"When do you actually do all of this?" Successful people hear this phrase very often from people around them.
The reason behind this question is usually very simple. The questioner takes the questioned person to be someone who either works a lot or has been blessed with a great deal of talent or even something supernatural. Most of the time none of this applies. Rather, the person asked is very productive and therefore does not have to “pay” for his success with less time for family, friends and hobbies.
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How it's done, that's what this #healthyourself column is all about.
What does an increase in productivity actually mean?
Increasing your productivity doesn't mean you have to work harder. The aim is to get the work done in less time without sacrificing quality. Or to put it another way: finishing our work on time, without a guilty conscience that you have wasted time during the day and that you cannot finish or manage too little because of your own efforts. We have given the big term "productivity increase" some color and can now better imagine what we actually want.
Techniques to increase productivity
There are various methods and techniques to achieve the objectives that have now been defined. Most have been tried and tested for decades, if not centuries, and are based on principles that are deeply anchored in us.
tic toc
The Tic Toc method is a productivity technique coined by Rafael Frenk and is based on starting the day with your fastest to-do's. You will receive many small success stories and dopmain distributions early in the day. The chance that you will get into a flow and get to the big tasks with ease increases enormously.
Basically, this is the opposite of “eat the frog”, in which we do the most uncomfortable and often most important work first. The hurdle to even start is greater than with the Tic Toc method.
But where does the Tic Toc come from? With the ticking of a clock. On your to-do list for the day, you not only wrote down your tasks the evening before, but also the estimated time you will need for them. With a clock you can now stop your time and see how much time the task actually takes. This gives your everyday work a little gaming factor because you try to beat the time. We all like games, don't we?
At this point I assumed that there was even a to-do list.
30 minutes - stop or 45 minutes - stop
We all have a limited attention span. Our brain needs breaks. Nobody can work 100% productively for 8 hours. Even with the Tic Toc method, many people find it difficult to work through from the start of work to the lunch break without a break. As is so often the case, small steps lead to success - the desired productivity. So instead of demanding 100% productivity from yourself, you first take small steps. You set yourself a time that you work from now on in a row, without interruption and distraction. After this time, a five or ten minute break is permitted. Possible times for distraction-free work are 30 to 45 minutes.
You can also use an alarm clock here. When the doorbell rings, you ask yourself: "Do I need a break, do I want to distract myself or can I continue to work concentrated?" Either you use your 5 minute break or the time starts all over again and you work again for 30 or 45 minutes without distraction and focused.
Positive side effect: You don't forbid yourself anything. You can continue to use your smartphone, check e-mails, get a coffee or tea and of course go to the toilet. Just during the breaks.
Fixed times
If that's too much for you and you'd rather start a step smaller, then use the following method. What are your biggest productivity killers? What is your daily distraction? For me it was and still is now and then the following:
- Check emails
- Check WhatsApp
- Check Instagram - why and what for?
- Get office supplies
- Talk to my colleagues because I really wanted to tell something
- etc.
What can be done about it? Fixed times. Introduce fixed times. Not only for the typical diversionary maneuvers of our modern society, but also for routine activities that occur again and again during a working day, but are not urgent! I don't wash my clothes bit by bit after they get dirty. No, I have a fixed laundry day. For most people this is probably Saturday or Sunday. Then why don't I have fixed times for checking my e-mails? You can also use the same for all other activities. I script videos or write blog articles and invoices on certain days of the week and not every now and then when it suits me. This helps to work in a focused and productive way, because no changes in the work processes disrupt the flow.
Increase productivity with the help of headphones
Headphones are extremely helpful in keeping you focused. It is best to use so-called construction site headphones. These completely cover the ear and also shield outside noise. At the same time you show those around you with headphones: "I cannot be spoken to at the moment". With headphones I automatically get into a focused and productive working mode. Whether you listen to music is up to you. Some people like to listen to quiet piano music, others nothing at all. Personally, I often run through my Spotify playlist, when doing intense thinking tasks I turn it off and switch to classical music.
Increased productivity through sleeping
Fatigue, lack of drive and little energy are other productivity killers, in addition to the previously mentioned distractions from social media and Co. Many people have already dismissed constant fatigue as a necessary side effect of our modern society and try to "live with it". It doesn't have to be. Sleep is free and has an incredible number of positive effects on our body. It is absolutely negligent to disregard this resource for greater productivity. Because even in the area of sleep, with just a little discipline and knowledge, considerable optimization is possible for everyone. But more on that below when it comes to my own experience of being more productive.
