Let me guess. Another un-productive work week has gone by. You still haven’t made progress on that big project or task. New assignments are piling up.
You find yourself thinking, “What on earth did I even do this week?”
As you wrack your brain, you start to remember all the little annoyances you fixed and the unexpected requests you accepted.
You start to stress about how you’re ever going to work on the assignments you actually want to be working on. You know, the projects that will deliver positive business results, bring you more recognition, and make you feel great about your contributions. I call these your VIProjects (Very Important Projects).
Don’t fret. You can quickly reverse this pattern and become more productive by making a few changes in how you structure your day and how you spend your time.
As with any shift in behavior, it won’t be easy at first. You don’t have to commit to making all 6 of these changes immediately. You can start small if you want.
If it helps, tell someone you trust about your intentions. Ask to be held accountable.
Just promise yourself that you’re going to do something. Take incremental steps. Commit to implementing at least one or two of these strategies per week.
1. Be Productive at Work by Using the Eisenhower Decision Matrix Tool
This tool is named after Dwight Eisenhower, who served as president of the United States from 1953-1961. Eisenhower was well-known for being able to sustain high levels of productivity and achievement. He developed and used this decision tool prolifically.
I use this tool daily. Though it took some time and patience to build the habit, I’ve become far more effective as a result. On the days I skip it, I’m just drifting from task to task.
The best part is that it’s very simple to understand.
The Decision Matrix breaks down your daily activities or tasks into 4 quadrants, based on Importance and Urgency:
- Urgent, Important (Must Do First)
- Not Urgent, Important (Must Do Later)
- Urgent, Not Important (Delegate)
- Not Urgent, Not Important (Don’t Do)
Here’s a Visual Example:
Here are some real-life tasks you might put in each quadrant:
Urgent, Important (Must Do First):
- Exercise
- Final Edits for Client Presentation at 3pm
- Finish Write-Up of Monthly Progress Report for VIProject A (due by end of day)
Not Urgent, Important (Must Do Later):
- Define Milestones for VIProject B
- Disposition email requests from Boss and/or Clients
- Daily Family Walk
Urgent, Not Important (Delegate to Someone Else):
- Daily status meeting updates
- Make Dinner – Delegate to family member
Not Urgent, Not Important (Don’t Do):
- Browse Social Media
- Respond to unimportant email requests
- Respond to instant messages that are not mission-critical
You’re probably wondering how you will put this into action.
If you like paper, use a notebook. If you prefer to keep everything digital, make or download a template on your computer.
Personally, I need something staring me in the face every day.
I use a wall whiteboard in a prominent location so that I am constantly reminded of what my priorities are. This stick-on whiteboard is great; just peel and stick to your wall (don’t worry, it won’t peel your paint when you remove it). I use these markers and eraser.
With a whiteboard, you can check off the things you get done as your day progresses. At the end of the day, you can erase and start fresh, or leave things you didn’t get to.
It takes thought to determine what goes in the two ‘Important’ quadrants.
Ask yourself,
“Does this task or project motivate me and move me toward my passion or better self?”
or
“Will doing this task or project benefit the business in a way I can feel good about?”
Often these simple questions will stir up a physical or emotional response. When that response feels good, that means you’ve identified something important to you.
If your response to these questions feels draining or constricting, that’s a signal to find ways to delegate or phase out those tasks or projects.
2. Commit to Boycotting Email and Instant Messaging
This might be my favorite tip. It’s a game-changer. People waste astounding amounts of time reading and responding to work email and instant messaging.
I still mess this up sometimes. It’s too easy to get sucked into the latest email or text thread. And let’s admit, it can be entertaining when the drama starts to fly.
It’s much easier to chime in on the latest perceived crisis than get to work on that challenging project (the one that will feed your brain and your career).
Set specific times that you will check email and stick to these times.
I suggest checking email around lunchtime and at the end of the day.
By lunchtime, many issues that you would have responded to in the morning are either already solved by the sender or someone else who read the email.
Check email a second time at the end of the day and respond only to urgent items.
Another highly beneficial tool is email filtering. Most email applications allow you to prominently highlight emails from important senders like your boss or clients. I find this very helpful in deciding which emails to react to.
Here are the steps to set up email flagging/filtering in Gmail.
