For some, being productive would mean doing a million tasks and feeling accomplished; for others, it would be getting something done that they’ve been putting off for a while.
Now before having a quick read here, it would be great if you could keep in mind the below: Be kind to yourself and your mistakes.
So be patient and kind to yourself through the rough patches and try again. One gold rule that I would like to point out is to pick one task for a while and work on it. This can be a difficult one because most of the time our projects aren’t 30-minute or one-hour jobs. It may take a few hours or multiple days.
What’s the answer then?
- The split way
Break that one big job into one task and then do that one task to its completion. But how long should that be and what’s really reasonable? Seems most of our days are broken into hour segments. Which then is about 45-50 minutes. We have meetings, lunch, scheduled calls, and more. Working continuously for about 45 minutes on one task is a point, but to have this in real is sometimes difficult.
- Pomodoro
The Pomodoro technique proposes 25-minute blocks of time, with short 5-minute breaks, followed by longer breaks later on.
a. Pomodoro helps you eliminate interruptions and helps you estimate how long a certain task will take you.
b. Set very specific goals like make a pre-requisite list with intermediate objectives for reaching each goal
c. Create a to-do list/plan jotting down the actions required to reach those intermediate objectives one-by-one
d. Follow your plan
e. Learn from things that have a result you didn’t expect and adjust your plan
f. Focus (do the things you want to do, don’t do the things that distract you from it)
- Do-Delegate-Delete
Prioritize tasks you have. Efficient and productive people are those who are pretty sure between tasks that are important vs urgent. Important tasks will be a part of a long-term goal, whereas urgent tasks are time-bound and need to be sorted in near time.
