Focus on being productive instead of being busy

15 Jun 2011

Somehow the modern world has assigned the meaning of the word "effective" to the word "busy".

For some people being busy is a status symbol – a badge of honor that marks them as important, a go-getter, an achiever. The problem with this mindset is that they never end being busy: to-do lists keep growing, emails pile up, phone calls go unanswered, and they're always rushing towards some imaginary destination.

Being busy doesn't necessarily mean that you're getting work done. To be productive, you have to deliver.

How do you become less busy and more productive?

Avoid distractions and interruptions

Distractions disrupt your train of thought and cause you to lose focus.

When you need to focus on something, you can take control of some distractions by:

quitting your email application
setting your IM status to "Busy"
switching your cellphone to "silent" and put it in your drawer
closing Facebook and Twitter

Those that you can't control, you need to plan for and manage:

have clear rules about when and how people can interrupt you
avoid meetings whenever possible

Explain to your colleagues that a certain signal (like having your earphones in or setting your IM status to "busy") means that they should send you an email rather than interrupting you. To avoid seeming unreachable, be sure to follow up on those emails when you can, though!

Try to change the way you think about meetings. They aren't quick and easy ways to convey requirements to a group of people, they're time- and productivity drains: when ten people attend a one-hour meeting, the company just lost 10 hours of productivity – more than a day's worth of work.

If you absolutely must have a meeting, make notes of everything discussed and email these to all of the attendees afterwards. Unwritten requirements can be interpreted in different ways and memories do change over time, even if people thought that they understood and remembered what was said.

Focus on one task at a time

Don't multitask. Read that again: Don't multitask.

Many of us think we're good at it, but studies show that none of us are – when we multitask we forget things and we lose track of what we're doing.

Use services and tools that help you stay focused and "in-the-zone" whilst working on something:

If you find an interesting article that you'd like to read, save it to Instapaper so you can read it later.
If you remember something you need to do, write it down or send yourself a 10-word email about it so you can think about it later.

If you absolutely have to break focus and start working on something else, try to capture the state of mind you were in by noting down your thoughts and ideas about the task before switching.

When you return to the task, read your notes before you start working on it again.

Don't use email as a to-do list

Opening your email client and seeing that you have tens, hundreds or thousands of unread messages can have a significant effect on your mood and productivity.

Learn about and apply the Inbox Zero concept to keep your Inbox empty.

Plan your work

Always assume that you have only eight hours per day to get your work done.

Work tends to expand into the time assigned to it, so if you tell yourself that "if worst comes to worst, I'll just stay at work for an extra hour or two", you'll likely end up working those extra hours unnecessarily.

Make time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Think about the work you need to do, how you've done similar work in the past, and how you could do it better in the future.

Delegate

You can't do everything you'd like to do, and do it all well. Focus on the things that you excel at and matter most to your position, delegate work that distracts you from those tasks.

If you're a team leader or manager, try not to do everything yourself – your team is there to help carry the workload. I've found that the one-third rule is a good guide to determining how much time I should spend on planning tasks versus how much time my team should spend working on them (one third of the time from now until the deadline is for planning, the rest is for completing it).

Aim for small victories

Celebrate small achievements that build toward your final deliverables.

Having a single looming deadline for the bulk of the work required will lead to stress, but regularly reaching milestones will instill a feeling of accomplishment and will keep you and your team excited about what you're doing.

Determine when you're most productive

No-one is 100% productive 8 hours a day, so figure out whether you're energized as soon as you get out of bed or only later during the day and schedule your most important work accordingly. Don't slack off during times you think you're less productive! Use these to complete smaller tasks, attend meetings, and review the work you've done.

Review your approach

Make a habit of regularly asking yourself whether what you're doing at that moment is worth your time and effort.

Keep a daily log of the tasks you complete, and review these at the end of each week to see whether those things you thought were so urgent, really were.

Learn from your findings, and adapt your approach.