Getting more done

One thing we all have in common is that we have the same amount of time every day. None of us can freeze time or expand time so that we can get more done.

Having systems in place, both electronically and analogue (as in pen and paper for example) can help you be more productive. Whilst the focus of this article is around a working day, the principles can also be applied to your personal life as well. 

Let’s take a look at some ways to get more done with your time…

Notifications: The productivity killer

Notifications, or as they should be called, the productivity killer are mostly unnecessary. You don’t need to know in real time that Bob updated his Instagram or that there is a discount on rubber ducks from Temu. We highly recommend you turn all notifications off. Yes, that’s right. Your body is probably screaming at you right now, just at the thought of fewer dopamine hits. That’s normal. But you will get more done without notifications in your life. No more getting stopped halfway through something important, losing your trail of thought and taking a long time to get back to where you were. Turn them off. Turn them all off. Including WhatsApp. And if you want to take things further, also make your phone completely silent at all times. Not for the faint-hearted that one, but it works.

Where you work is a huge factor in productivity

Ok, so if you work as an engineer and need to be in the workshop, to operate the machine that produces the widgets that you’re paid to produce, I appreciate this won’t apply. This is aimed at those of us who perhaps just need a computer and phone to work, which means you’re not tied to a particular location. I’ll let you into a secret, I’m writing this article in a pretty much empty McDonald’s restaurant. Why? Because there are no distractions here. It is just me, my laptop and the task at hand. I’m here to do this one task, and that’s it. There are no colleagues to distract me and no deliveries for me to get excited about (and therefore spend time unboxing). You need to find what works for you, as there is no one-size-fits-all, but I do think many office spaces can be detrimental to productivity from what I see. Too much noise, too many distractions. Eliminate them and get more done. Measure what you’re getting done, look for the 1% improvement every day and you’ll be amazed how much more you can get done over time. 

Using the right systems, with the right workflow

There simply isn’t one solution for everyone, as everyday business is different. There will be systems and workflow for your business though, that will make you more productive and efficient (and likewise, the wrong systems will hold you back). This might be systems to operate a helpdesk, a database to manage your orders or a CRM to help you manage customer accounts. The system you use is never finished either, the right system and people will constantly improve and tweak it, looking for those small gains all the time. For example, we make changes to our helpdesk system every week to improve the productivity of our team and the experience for our customers. Sometimes a change doesn’t work out, but trying a change is still much better than standing still. You need to take a step back and ask why you’re doing, what you’re doing. If the response is “it’s the way we’ve always done it” then this is a clear indication that it needs to be reviewed.

The Pomodoro Technique: Twenty-five minutes of focused work

The Pomodoro Technique is quite simple – you do twenty-five minutes of ultra-focused work, uninterrupted and then take a five-minute break to spend as you wish. For this to work, and for you to get more done, it really must be twenty-five minutes of quality work on that important task. No checking your phone, no taking calls and no watching cat videos. You just work on that one task and nothing else at all for twenty-five minutes. Once your twenty-five minutes is up, you then have five minutes to quickly check the notification that there is a flash trainer sale, and then go back in with another focused twenty-five minutes. You then repeat, repeat and repeat. You’ll be amazed at how much you can get done.

This is a topic we could write much more about, but we’re as don’t want to steal much of your precious time and we want to stick to your short and sweet principles with our email newsletter, we’ll perhaps do a part two in the future.

Gavin Moorhouse is the owner of Lucid Computer Solutions, from their base in Redditch, they provide businesses with IT Support across Worcestershire and Warwickshire. He produced this article using a laptop in do not distract me mode.