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Productivity Coach's Corner: Stop! And Increase Your Productivity Today
August 18, 2009
By Jason W. Womack, MEd, MA, and Jodi Womack, MA
"When you write down your ideas you automatically focus your full attention on them."—Michael Leboeuf
It is true that "Hurdle Happens," meaning from time to time challenges, issues, problems, and unforeseen events will come our way. Don't let those hurdles stop you (or even slow you down); instead, appreciate them as chances to learn and grow professionally.
Walk the magazine aisle at any bookstore, and you will be "reminded" of everything you need to do to succeed. The headlines give us five places to go; four ways to be; three things to do today to make ourselves, our lives, and our careers better.
Here are two ways to enhance your own productivity: Bring to mind your own productivity procedures, and ask yourself if you need to "stop" doing something in order to more appropriately focus on where you are going and how you are going to get there.
Below are potential hurdles you can anticipate, along with ideas on how to use them as positive opportunities for your own professional development.
1. Stop waiting for the "right time" to think and plan. Think about how your time is allocated to "the big three:" Sleep, life, and work. More and more, those hours are blending. Do you ever take a nap during the day, do a little work after dinner at home, or call a doctor to set up an appointment from the office?
There is no "best time" to do the "best" thinking. Intuitively, most people know they NEED to do it, they just don't have a system or routine in place to support that need. Focus, like time and energy, is one of our limited resources, so it helps to practice deliberately and effectively to develop new habits of focused thinking and planning time.
Begin tomorrow morning by asking yourself, "What can I do to build in some focused thinking time today?" If you write down four to seven "to do items," you'll have something to start with. Our advice is always to start with a five-day experiment. Only commit to trying a productivity method for five workdays. (The days may or may not be in a row, that's not important.)
Next, ask someone to be your "accountability" partner. Weekly meetings over the next five weeks will give you and this other person the opportunity to check-in on those goals and productivity ideas. The meeting can happen in person or on the phone (or even on video, via Skype or iChat!); and, they are quick meetings. They only last 10 to 15 minutes, once a week.
During each meeting, you only need to share two things: What you did over the PAST week that engaged the thinking and planning process and what you plan to do during the NEXT week to continue the progress. When you and your partner share these two areas of focus, you build a "can do" momentum that will last a few days at minimum!
2. Stop letting ideas/possibilities pass you by. Holding your attention on what you're doing (reading this article) while considering all you have to do (plan the agenda for next Monday's meeting) in between the surprises (the phone rings right…NOW!) is challenging to say the least.
Often times, we have ideas where and when we can NOT do anything about them. You know, you're in your car, sitting in traffic, and you start to think about all the ways you're going to be more effective at work; or you're out at a child's sporting event, and someone asks you a work-related question and you promise to e-mail them next week.
For the next five days, make a deliberate effort to "capture your thinking WHILE you're thinking," so you don't have to have that thought again. In day-to-day living, this means a few things:
Spend a dedicated amount of time each day (for just five days to test it out), writing down ANY and EVERY thing you're thinking of in that moment. Practice by setting a clock timer for just seven minutes. In those seven minutes write down as much as possible for at least four items per minute for a total of 28 (or more) items. The first couple of days this will look like a to-do list; after that, it will more closely resemble a "safety-net" for really good thoughts.
If you don't like the writing process so much, consider using a digital tool to help you out. While digital recorders are available (some even built into your mobile phone), we found a transcription service such as Reqall.com works well. (For a more complete list of "productivity tools," Please visit JasonRecommends.com.
Using this kind of transcription service (the basic version is free) allows you to call a toll-free phone number, speak a message up to 30 seconds in length, and then review it just minutes later as a typed e-mail message in your inbox. We recommend using this at the end of a meeting, or while you're out and about with a thought on your mind to capture "for later."
Focused concentration time may be one of your most valuable assets—taking advantage of a little bit of your own attention may be just what you need to lift up above the day-to-day issues of life and work and see things anew.
Jason W. Womack, MEd, MA, and Jodi Womack, MA, help professionals up-level their organizational performance through maximizing time, energy, focus, and technology. To receive your own Personal Productivity Checklist, e-mail Jason and Jodi, and visit WomackCompany.com.
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