These were just a few techniques and methods. There are also many more, such as meditation, that you can easily google. What you see, however, is that becoming and staying productive does not cost anything - just discipline and a structured approach!
Data collection
Once we have set ourselves a goal that we want to achieve with certain techniques and methods, we have to be able to measure it. Otherwise it is not a goal. But how do I measure my productivity, is there a thermometer for that?
No, but there are three very good indicators. Indicator no. 1 is usually the trigger to do something for your own productivity level at all.
Lack of time for family, friends and hobbies
If you suddenly (again) have time for your loved ones and your hobbies and no longer have to constantly cancel or miss things because you still have to do something in the office at 20 p.m., you quickly notice: Wow, I'm becoming more productive. The techniques work. I can now do my work until 18 p.m. and the last day I was in the office at 20 p.m. was 3 weeks ago.
With this indicator, your own feelings and also the perception of your family and friends, who now see you more often, are the measuring instrument for productivity. There are of course also measurable indicators with numbers - in addition to the Tic Toc method mentioned above.
You can now do work X in time Y
Often there is more routine work in jobs. Work that occurs frequently but does not fall under the classic category of routine tasks such as answering e-mails. I mean larger projects, but also writing blog articles, processing an insurance claim or the like. You have empirical values for such activities as to how much time they take up. You know when such an activity is due: It takes me 3 days. After a little practice with the productivity techniques mentioned above, you will notice over time: Wow, I can now do these activities in 2 days.
This type of measurement is similar to the measurement of the Tic Toc method.
feeling
You can also trust your feelings. We don't always have to be able to measure everything. Usually we have a very good sense of whether we are productive or not. After all, we all know how smartphones and the like stop us from work. If this is not the case for a longer period of time, you will notice for yourself: Wow, I've never achieved that much.
My experience with techniques to increase productivity
I have not been someone who has set myself the goal: I want to and must be more productive from now on. Instead, I became one while working as a sleep expert.
Fabian from BRAINEFFECT has already taken up the topic of sleep in his column. And I can only agree with him when he describes the nocturnal regeneration of our body as one of the most important levers for greater performance. I've had the same experiences and still do - every day!
How can sleep lead to more productivity, you might ask yourself. This article has been around for a long time - sorry for that - so I'll only touch on the topics once and hopefully whet your appetite for the topic of sleep.
1. Sleep in
Absolute standard in our population. But what happens if we fail to do this? You get up two to three hours earlier on the weekend and have more time than before. This time can be used productively, don't you think?
2. Power nap
A small sleep unit of a maximum of 20 minutes can bridge your lunchtime low. The result: You can work just as focused in the afternoon as you did in the morning. Wouldn't that be cool?
3. Fall asleep
Do you always need 30 minutes or more to fall asleep? Maybe that's why you even go to bed extra early in order to get the length of time you want to sleep. There is another way. Once you have dealt more intensively with the topic of falling asleep, you can easily reduce your sleep time to 10 minutes. You use the saved time to write a to-do list for the next day and to read a book chapter. Does that sound good?
4. Sleep quality
How well rested do you really feel in the morning? You have been sleeping for eight hours, but you don't feel really well rested? Then you are like most. A lot of sleep does not necessarily mean good sleep. With an improvement in sleep quality, you can get a lot out of your sleep. This increases your well-being and, above all, your energy level at the same time, just as you start the day in the morning.
I hope I was able to give you a little insight that sleep and productivity are a well-balanced team. But it doesn't have to stop with these small appetizers. If you want to learn more about your sleep, I can recommend my book "Sleep in the 21st Century" to you. You can get it here: https://www.schlafonaut.de/buch or take a look around the Schlafonaut YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.de/schlafonaut
I'm happy for you!
Conclusion
Like so much in life, increasing productivity is not rocket science. Instead, it is mostly based on simple techniques that we have forgotten in the course of the “modern society”.
The fact that we perceive an increase in productivity as such is due to the status quo, which unfortunately is characterized by distraction for most people. This is how productive people act as those who can do something special. The opposite is the case.
I hope I was able to put something to your conscience with this post. Anyone can increase productivity. Everything you need for this is already within you: Discipline!
PS Should you now come up with the following statement: "But, if I do my work faster, I simply get more work from my boss". Please look for another employer where you enjoy your work and your performance is appreciated or do your own thing!
Fabian Dittrich
| # | Preview | Products | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | Increase in productivity and improve results * |
| To the shop * |
| 2 | | Static noise for increased productivity...* | To the shop * | |
| 3 | | Industrial engineering - standard methods for ... * | To the shop * |