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Mastering Productivity: How to Be More Effective With Your Time


Photo by harvest_japan*

This is a guest post by Lodewijk van den Broek of How to be an Original and is part of the Mastering Productivity series.

Time is a special resource. A lot of people say it is a scarce resource, but most people don’t recognize this. The fact that most of us have many years ahead of us, doesn’t give the feeling of scarcity now does it?

But time is special in a sense that it can not be recaptured once it has passed. If it has passed it is gone, and our unknown remaining supply will only reduce further. So we better make good use of our time and make it as productive as can be. But what is productive time? Productivity is effectiveness and efficiency combined, so let’s dive into those aspects.

Effective time: doing what you want to be doing
Like I say in the first part of the series, effectiveness is first. Knowing what you want to experience in this life and knowing what to do in this life are what defines whether you spend your time effectively. Most of the time management systems mention this a couple of times, but they don’t focus on it. But in my perspective this aspect is essential when it comes down to real fulfillment of the way you spend your time.

The Eisenhower Matrix takes a step towards identifying the important from the non-important stuff. You define what is important and what is not, based on what is important to you. Knowing what your personal values are, knowing your mission statement or mantra, having goals and acting upon them are all aspects of identifying and translating what matters to you most into daily activities.

It is beyond this article to go into every aspect. On my blog I focus on this aspect and provide ways of identifying what matters to you. In my opinion knowing who you are and what you want are the most important aspects of productivity. They provide the background against which you can start with simplifying your life aligned with what you want.

Efficient time: do things the easy way
One of my guidelines is: Simple is always better than complex. There are a lot of ways to do things more efficiently and most of them fall into one of these categories:

  1. Do things only once
    One of the things our brain does is re-remember things that haven’t been done yet and have/could/should be done. This is a waste of time. Use methods like GTD to overcome this behavior.
  2. Do things smarter
    Almost every single task has been done by someone countless times before. A lot of people are looking to do things easier, faster and better in less time. Look around on the internet (and certainly around Zen Habits) and you’ll find smarter ways of doing what you need to be doing.
  3. Automate things
    Using software to do tasks for you is the common idea when we think about automation. But integrating efficient behavior in everyday habits is also a way of automating things. You could call it analog automation, as we are automating behavior that helps us do things more efficiently.
  4. Outsource things
    If you don’t want to do things, but they need to be done anyway, why not outsource them? There are people out there that do want to be doing that, and are enthusiastic about the previous three steps, so they do what needs to be done faster and better. So you can spend your time doing things that you do want to do and end up with often better results for what you don’t want to be doing (but what needs to be done anyway).

Productive time: doing easily what you want to do
So if we combine effectiveness and efficiency, we get productivity. Doing the things we want to be doing as easily as possible. It starts with knowing who you are and what you want and along the way we improve the way we do things. Full speed ahead to achieving what you want by using your time as productive as possible!

Read the other articles of the series:

Brilliant comments (15)

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Barry Morris Says:

September 25th, 2007, 9:09 am

Excellent recommendations. Your four summary points are spot-on. Thanks!

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jennifer Says:

September 25th, 2007, 11:43 am

Leo,
I read your blog everyday and I love it very much ! when I found that it has been a part of my life , I decide to print these articles , I really want to do , but you know , there are so many ! so could you pls provide a “word” edition for us ? thanks very much !

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Jen Says:

September 25th, 2007, 11:52 am

Great post. Time is truly our most valuable asset, it can’t be bought or replaced. Great things to think about.

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Lodewijkvdb Says:

September 25th, 2007, 14:23 pm

Thanks guys! I appreciate your feedback and I’m glad you liked the article.

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Leo Says:

September 25th, 2007, 14:53 pm

@jennifer: I’m not sure how to provide a “Word” edition of the blog … perhaps you could elaborate? But there is a small “print” link below each post that gives you a printer-friendly version of the article.

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How To Wake Up Early Says:

September 25th, 2007, 16:54 pm

That’s “classic” post, thanks Leo! Those rules should be printed on a banner and put in every office.

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Tina Fukuchi Says:

September 25th, 2007, 17:48 pm

These are great suggestions!

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Leo Says:

September 25th, 2007, 18:16 pm

Just so people don’t misunderstand, I didn’t write this post … it’s a guest post. :)

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Peter (www.iwillchangeyourlife.com) Says:

September 26th, 2007, 0:00 am

I guess this is a case of outsourcing your writing then Leo :)

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Mustapha Zamani Says:

September 26th, 2007, 0:01 am

Hi, It’s My First time That i Comment, But I have Been A long reader OF your Blog. Let Me say none Of your Productivities Work for me,I have tried thousandds of time,millions of decision,Why?
i think because i don’t want Because I Am 5′7 and I Think I am Short Every time I decide to Do sth I Consider THAT as problem. and No One Cares About Short people, nothing has this great feeling to look the eyes of someome straight when your talking to him/her.L o i Know many famous people are short But as I said they are short and if they weren’t short , They Were more famous or/and they could be famous
sooner. leo Sorry For my bad English I live in iran,Esfehan Thanks For listening to me.

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GreatManagement Says:

September 26th, 2007, 3:06 am

Another top-tip post. Excellent.

re: outsource things. Remember your partner and family. Get them involved. Get your kids to mow the lawn or wash the cars, etc. Agree with your partner he/she completes certain tasks.

Make a list of all the things you do in a week or month and then see what you can outsource.

Andrew

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kerul Says:

September 28th, 2007, 11:26 am

Well, there may well be things we don’t want to do but must, and need to do over and over, and can’t outsource or automate (exercise, floss, and pay taxes are three that quickly come to mind), but we can look for the value in them and create a lifestyle reward system to make those habits more easy, sustainable, low-effort (and low resistance!).

That said, the concept of Productive Procrastination is a wonderful time management tool. Half the items on your to-list likely fall into that category: it isn’t costing you enough by putting it off to make it worthwhile to pursue. Drop those items, at least for now. They’re dragging down your energy and depleting your attention and efforts for those things that really are meaningful and important to you.

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Pra Says:

October 9th, 2007, 21:55 pm

I love zenhabits!

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Productivity Software Says:

October 20th, 2008, 3:39 am

one way to improve productivity is to go the corporate way - use productivity software! its called that for a reason.

i run a home based business. a productivity tool called HyperOffice has greatly helped me organize myself and my information, and collaborate when need be.

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Productivity Software Says:

October 20th, 2008, 3:39 am

one way to improve productivity is to go the corporate way - use productivity software! its called that for a reason.

i run a home based business. a productivity tool called HyperOffice has greatly helped me organize myself and my information, and collaborate when need be.

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