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Getting things done means doing the right thing to the exclusion of all else.
Today's issue looks at how.
But first:
Time blocking is a proven strategy to manage your time and get things done.
I've created a short course to help you learn this valuable skill. It includes the Daily Dashboard, a bonus spreadsheet that automatically imports your Google Calendar data so you can see where your time goes.
You'll learn to design a week that achieves balance across the big 5 categories of your life.
We have to prioritize," said Sandberg.
"We talk about it as ruthless prioritization. And by that what we mean is only do the very best of the ideas.
Lots of times you have very good ideas. But they're not as good as the most important thing you could be doing.
And you have to make the hard choices."
- Cheryl Sandberg
We all want to be more productive; squeezing more out of the day and crushing that to-do list. But at what point does ”productive” turn into “busy”?
Just because you can be working on something doesn’t mean that you should.
It may not be the best use of your time, but how to choose those activities that will have the greatest impact?
Adding to the trouble is there just isn’t as much physical evidence of completion when doing knowledge work. Working with your hands offers tangible evidence of how hard you work. Pound enough nails and eventually you’ll build a house. But what evidence is left after a day of crunching numbers on a spreadsheet and collaborating online?
This has given rise to the “always on” phenomenon, where emails are replied to immediately and colleagues eat lunch with their cellphones on the table. Each email sent represents a unit of work completed, so you can get feedback about how much you are doing feel good about what you’ve accomplished.
At least until the end of the day when you look back and can’t think of a single thing you did that was actually valuable.
Ruthless Prioritization
The key to success is to focus on the things that truly matter, to the exclusion of all else.
Easy to say, hard to do.
Defining what truly matters can be tricky and takes time. The employee handbook at work is a good place to start but won’t take you all the way. Your job description is just the baseline of what is expected of you in order to maintain the status quo.
Those that shine learn to read between the lines and focus on the unspoken tasks that really matter; the 20% of activities that make 80% of the difference.
Modeling others who you feel are high performers in your industry is another good place to look.
Watch what they do and ask questions about what they feel is important. They may not be able to articulate what it is they are doing however, as it might just come naturally.
But the more information you can gather the better a position you’ll be in to make informed choices.
Priority = One
Prioritization is the act of ranking items in their order of importance. Ruthless Prioritization then is to eliminate everything on the lower end of that list that doesn’t provide enough value for your time invested.
Focus on one thing at a time to the exclusion of all else and your results will skyrocket. The hard part is cutting out the non-essentials, because you feel obliged to work on them too.
But think back to how much busywork you completed last month and ask what value it truly generated.
Reducing the number of things you focus on allows you more time to focus on what matters. You’ll do a better job, achieve better results, and will actually have more time to spend doing what you want; because focused work gets finished quicker.
Choose one thing, block out a chunk of time, and get after it.
P.S
Make sure to check out my new course.
Its freshly launched and I'm looking forward to your feed back.
Sean
When you are ready, here are a few ways I can help:
1. Subscribe to The Lever (if you haven't already)
This covers a science-based productivity concept each week, in about five minutes. Try a free chapter of my new book when you subscribe. And if you like it...
Peaceful Productivity outlines the time-management system I've created over the years as a ship's Captain and business executive. It will help you plan, prioritize, and get more of the right things done. Also available on Amazon
This short course will teach you the fundamentals of a powerful timeblocking system to make sure you never miss an obligation and always show up prepared. Give yourself the space you need to create the life you deserve.
Smart systems to make you productive, prolific, and profitable | Find me on Twitter @SeanPHogue | Sign up here for the weekly newsletter, The Lever, and create some leverage in your life.