1: So how exactly do we define productivity?
Google productivity expert Laura Mae Martin tells us in her book Uptime that productivity is comprised of three distinct elements:
Step #1: Defining clearly what we want to do,
Step #2: Setting aside the (right) time and place to do it, and
Step #3: Executing well within the designated time.
Productivity, Laura believes, is closely aligned with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi‘s concept of flow: “It’s when,” she writes, “we’re setting intentions and easily following through on them because we’ve created an environment that allows us to thrive.”
Isn’t productivity just getting stuff done?
Yes. . . And, it’s more than just that. “It’s the energy that comes with having clarity and focus, the ease we feel as we navigate our days and our weeks,” Laura observes. “It’s feeling our best and producing results—both at work and in our personal life.”
Here’s to that!
2: So far this week, we’ve looked at the importance of defining our three top priorities and defining the 2 or 3 high-impact tasks that will lead us to achieving these priorities.
Doing so provides clarity and direction.
But we also need a way to track these activities and decide exactly when we will complete them on our calendar.
The answer we are looking for? Lists.
“Making lists is always associated with high levels of productivity,” Laura notes. “They’re the backbone of productivity. Lists can help manage our lives if used the right way. They can keep us honest about what we need to do and when we need to do it. They give us a level of trust with ourselves that nothing is ‘slipping through the cracks.'”
When done right, lists become “a living, breathing system that makes it easier for our brains to manage tasks and ensures that we execute them,” she explains.
The bottom line: By capturing all the tasks we want to achieve, we free up our brains for other things.
Not only that. Simply writing down what we want to achieve dramatically increases our likelihood of doing so. “A renowned study by Gail Matthews at the Dominican University of California showed that writing down goals increased the likelihood of achieving them by 42 percent,” Laura shares.
Magic happens when we set a goal and then spend time planning how we will achieve that goal. “A little big of planning can make a huge difference in how much we’re getting done in the long run,” Laura observes.
In his book Eat That Frog! 21 Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, Brian Tracy states that spending ten to twelve minutes planning our day “will save us up to two hours (100 to 120 minutes) in wasted time and diffuse effort throughout the day.”
Consider a simple grocery list. “If I spend five minutes making a list of what I need and writing it out organized by aisle,” Laura writes, “then twenty minutes shopping, that is more efficient than the forty minutes or so it would take me wandering around the store trying to remember the items I need and where they are.
“The five minutes of sitting down to plan upfront actually saved me fifteen overall minutes in the long run.”
3: “While lists can be extremely helpful, they can also be tricky,” Laura points out. “How can learn piano someday and finish presentation that’s due by 5:00 p.m. both show up on a list of to-do’s?
“Although they’re both things we want to do,” she writes, “they have completely different time frames and effort levels. One is a big-picture vision and one is something that needs to happen now–so how do they coexist?”
That’s where Laura’s idea of the List Funnel comes in. When “keeping track of things in our heads, managing the mental load of personal and work to-do’s, coming out of meetings with follow-ups, constantly trying to remember things that need to get done, and juggling action items from multiple places, the List Funnel is for us,” Laura predicts.
More tomorrow when we consider the first type of list: The Main List.
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Reflection: Have I defined exactly what productivity means to me, and am I using lists and planning to create an environment where I can easily follow through on what matters most?
Action: Spend ten minutes today making a clear, actionable list of my high-impact tasks for the week, then block time on my calendar to accomplish them.
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