When it comes to productivity, everyone has their own methods. And there may not be a one-size-fits all approach to productivity. Some people love to be randomly productivity, OCDs like myself try to plan and organise, whereas endorphin junkies try to even retrospectively create and cross-off to-do lists. Disregard to whichever approach works for you, time-block is the single greatest thing that boosts effectiveness and helps you stay productive on consistent basis.
Earlier I had come across this concept of time-blocks in the book ‘One Thing’ – which states that multi-tasking is a myth and one-thing-at-a-time works the best – only to realise that I had already adopted this concept by maintaining my ‘focus’ work hours during early mornings or weekends to avoid distractions from phone-calls and meetings. If you’re new to this, time-block is block on your calendar guarded for focused work to eliminate distractions and get you into the Zen-state.
If you’re a manager, you will contest that this is impossible as there are always interrupting meetings and calls. As a manager myself, I agree that time-blocks seem like an utopian scenario; however, managing my office hours by stepping in before others arrive or staying in after others leave has resolved it for me. Another way is to block your calendar slot so that nobody interrupts unless it is a level 10 urgency. Also, weekends are a blessing as you have the entire morning to yourself, if you do not mess-up your morning routine.
First lesson: Find your time-blocks, as many as you can, and preserve their sanctity.
However, other two challenges that I have encountered are the activities planned prior to the time-block and the estimation of time required for the tasks on hand.
Even today, I overestimate my efficiency of getting into the time-block. Usually I am so focused on getting the work done, I underestimate the things that are scheduled or need to be done prior to entering the time-block. For instance, over the weekends I underestimate my morning schedule consisting of workout, breakfast, and chores, delaying my time-blocks for studying; and my resolution if either equality, subtracting a little from all subsequent time-blocks or equity, eliminating the time-block for least value-add or not-so-urgent activities. And as far as professional equivalent is concerned, it would be meeting overruns or spillovers.
Second lesson: Plan not only your time-block, but also the preceding activities
Next, I underestimate the time required or perhaps overestimate my productivity. Despite being familiar with the bias, I still fall victim especially while planning to read dense academic literature. At other times, it is caused by scope-creep as I end-up doing multiple other related yet unplanned or unforeseen activities. Former can be prevented with experience; for instance, over the past few weeks I have improved the accuracy of my reading speed estimate for the new literature. The later may seem unavoidable, as new activities or sub-tasks will always surface once you start working. Just as awareness helps with former, creating a prioritised to-do list in advance mitigates the later.
Third lesson: Improve your Guesstimates and Prioritise your to-do lists
And now that you know how to increase your effectiveness with time-blocks, some additional tips to increase your efficiency within the time-blocks. Although the details in this part are subjective, the fundamentals prevail.
Goldilocks Principle – Neither too short, nor too long.
If the time-blocks are too short, you will not be able to leverage the Zen-state; whereas, if they are too long, your brain will get saturated. The later is especially true for studying. Although I have not referred to any scientific study, in my experience 75-90 minutes slot works best for me.
Plan Intervals in-between – Saturation decreases productivity
Usually I take breaks, either to snack, stretch, walk, or work-out. At work, I plan my snack breaks and walk breaks accordingly. At home, I insert a stretch or chores for smaller intervals, or got for a run after a few consecutive time-blocks.
Final lesson: Be aware, and take conscious measures to improve
Now that you’re aware and informed, I am sure that you will take conscious steps to boost your productivity over the following weeks. And do share this secret with your friends and colleagues.
Feature Image Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash
Savvy Munshi 