5 tricks for maximum productivity

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Develop your skills, prepare in advance for the unexpected, and take care of yourself.

Productivity is effort multiplied by ability. Most make a lot of effort, but do not develop their abilities. Because of this, the results do not live up to expectations.

Ability, in turn, is comprised of skill and preparation. That is, they determine how well you know something and how prepared you are to do it.

It turns out the following formula: Productivity = Effort × (Skills × Preparation).

• Efforts (1-10). The indicator fluctuates depending on a variety of reasons. On Tuesday, your efforts may be one, and on Wednesday - ten.
• Skills (your current level). You cannot play the piano badly today and become a virtuoso tomorrow. It takes time to develop skills. But when you bought them, they will not be forgotten.
• Preparation (0-3). The standard training level is 1. This means that you are ready to complete the task according to your skill. The level will rise if you take "doping", for example, drink coffee. It will not affect your skills, but it will provide a temporary boost of energy, which will briefly increase your abilities.

Do not rely on "doping" or maximum exertion. These are only temporary measures, and such productivity could cost you your health. To be effective at all times, develop your abilities and prepare properly.

1. Get enough sleep and eat well

For some reason, we think that we can not get enough sleep, eat everything and at the same time give champion results. We simply do not represent our full capacity.

Getting good sleep and eating well is preparation. A professional athlete will not perform well if he has not eaten or drunk for two days. Although he will give all 10 on the scale of efforts and skills, his level of training will be equal to zero. And this will negate everything else.

It is useless to squeeze the maximum out of yourself when you have no strength. This is the same as not trying at all.

Sleep and nutrition are basic preparation for any life situation. Sleep longer, eat well, and you will notice the difference.

2. Train your mind through meditation

During meditation, we switch our attention from distracted thoughts to breathing. This develops concentration.

The ability to focus is a critical skill for productivity. In words it is very simple, but in reality it is much more difficult to direct and hold attention. This skill needs to be trained, and meditation is just perfect for this.

Try meditating. It will come in handy in all walks of life.

3. Optimize your processes

Observe your processes and evaluate what results they give. For example, if your day always starts off badly and sluggishly, consider what you do in the morning.

It is not necessary to look only for problem areas. Processes that work well can be improved too. For example, you exercise regularly but find that you are not getting stronger. Instead of lengthening your workout time, start working on specific muscles more intensely. Results will appear faster.

If the process doesn't fit your purpose, you won't get the results you want. Think about how to optimize it.

Rate different areas of your life: sports, food, sleep, work. Consider if you can optimize them to improve results. Even small changes will seriously affect your productivity.

4. Be clear about the terms

Life is unpredictable. All we can is to try to direct it in the direction we want. To do this, you need to roughly imagine what can happen and what you will do in this situation. That is, develop conditions for yourself.

For example, let's say you missed a few workouts due to illness. It seems to be okay, but even such small decisions are important. They set a precedent for the rest of their lives. Chances are, you've wasted days when you could work out. You just didn't have clear conditions. They can be like this:

• when I have a temperature, I don’t go in for sports at all;
• when I have a runny nose, but I am already recovering, I walk or do light exercises;
• when I almost recovered, but still feel weak, I practice as usual.

Work out these conditions for different situations, and then nothing will knock you out of a rut. It is easier to act when you know, "If X happens, I will do Y."

5. Expand your understanding of productivity

Many companies now encourage workaholism. But workaholics do not reveal their potential; they simply cannot work efficiently without rest.

Our brain is a well-designed machine. He himself takes breaks as needed so as not to overheat. If you force yourself to work without stopping, you should not expect good results. And you need to rest fully: reading posts on social networks will not help you recover.

How a workaholic works:

• works with all his might (exhaustion - 100%);
• pretends to work, and logs into social networks (recovery - 10%);
• works at the limit of his meager strength;
• pretends to work, while he looks at the phone.

This tendency to work non-stop leads to poor quality work and overwork.

How to be truly productive:

• hard work (exhaustion - 100%);
• good rest (recovery - 100%);
• work (exhaustion - 100%);
• rest (recovery - 100%).

Work well and rest well. Try alternating an hour or two of hard work with the same amount of rest and relaxation.