mark each day when you devote time to working on your chosen thing. Keep the chain going: There should not be any breaks.
Using your “gap time” productively. It’s a common situation that gap times occur between meaningful activities. To use your gap times productively, think about small projects you can accomplish when they pop up. For example, you may learn something new, plan your week, work on a side project, clean up your inbox, or help your team.
Congratulations!
You are now in possession of the knowledge and tools to start being 100-times more productive. Following these simple principles will make you more focused, devoting your attention to meaningful work and developing skills you need to reach your goals.
Time to go out there and start applying them.
To a 100-times more Productive You!
Dan
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Recommended book
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
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