Traditionally, we have focused on how to be more productive. We are obsessed with productivity, that is, the ability to produce “units of work.” In other words, doing a lot.
But that mentality is from the last century, when we worked in factories and had office hours. The best employee was the one who produced the most in eight working hours.
This has been changing thanks to computers, the internet, and technology. And of course, it is more noticeable since the pandemic and telecommuting. Our work is increasingly more creative. And if you are an entrepreneur or independent, you know what I’m talking about.
And now you can use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, like ChatGPT. For example, I originally published this post on my blog in Spanish, but I used this wonderful tool to translate it.
Imagine that you work in a marketing agency, and your job is to make proposals for potential clients. When are you more productive?
- When you rush to do five proposals, copying and pasting, and none of them gets approved?
- When you create two well-thought-out, creative proposals, and one gets approved because of them?
It’s not about doing quantities of work anymore, but about what you do being of high quality. In other words:
“Don’t try to be more productive but more effective and efficient.
TIPS TO INCREASE YOUR EFFECTIVENESS AND EFFICIENCY:
- ADJUST YOUR ROUTINE.
Something I changed in my way of working a few years ago was to stop forcing myself to do those pending tasks one after another.
Now I choose well what I am going to do, according to my mood or mindset.
The good news is that it can be programmed. Humans tend to function in cycles, routines, that you can adjust.
Like everything else, it can be challenging at first, but with time, routines can be adjusted. In my case, now I only do administrative tasks in the afternoons (and I’m trying to leave them only for Fridays).
I try to schedule meetings in the afternoons because I am more creative in the mornings, and that’s when I am most efficient with those tasks.
There is a very good book called “Mind Management, not Time Management” by David Kadavy, which explains all this in more depth. I’ll leave you the Amazon link if you want to download or buy it in print.
Based on mental cycles and the hours when we are most in tune with a type of work, @Kadavy recommends working on the most creative work in the mornings, even before morning coffee, although I think that one doesn’t have to go to extremes.
You can also leave creative meetings for the mornings. Save a little more analytical work for the afternoons, such as correcting proposals, verifying facts, researching figures, and holding meetings.
In the evenings (or at the end of your workday, because you also have to dedicate time to your family), you can devote yourself to absorbing information: reading blogs, articles, and books, watching documentaries. I also include movies and series because, well, not everything is work. And also because, believe it or not, interesting ideas for your work also come from entertainment.
- SEPARATE CREATIVE WORK FROM ANALYTICAL WORK.
Much of my work is creative, and it will increasingly be so for everyone, according to studies and global trends.
Let’s take my case with blogs as an example: in the mornings, I write as creatively as possible, with the topic I decided on the night before, without worrying about links, validating the exact data, writing, and spelling. I do that in the afternoons when I review, edit, and polish. I work with the other side of the brain, the analytical side. And at night, I rest and think about other things that will someday help me be more efficient; one connects the dots almost unconsciously.
I now try to leave accounting and administrative work for just one day a week. I usually do them at the beginning of the week, although the book recommends doing them on Fridays, so I’m going to try that.
- DON’T WATCH THE NEWS!
That is one of the best pieces of advice I can give. I don’t know if it has happened to you that you are happy, walking in the meadow, smelling flowers – or working, who knows – until you come across a news program, open a news portal in your browser, or, God forbid, go on Twitter (by the way, I’m @OmarGamboa on Twitter). Before you know it, you feel like fighting, disheartened, frustrated. In a bad mood because of some dense news.
News programs, whether on television, radio or in print, are usually negatively charged and heavy. We usually see how politician X stole something, or there was a shootout in place Y and the authorities are doing nothing… I won’t go on. The point is that all of this emotionally weighs us down and immediately lowers our creativity and mood. We colloquially say that “our day was ruined.” I’m sure it’s happened to you. Don’t deny it.
“But Marmota, we have to be informed about what’s going on in the world, we can’t be isolated from things,” you say to me. “Why?” I ask you. Answer yourself in private, very honestly: Why is it useful for you to be informed? Are you going to change the world? Do you work for an NGO? Are you the President of the Republic? Unless you are a journalist and work in the media, I find it very difficult that “being informed” serves you any real purpose.
Many times we want to know just because we want to know. Because we are anxious about not being informed. Don’t worry, it’s very common. So common that it has a name: the “FOMO” syndrome (fear of missing out). There’s a very appropriate phrase: “Ignorance is bliss”. Not in the sense of “the ignorant masses”, but in the sense that consciously ignoring certain things frees up our brains and allows us to focus on things that really benefit us.
Now, if a piece of news is really important, one of those “must-know” things, believe me, someone will tell you.
I challenge you to try the experiment for one week. If after seven days you feel like your life is in chaos because you don’t know what happened in the world, let me know and I’ll buy you a coffee. I promise. But I bet the opposite will happen and you owe me the coffee, hahaha.
- CONCENTRATE.
This last piece of advice is very obvious but we apply it very little. Nowadays it’s very easy to get distracted. The neighbor’s child is crying, the dogs in the apartment next door bark like crazy every time they are taken for a walk. The notification from email, WhatsApp, the bank’s call offering credit cards, etc.
My basic advice is: Turn off ALL notifications, put your phone on airplane mode, or on “Do not disturb” mode, and you will be much more efficient (and productive). If you want, put on headphones and an appropriate playlist. Believe me, the world won’t end in an hour when you disappear. Try it and let me know.
On other occasions, I have talked about keys to managing time and how the important thing is not to work more, but to work better. Both in spanish.
I leave these challenges for you this week: Apply one or more of these tips, hopefully all of them. Just one week, seriously. And you’ll see how you start to work better.
