Introduction
This is not yet another productivity tips post from a random self-proclaimed “productivity expert.” Instead, we will focus on being a positive contributing factor at work. How do we do that? Well, we won’t be trying to cram as many tasks as possible in a unit of time of your choice. We’ll instead focus on producing reliable, high-quality work, which might mean we are, on the surface, less productive than some colleagues. Still, at least no one will have to fix things after us, and does that not mean that we were, in the end, more productive in the long run?
So, let us get into it.
Time Blocking
Having dedicated time blocks for tasks will result in higher-quality work than if we were attempting to accomplish the same job in intermittent, separate time intervals.
If we are always task-switching, we can be sure our work will be of lower quality. If we have to switch context, the quality suffers; that is simply a fact.
Respect the Time Block
This is indeed worth a separate heading. The best plan by itself does nothing, other than potentially filling our calendars and making us look busier. But we are not after that, are we?
We should do our best to respect our time blocks. Sure, unforeseen things can happen, and it is up to us to judge each situation as it presents itself. But we should remember that people often prioritise their tasks and problems subjectively. In the real world, there are not many people who are objective and can assess the situation by looking over multiple clients or the entire company.
Remember, most often you will be saving PDFs, not saving lives. Things can wait more often than they initially seem.
Write things down
We all have heard this so many times that it has become a cliché. But it has become cliché precisely because this is such good advice that it is worth repeating. And it is worth repeating because it is true.
Writing things down makes us much more likely to remember them, and it makes them way more real. Not to mention that writing things down preserves the information for later use.
For bonus points, try to ditch digital note-taking and switch to pen and paper – writing things on paper will burn them into your brain, as there seems to be a connection between the tactile feeling of pen and paper and better memory. Studies aside, this was always my experience, and as this is my post, I urge you to try.
P.S. If you’re not ready to completely abandon digital note-taking, you might consider using an e-ink tablet, which will give you a tactile feeling while still giving you the option to have your notes in a digital form.
Plan your day
Time blocking is a start, but we might consider sitting down every morning for 10 minutes to calmly think through and plan the things we have to do that day.
You should consider using a day as the smallest unit of time for planning, and maybe even ditch weekly and monthly planners, as they are often not precise enough. Not only that, but weekly and monthly planning will usually make us think too far into the future, and we all know that planning is excellent, but we also know that unexpected things can and do happen.
Calmly sitting down with a paper planner and at least listing everything we are supposed to do on this day will give us a sense of calm and peace. And yes, as you check things off your list at the end of the day, you will feel a sense of accomplishment as well,
Consider scheduling Topic-based meetings.
You probably do this already, but you might take inventory of the tasks and topics you are involved in and schedule a meeting in advance to discuss them. This plays well with the entire “time-blocking” concept.
This will often prevent people from calling you spontaneously and interrupting your focus time.
Avoid Multitasking
Multitasking may have become the new norm, and we may have to live with it, but it is best avoided in favour of focus time.
Multitasking leads to low quality and a similar, if not slower, velocity than when working on tasks one at a time.
A lot of “multitasking” every day makes you switch contexts often, because you are not actually multitasking but making minute breaks in your current work, switching to another task, then switching back, in rapid succession. And there’s a recipe for headaches, burnout and low quality if I ever heard one,
So, in summary, multitasking means the same or comparable speed in the long run, but at a lower quality. So why would we do it? To look busy? Come on, we are better than that.
Delegate or ask for help
We will not get any medals for finishing the work on our own. What we might get, though, is burnout.
We might even be criticised for attempting to finish the task alone and losing time, instead of asking for help.
If you are in such a position, delegate the task. As a bonus, this helps people learn.
Focus on quality
Yes, at first glance, some might appreciate that the work was done quickly. But as soon as bugs appear, no matter how tiny, people tend to forget that this was done rapidly and might even turn that against you by proclaiming that you lack attention to detail.
Focusing on speed tends to produce an unhealthy work culture and can lead to a spiral in which low-quality work is produced and quick fixes introduce further bugs. We don’t want this, as it can quickly escalate to us being considered unreliable.
Conclusion
This was a short, no-nonsense introduction to how you would make the most impact at work. You should focus on as few tasks as possible at the time, try to provide the highest quality possible, protect your time and mental health, and you will be fine.
