You woke up with great intentions to make this an incredibly productive day, but before you knew it, your day was slipping away, leaving you wondering what happened. Intentions are not enough. Productivity requires both planning and focus, and if either of those is lacking in any way, productivity suffers. So how then do you plan smartly and maintain focus? You put intentions aside and develop habits that lead to greater productivity. Below are 12 habits of leaders who are wildly focused.
They identify and focus on a single priority. Ryan Simonetti, co-founder of Convene, starts each day by asking “What is the one thing I need to do today to help my company’s vision that would make everything else easy or unnecessary?” Now you don’t have to be the co-founder of a business to ask this question; simply adapt it to fit your work environment. Answering this question may take some significant thought the first few times you ask it; however, if you ask this question on a daily basis for weeks and then months, your focus will become much clearer and finding the answer will be easier. Once you know your single priority, stick to it!
They set and stick to timelines. According to Parkinson’s Law, work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion which means that if you don’t set a timeline, it can take you forever to complete your work. If you give yourself two hours to complete a task, it will take two hours; however, if you give yourself one hour to complete that same task, it will be done in an hour. Timelines help you increase your focus and reduce your ability to be distracted, because you know you only have a certain amount of time in which to complete your work. Now if you’re like many people, it’s sometimes hard to stick to a timeline that is self-imposed. In that case, use a small, battery-operated kitchen timer that has an alarm to keep you honest.
They time block their entire day. Most people block off time in their schedule for meetings, outside appointments, and scheduled phone calls. To bump up productivity even higher, time block the entire day, hour by hour. Be sure to block off time for planning, accomplishing tasks related to your single priority, time off / time away from the office, e-mails that need more thoughtful responses, lunch, and breaks. If you include enough detail in your calendar, you can then use it as a daily action item list.
They schedule breaks. There will be days when you feel you have to work nonstop in order to get your work done; however, working nonstop is not only unproductive but it’s also not healthy. Your body is not meant to sit at a desk without moving from your chair for eight hours nor is your body meant to stand for eight hours a day. Taking breaks allows your mind and body to reenergize themselves, to release the stress that’s been building, and to refocus your attention so that you can be more productive. How often you take breaks throughout the day and how long each break lasts is entirely up to you. Once you determine what works best for you (at least on most days), schedule those breaks in your calendar and honor them. Also, if you find you’re having trouble concentrating, then take a quick walk, talk to a coworker, go outside for a few minutes, or get something to drink. A quick five minute break when you can’t focus can reset your mind, ultimately increasing your productivity when you return.
They start over. Some days are simply too chaotic to maintain your focus. Legitimate issues arise, previous plans fall apart, available resources aren’t as “available” as you’d expected, and overwhelm quickly settles in. When this happens, even if it’s only 30 minutes into your day, start the day over. Write down on a blank piece of paper a list of all your current commitments, and identify the top two or three things that will have the biggest impact on your work. From the top two or three, select that one single priority to work on for the day. If your one priority is different from the one you started the day with, that’s okay. Simply move forward without guilt.
They establish barriers to distractions. Distractions are a huge time waster and productivity crusher, so the best way to eliminate – or at least significantly reduce – them is to create barriers that prevent distractions from ever getting to you. That means that the first thing you do when you walk in the office is turn off your personal cell phone and put it away. If there’s a personal emergency, someone will still be able to reach you. And when you need to achieve your highest levels of concentration, close your office door, turn down the ringer to your office phone, ask that your assistant or another member of your team answer unscheduled calls, and close your inbox. Again, if there’s some sort of emergency, someone will still be able to reach you. Everything else at that point is simply a distraction and can wait.
They empty their heads. Freakishly productive people declutter their minds throughout the day by writing everything down. Research shows that you can only hold so many pieces of information in your conscious mind at a time. So the most productive people create and use daily action item lists that include the highest priority work that needs to be completed that day, and they stick to the list. They keep a notebook of “ah-ha” ideas to pursue later, and they jot down things that pop into their heads throughout the day that can be done later, such as picking up a nice bottle of wine for dinner. What’s important to note is where productive people empty their heads – it’s on paper. While technology has certainly made many things easier for us, it can easily become a distraction and time waster, so stick to paper.
They keep a routine. Routines create predictability and reduce stress, not just for you but for others as well. If your peers and staff know that you spend the first hour of each day working on project work with your door closed, then they know not to disturb you during that time, and you can expect to have 60 minutes of quiet time dedicated to your work. If everyone knows that between 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., you’re out on the floor reviewing production data and talking with employees, then your staff knows that that’s when they’ll have an opportunity to talk with you if needed. While the thought of “routine” may sound boring, it goes a long way to improving your productivity.
They care intensely about the people they serve. Anyone who has achieved any sort of success has done so, in part, by caring about the people they serve. They don’t forget who they are ultimately working for – their customers and their community. When they choose the single priority to work on, they know how and why they are doing it, namely to serve others.
They ask for help. Wildly productive people know that they can’t do everything alone. They know they don’t have all the answers, and they know they aren’t good at everything, so they ask for help. They ask for resources, they ask for discounts on services, they ask for information, they ask for additional time, they ask for new business, and they ask and ask and ask. And perhaps equally important, they don’t view asking as a weakness but rather a strength and a key to their productivity.
They purge anything that doesn’t work. Simply put, if the ship is going down, stop bailing water, and get off the boat. Now. Don’t waste your time, energy, or money on sinking ships. If something isn’t working, let it go, and move on to your next priority.
They automate everything they can. Use technology to automate routine tasks such as paying monthly bills, filtering spam / junk e-mail, scheduling recurring meetings and appointments, and posting messages on social media. While technology can’t do all of our work for us, there are many ways to use technology to eliminate the mundane, routine work that prevents us from focusing on what’s really important.