Being productive means that we benefit from our time as much as possible. We want to make meaningful progress in a given amount of time. There are three stages to accomplishing meaningful productivity: planning, committing, and adjusting!
Firstly, it’s important to stay organized and plan what tasks you hope to accomplish. A to-do list sorted by urgency or deadlines can be very helpful. The planning stage should only take about 10% of your time. The biggest chunk of your time, let’s say about 80%, should be spent working on your tasks, and staying committed to your plan.
Planning is important, but you will not make progress on any of your tasks until you start working on them. It’s helpful to put your electronics on ‘do not disturb’ mode, and move yourself away from distractions. Focusing on one task at a time can help avoid feeling overwhelmed and procrastinating, and thus makes it easier to stay committed to finishing your tasks.
Lastly, around 10% of your time should be spent adjusting your plan to finish your tasks. Reflect on how productive you’ve been — Did you procrastinate or find your mind drifting away from the subject? Perhaps taking a break to exercise or chat with friends may re-energize you so that you return refreshed and can finish your tasks more efficiently. On the other hand, if you were more focused on a certain task than usual, reflect on why that’s the case so that you can recreate the same level of productivity when working on future tasks. Is a certain task taking longer or shorter time to complete than expected? Are certain tasks better moved to another day so that you can finish more urgent ones today? Reflect! Reflect! Reflect! Adjust your plan accordingly.
This approach is most helpful for when you have a long to-do list and aren’t sure where to start. It's important not to feel overwhelmed by all the tasks on your to-do list and to prioritize which tasks are most urgent. Ask yourself, “what is one task I can do today that will lighten the weight on my shoulders the most?” Then, commit to doing your one chosen task for the day. Tip: Do not think about the other tasks, and only focus on your one chosen task. Otherwise, you may feel overwhelmed which may limit your productivity.
There are two types of multitasking: the first is planned— trying to perform more than one task at a time, in the hopes of finishing sooner. The second is unplanned where one is distracted from the task at hand by a new thought or stimuli. You may be distracted by a thought about a different task on your to-do list, or even a simple notification on your phone. In both cases of multitasking, productivity and performance are significantly diminished. It is therefore important to focus your attention on only one task at a time.
Of course, unrelated thoughts may come to mind while working on a task. It is important to acknowledge new thoughts and then quickly dismiss them. Perhaps you can write them down on a piece of paper to revisit them after finishing the current task.
It’s also important to avoid distractions as much as possible to genuinely focus on the task at hand and maximize productivity. Here are some ways to do so: