Get More Done, the Right Way

Contents

• PLANNING THE DAY

• STAYING FOCUSSED

• NEW WORK

• EXTRA TIME

• MUST READS

Each morning I usually put everything I need to do in 4 categories and review them daily:

• Must do today

• Must do tomorrow

• Must do this week

• Must do Later

I then figure out who is best to do the work. It could be that I have to do it on my own and need more focus time, or it could be that I need help from someone. It could also be that I can give it as an opportunity to someone else to stretch their abilities or take part in something that interests them. I may still be accountable for the work, but can assign to someone who has the time, inclination and skills to do a better job.

Where I need to rely on others to complete a task I don’t wait until the job needs to be done, I have the conversation with them early, to give them a chance to feed in anything necessary with enough time to complete the work.

After a while there are always a few tasks which never made the top of my priority, yet remained on the to-do list. If I’m still unsure about whether they are actually important or not, I tend to go back to the requestor and ask directly, “is this work still needed, or has it been resolved?”. Sometimes it comes to light that the problem has been solved already and the work is no longer required, in which case I delete the task.

Try your luck and ask if something is still important or can be deleted.

Indeed gave a good suggestion on prioritising tasks, moving them into similar buckets, which are probably easier to follow.

• Do: Do this task now

• Decide: Schedule a time to do it

• Delegate: Who can do it for you?

• Eliminate: Eliminate it

Another point I always make is to schedule time in my diary for actually doing the work. I’m told that my diary is always very busy, and it is, but unfortunately it gets busy with too many meetings and not enough work. I therefore I try and schedule focus time in my day and quickly realise there isn’t enough time to complete the work for the day. This prompts another question…

Do I really need to be in all of these meetings?

Sometimes the answer might be yes. Usually a meeting can be rescheduled for a later date.

Other times I decline the meeting altogether and ask to be in the loop of any relevant action points afterwards.

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Context Switching Doesn’t Work

Back to the food analogy, there is always that friend who tells you they can eat whatever they want but never seem to put on any weight. This may be true for them, but it’s not the case for the vast majority of humans.

In the same way, people who are known to multitask well are very few and far between. For most people, multitasking actually reduces efficiency, rather than increases it.

I’m a firm believer that multitasking is usually a myth for most people, as it involves context switching, which is proven to be a drain on efficiency over time.

Productivity app Notion highlighted a study from Cornell University which reported that context switching negatively impacts productivity, citing that during context switching:

• 45% of respondents felt less productive

• 43% of respondents felt fatigued

• It took 36 minutes every day just to switch back and forth

• It took up to 9.5 minutes to recover healthy workflow after interruption

I personally found that too much context switching can leave me feeling overwhelmed and unproductive. I much prefer to take one major task at a time and plan the time in to do it. Once that is done, I move on to the next. It’s simple yet very effective.

Remove Distractions

Everyone has different things that distract them. The most common distractions are your phone and work notifications that pop up seemingly all day long.

What do I do? Sometimes I keep notifications on all day long and then find that I spent a lot of time being responsive and visible, yet I’ve been less productive.

On more disciplined days I have scheduled times to check work emails and Slack messages. When I’m focussing on work, I turn all notifications off until the set time I allow to respond. This has been the most effective way for me to manage distractions, and I never miss anything truly urgent.

Celebrate Wins

When a task is done, the very least I do to celebrate is cross it off the list ✅. That’s quite satisfying. When a team activity or milestone has been reached, I make sure we celebrate together by recognising individual and team efforts in meetings, or sending messages to recognise the achievements.

I always make sure senior management is aware of notable successes and team efforts, as they may otherwise never be aware of the many critical milestones involved in delivering a change program.

Take Breaks

Most people can’t focus for 4 hours straight. I’m definitely in the category of “most people” in this area.

As a result I tend to block out time to really focus on what I’m doing and give myself mini breaks every 45 mins or hour. In the breaks I go and grab a coffee, go for a short walk or anything that helps me recharge.

Time Box

Most tasks can be time-boxed. This involved setting a specific amount of time to complete the task. I time box most activities, which helps when setting time in the diary to complete them.

I also find time boxing creates a sense of urgency, as you are always on a countdown to have completed the work before the time ends. Whilst it’s not possible every day, I definitely get more done in a day when I time box.

Someone once told me to say yes to everything and figure out how you will do it later. Others have said that you should say no by default until you have understood the priority and when you can fit it in.

The truth for me is somewhere in between. I usually don’t want to be uncooperative and as a result I end up saying yes to most requests, however, I never assume that I’ll do it all myself. There are tasks you can do and some you can oversee.

I score new tasks in order of priority before I decide whether they should be added to my list and where they sit relative to my existing work load. I also match them against my weekly non-negotiable priorities, some of which include:

• 1:1’s with team members, helps ensure they are empowered and working on the right things

• Stand Ups with wider team to get a view of how the dynamics are working and overall progress

• Reviewing plans

• Thinking and reflecting time. This helps me to assess all priorities and spot work that needs more attention

• Researching to create and embed new tools that uplift team capability, and my own

Whenever I do get new work, I usually ask myself a few questions before I accept or reject the ask. These questions include:

• What value can I bring to this work?

• What value can this work bring to me?

• Is this work already being done elsewhere?

• When does this work need to be done?

Once I’ve assessed these points, I typically give one of 3 responses:

1. Accept and get back to the requestor with a completion date

2. Accept with caveat that it needs to be prioritised against existing work, i.e. another commitment has to stop for me to take it on. Agree what needs to be de-prioritised with respective owners. (I do this infrequently, but probably should do more often)

3. Reject, but always have a very clear reason, or alternative suggestion (I do this least often)

Each week I try and do something that scares me, something that teaches me and something fun. Ideally I should do it every day but in reality it never works, so I moved that to a weekly target.

Sometimes I can do one thing that achieves two or all of the objectives, and that’s perfectly OK.

For example, writing a weekly newsletter article always teaches me and is also fun. Hosting a podcast or appearing on someone else’s podcast is always fun, teaches me, and sometimes scary. Working with a new client on a challenging software optimisation can be scary at first, and later becomes fun.

Some of these activities can be extra tasks that you officially haven’t allocated time to, but may want to add as personal challenges for the future. I make sure they exist somewhere so I can find time to add them to my schedule.

There are occasions where down time exists. An hour here or there can easily be wasted figuring out what to do with it, but if you have an “Extra Time” list, you’ll always have something meaningful to fill the time with, without wasting time figuring it out.

Out Work the Competition

If you’ve made it to this point, congratulations as I’ve saved the most effective productivity tool until last. It’s also the hardest and most controversial, and I certainly don’t suggest this for everyone.

If you are undergoing work life balance issues, have personal challenges affecting your work load, or perfectly happy with your current work, this is not for you, but if you have periods where you have the energy and desire, it could be for you…

We all have the same amount of time in the day, we just choose to do different things with our time. If you have a major deadline looming or a big backlog of priorities, sometimes working the typical 9-5 won’t work.

Ideally following the productivity methods I highlighted earlier will help to reduce the likelihood of this being the case, but there are times when we just need to work harder for limited periods.

This should only be for a short time. If this happens, I tend to look at the other activities I spend my time on and de-prioritise them even more for a period of time then focus on the urgent work at hand. Yes this might mean working for longer than normal, but it has helped me get back on track when all else fails.

Here are some key considerations I take when having to work longer for a short period of time:

• Break the day up, either by enjoying the commute, setting aside intentional time with family, walking the dog or something other than work, then get back to work

• Take a short nap. This works for some people including me. If I take a 20 minute break and close my eyes in a quiet place, I can give myself a quick recharge, I then grab a cold drink and get back to work

• Remove all technology other than the laptop, for extended periods. Yes this means no phone or TV nearby.

• Find a time where distractions are less likely, such as earlier in the morning before people start bombarding you with requests. Find what works for you.

• Stop when you’re no longer productive. Working longer hours is not healthy long term, and can be counter productive when you realise that productivity goes downhill due to fatigue.

• Get back to normal working habits as quickly as possible.

• Make sure you get the recognition you deserve for stepping out of your comfort zone!

Recommended Reading: Deep Work

By Cal Newport, Jeff Bottoms, et al.

This book is a must for anyone wanting to take back control of their schedule and be meaningfully more productive. One of the few books I’m looking forward to reading a second time!

Podcast and Newsletter: Build More with Less

This article summarises my discussion with AI startup founder Ikum Kandola. Amongst many topics, we cover Ikum’s recommended time management techniques.

Newsletter article: Why Upstart Beehiiv is Winning

I wrote this article to highlight the pace of execution of the team at messaging platform Beehiiv. There are some useful productivity nuggets, including how they banned meetings on certain days.

Articles:

15 Examples of how Increase Productivity in the Workplace

How to Increase your Teams Productivity

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