Increase Your Productivity
How do you increase your productivity? We often believe it means more time. If I only had more time, I would be able to get more done! Have you ever heard that? Have you ever said that?
Heres the answer no you wouldnt.
If you had more time, you most likely wouldnt get more done and heres why. If you had more time that means everyone would have more time; you would probably do the same things and fall into the same patterns you are in and everything would most likely balance out the same way it is now.
Wishing for more time isnt the answer because its not about the amount of time we have, but rather how we manage that time.
If you want to get more done, if you want to accomplish more in your life, the only way is by figuring out how to do a better job at managing the 24 hours a day you have.
Im not a time management guru, Im a natural procrastinator. And for some psychological reason, instead of doing what I know I should do, I do something else. Anything. Including things I would never do, like hand scrubbing the couch covers.
Ive heard all the tips and read all the books and posts about morning routine rituals, the magic elixir of cold showers, and meditations on Stoic philosophy. They dont work for me.
Maybe Im screwed up and I probably wont ever be a productivity ninja with every minute of my day optimized for high performance. But I do want to improve myself and I have found something that has skyrocketed my productivity and improved my general feelings of happiness throughout the day.
Every night, right before bed, I take 5 minutes to answer three questions.
Three Nightly Questions For Higher Productivity
Question 1: What did I do well today?
Why Its Important:
1. It gives me positive things in my life to see before I go to sleep. In my nightly reflection, the first thing I try to look at is what I would consider my wins for the day. I dont have to look at everything, but I try to get a general idea of what things I did productivity-wise that I feel good about. Mostly this is based on what I wrote down for question 3 the previous night (we will get to this), but it also has to do with any areas I consider little victories in the battle against myself.
2. It builds a momentum of accomplishment. Seeing myself accomplishing things on a regular basis starts to build a positive momentum in the productivity aspect of my life. When Im not doing the things I know I need to do, I fall into a malaise of sorts and I just feel bad. Seeing a consistency of wins builds a psychological momentum that makes my life seem more fulfilling.
3. It gives me confidence. When I see and reflect upon the important things that I accomplish in my life, it gives me confidence that I can do more that I can try things that are more difficult. You cant underestimate the value of confidence in moving beyond your abilities into the uncharted waters of difficulty, but thats where growth happens. If we never get out of the boat, we will never walk on water.
Question 2: What did I screw up today?
Why Its Important:
1. I begin to learn my areas of weakness better. When I look at what I did wrong or what I didnt do and why, I learn more about myself. Sometimes I was lazy. Other times urgent circumstances took priority over the important things. But its important for me to see those shortcomings and understand how they happened and why I didnt do what I wanted to do.
2. It forces me to own my failures. Sometimes, we justify our failures or weaknesses by blaming them on circumstances or other people. When we see our shortcomings, we can take an honest examination of the reasons behind why we didnt live up to our own expectations. Self-awareness is the first step in becoming better and asking this question forces me to take a harder look at myself and my failures.
3. I begin to see the patterns in my own behavior that prevent me from accomplishing the things that are important to me. After doing this for a while, I start to see the same things appear over and over. Negative patterns have a way of hiding themselves from our awareness. Maybe psychologically our consciousness keeps us from seeing those things. Asking this question regularly allows me to begin to recognize patterns that I may not have seen before and new ones that may be establishing themselves in my life. I may not correct them, but at least now Im aware of them and I can learn to identify them as they are happening in real time. I dont have to address them, but now Im aware of the pattern when I am choosing to be lazy.
Question 3: What are the top 3 things I want to do tomorrow?
Why Its Important:
1. It decreases my stress. For me, its too much to write down an unrealistic list of 1020 things I need to do. That type of list can be overwhelming and usually causes me difficulty in sleeping because Im stressing about all the things I need to do tomorrow. Of course, I probably have 1020 things that need to get done the next day, but in my moment of reflection, I find the three most important things that I feel I can realistically accomplish and those become the target.
2. Im prioritizing my list of tasks. Based on the Pareto principle (the 80/20 rule), Im taking the top 20% that will give me the most return and laser focusing on those for the next day. For me, my lack of productivity happens because sometimes I focus on the wrong things. Im putting a lot of effort into things that will not bring the biggest personal ROI. Picking the top 3 things at the end of the day gives me a bit of distance and allows me to be a little more strategic in my prioritization.
3. Im setting myself up for a win. When I pick 3 things I want to get done, I make sure they are things that I can realistically achieve. That way, if I get them done, Ill be in a good emotional place at the end of tomorrow. Then tomorrow night, when I reflect on the day, Ill find it much more fulfilling because I did what I said I was going to do.
4. Im surreptitiously forming productivity habits in my brains neural networks. We all know the power habits have in our lives. How hard they are to break and how hard they are to form. By establishing a simple 5-minute reflection and prioritization, Im hacking my brain to do some things that will reap huge benefits and establishing a habit at the same time.
5. Im doing the things that are the most important. Lets be honest. Most of the things on that list of 1020 wont be huge factors in our lives. If #19 never gets done, it probably wont have significant consequences. But the top 20%?? If I can do the most important things the top 20% not only will that bring an 80% ROI, but it will give me the satisfaction of doing what I really want to do. And thats huge.
The Last Thing Write It Down!
Get a Moleskine, journal, or even a piece of paper to keep a record of these reflections. Heres why its important:
1. It helps you to remember. We dont always forget things when we sleep, but sometimes we do. I cant tell you how many times the idea that was going to change the world disappeared overnight. So Ive learned the lesson of writing it down. When we write down our reflections we can be sure to remember the things we thought were most important.
2. Writing it down establishes a record that you can go back and examine. Not that you will go back and look at them, but if you want to, you can. You can see the wins youve had. You can see the patterns and areas where you need to improve. You discover things about yourself strengths and weaknesses that might have been outside of your awareness. If youre that into it, you can even try and figure yourself out. But you cant do any of that if its not written down.
3. Most importantly, writing takes something that doesnt quite exist and brings it into time and space. Thoughts are ephemeral. They can vaporize and dissipate in the midst of busyness and action. They can even appear to us as illusions of things that could never happen in our reality. Writing those thoughts down brings them into existence and forces us to deal with them. They are no longer just thoughts, they become actual things in reality.
Conclusion:
If youre like me and productivity Ninjitsu seems outside of your capabilities, this 5-minute nightly practice can really pay big dividends in accomplishing your biggest goals in life. Dont make it a big deal, but take the time each day to answer the three questions and see how it helps you to be more productive and live a more fulfilled life.
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