Set similar rules for your work instant messaging or texting app.
Real-time texting at work is a huge productivity drain for companies.
Texting has its place in getting attention in serious situations. But most of the time, it just distracts people. Even worse, it allows them to quickly pawn off a task or decision to someone else.
My strategy is to check instant messages right after my specified time for email checks. Often, a coworker requests something of you both in email and text, so you can ignore any texts that you just addressed in email.
The only exception to this rule is that you should check for texts from your boss every hour, rather than wait until your designated times. Most good bosses won’t text you unless it’s fairly urgent. If your boss is not the courteous type, try answering with something like, “I’m deep into VIProject. Is it urgent?”
3. Make a High-Level Plan for Your Week and Set Goals
On Sunday (or the day of week that makes the most sense for you), write down:
- Your upcoming week’s meeting schedule
- Your personal schedule for working on your VIProjects
Consider which meetings you truly need to attend.
It’s amazing how many meetings consume your valuable time without generating any business value. Can you delegate these useless meetings or better yet, make a case for canceling them?
If you know you can’t get out of no-value meetings, tell the person holding the meeting that you can attend only the first or last 15 minutes. That way, the meeting leader will be more likely to identify exactly what is needed from you in advance.
And if the meeting leader doesn’t come up with specific items to discuss with you in those 15 minutes, you can then advocate for being relieved of similar meetings in the future.
After you’ve accounted for your must-attend meetings, look for empty spaces in your calendar.
Fill up empty calendar space with appointments for you to work on your important projects.
Treat these appointments with yourself as real meetings. Block them in your calendar so that people looking for open slots see you are booked.
Do your calendar blocking before the week starts, before coworkers can start adding random meetings to your calendar.
Speaking of random meetings, require your colleagues to honor your calendar availability.
If someone books a meeting in a slot you already have scheduled, decline the meeting with something like, “My calendar was already booked in that slot. Please find an open slot or contact me directly for my inputs.”
Set achievable goals for the items you’ve committed to work on that week.
Identify milestones and commit to completing either a milestone or a realistic sub-task toward a milestone.
Only you can take control of your time. Don’t allow other people to make you busy. Make yourself busy with the tasks that will improve business results, your career, and your personal satisfaction.
4. At the End of Your Day, Fine-Tune the Next Day’s Plan
Some days won’t go exactly to plan. Take account at the end of each day and adjust the following day as needed.
For instance, if you encountered an unexpected customer line-down situation that stole 2 hours from VIProject today, make up for some of what you missed tomorrow or later in the week. Shuffle your appointments accordingly.
If those 2 hours you lost can’t be made up this week, put an appointment on the calendar for next week.
Rescheduling your own commitments to yourself will motivate you to get them done. It simply doesn’t feel good to let yourself down by displacing your important work with someone else’s.
To be productive at work, it’s imperative that you keep your important tasks scheduled. Otherwise, you’ll keep perpetually postponing them.
5. Find Ways to Stay Motivated and On Track
It’s going to take time to build new habits. When you regress, don’t beat yourself up, but make sure to get back on track.
I like to build in a rewards system for meeting milestones on my VIProjects.
For instance, if I meet my goal for the week to complete the first draft of a client presentation, then I give myself a night to do whatever I choose, free of obligations.
If I don’t meet my goal, then I do some work at night to move closer to accomplishing what I missed.
Building in rewards will help you realize how much you gain by cutting out the time wasters. You’ll be motivated to be productive so you can enjoy life’s pleasures, guilt-free.
6. Take a Results Inventory and Adjust
It’s empowering to periodically take inventory of your progress.
Don’t skip this inventory step. Not only will it feel great to record the goals you met, but you will also generate new ideas and momentum.
First, choose how often you’ll take inventory. I suggest starting with every 2 weeks. Once your habits are consistent, you can reduce the frequency to monthly.
Next, record the milestones you’ve completed. Evaluate whether you’re on track to meet your VIProject deadlines.
Finally, write down your progress toward your personal habit changes, such as boycotting unimportant email and texting. Pinpoint the areas that need further work.
Before you go, I challenge you to start using these strategies today. Put yourself back in the driver’s seat, complete your important work, and propel your career forward. Build habits that will benefit you in all areas of your life.
You can start small, but start now.