Productivity is a mental game as much as it is about doing things. One of the limiting beliefs I hear people tell themselves over and over is, “I don’t have time.”
I used to be a chronic “I don’t have time” person, but I have found that I actually do have time to do more things than I thought possible. Today we’ll look at how I use those chunks of time to get more done.
When people think about productivity, it’s often about the physical actions. But the mental game of productivity is just as important as the physical actions.
Today we look at how to get into the productivity mindset.
I recently heard on a podcast that minimalism is a mind game – that it’s not about getting rid of stuff as much as it is about getting rid of distractions.
I’ve never heard it phrased that way before, but it clicked. I’ve dabbled with simplicity for years. In fact, my long-time readers will remember when this blog was called “simple productivity” – and focused as much on simplifying as it was on productivity. But minimalism? I could never get behind having 100 items in my life or 30 pieces of clothing or a single pen (a single pen? I’d get the shakes from withdrawal!)
And when you look at minimalism as a mind game to eliminate distractions, it becomes clear why no one person’s minimalism will be anothers – just like productivity systems.
Crisis can happen in the blink of an eye. One minute life is normal, and then everything is different. It could be anything that rocks your stability: death, divorce, accident, layoff, shutdown. But crisis comes to us all, and it’s important to know what to do.
My own personal experience with crisis was major – eleven years ago my husband fell twenty feet off of a ladder and spent two days in neuro ICU. But I learned some lessons about what to do before and during a crisis, and how to support others in their own.
Have you ever been going over your task list and come to a screeching halt? Did you stumble over the task because your brain didn’t know what to do with it? Properly naming tasks is one way to keep that from happening.
I am not very good at naming tasks. Even after years of doing Getting Things Done and absorbing productivity information, all which emphasize to keep tasks do-able. So here is how – and why – you need to properly name tasks.
To get more done, you need to do more things. That’s self-evident. But what if I told you the secret to getting more done was limiting your tasks?
I am one of those people, who, when faced with a huge list of things to do, will shut down and do none of it. It’s not uncommon. Most people, faced with a pile of work where they don’t know where to begin, will not being at all.
So how do you get past that? Read on.
There are productivity lessons everywhere, if you just look. Here are four lessons I learned from a video game my daughter got me into, “We Bare Bears Match 3 Repairs.”
I like matching games, and when my daughter started playing this one (based on one of her favorite cartoons), I peeked over her shoulder. What makes this game different from most is that there is no time pressure – a round is governed by the number of moves that you make. Make less than “par”, you win the round. Otherwise you need to try over. It’s fun, and it made me think about the general rules I was applying to select my moves…and all can be applied to productivity.
Few people would say that work and life are the same. Yet we try to apply work task management techniques to the rest of our lives, and are frustrated when it doesn’t work.
I have very little problem staying on task at work. I have multiple priorities and multiple projects, and yet I consistently meet my deadlines. I began to wonder why I had problems at home, and so I started to read books on task management and to-do lists, hoping to find the answer. Instead, I had an epiphany.
I figured out how to manage my personal tasks in a way that takes into account their differences.
As part of my quest for productivity, I read a lot of articles and books on the various aspects. I get frustrated from time to time, because I think a lot of the authors miss the points.
For example, I have been reading a lot about building a better task list. And I’ve discovered that most task advice is worthless.
I tackle my email overload by moving everything into a “backlog” folder, setting up filters, and creating processing folders like “Respond” and “Task.” Using timers to sort emails helps me stay organized and focused.
