Saturday, April 24, 2010
13 Strategies To Jumpstart Your Productivity
Stepcase Lifehack: Looking to increase your productivity? You’ve come to the right article. I don’t claim to be a productivity master (I always think there’s room for improvement), but I am very passionate about increasing productivity. I’m always looking for different ways to be more productive – stealing pockets of time where I can, deprioritizing the unimportant, getting system overhauls, etc. And I love it when I see my efforts pay off in the form of increased outputs at the end of the day.
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It's amazing how many of the things on this list are things that most of us start to do but don't follow through with. I think it's important to really analyze what you think your system is and what it's doing for you. The key things here that I really value are knowing what your productive environment is, utilizing small pockets of time, and resting. It's so important to be able to take things off your list any time you have enough time to get things going, but it's also important to rest and give yourself the space you need so you don't end up running yourself into the ground, which can happen really easily around here with all the things we do. It's not really about planning as much as it is about knowing when and where is the best place to get the task you need to accomplish done.
I agree with Naomi that many of these things are things that we all start, but don't follow through with. I think the last two are very important when looking at school of drama, waking up early and remembering to rest. While I have been trying to get better at both of these, it is sometimes very hard to wake up early when you can't start being productive until after crew. Setting goals and trying to accomplish those in the time you have, while remembering to rest seems to be a good goal to have and work towards using some of these other hints along the way.
We love how-to articles! Productivity is what I, as a designer want in everyday work. Because whenever I get stuck with an idea, it won't go anywhere. If I stick to the task, there would be nothing produced during that time. Instead, it would be better start doing other thing more practical.
What really works the best for me is making a list. Especially for my thesis project, some parts are very creative and others are analytical or just do-it sections. I tend to procrastinate when I can't come up with an idea, and waist the time. But if I have a list with practical tasks on it, I can go to whichever can be done while I get stuck like a killing time.
Good ideas sometimes pop up while not thinking too much about the project. If you have a lot of practical things to do anyway other than creative work, it works really well.
For my personal to do lists regarding assignments and work I have to do, I usually consider priority and omit any time limitations on the list mostly because I always underestimate the amount of time it takes me to do work. But a good tip that I've picked up this year and will hopefully do next year because my schedule for classes has many one hour gaps, is utilizing time pockets. It's annoying to have one hour pockets of time that you can't use for major projects any only complete small tasks like busy work, etc.
For my personal to do lists regarding assignments and work I have to do, I usually consider priority and omit any time limitations on the list mostly because I always underestimate the amount of time it takes me to do work. But a good tip that I've picked up this year and will hopefully do next year because my schedule for classes has many one hour gaps, is utilizing time pockets. It's annoying to have one hour pockets of time that you can't use for major projects any only complete small tasks like busy work, etc.
This article is great at giving me ways to improve how I use my time. I personally disagreed with the tip “Use the 80/20 rule-” that if you put in 20% of the time you will get 80% of the quality. I find this somewhat wrong because this ratio is different for ever person. The tips relating to keeping your work space nice, organized and, neat I found helpful. I find myself all the time having a cluttered work space, and my productivity goes down. Then when I clean my work space, my productivity goes up and it is easier for me to do work then. I feel that these are great starting points to increase my productivity, but every person works and thinks differently.
What I love most about these articles is the things that you can link to from it. I became particularly interested in the "wake up early" strategy, so was examining some of the other articles that it referred me two, and am going to try this week to see if i can implement some pieces of them. All of this of course follows from knowing when you are most productive, and where you are most productive. Naomi and Katherine touched upon this very well regarding knowing your personal workspace and time. Having somewhere to work is just as important as being focused on the work, as so many other articles have touched upon.
Although we've already known these 13 strategies things as a common sense, ususally it is hard to keep. This article make me aware how to do manage my time effectively. I have been doing make time box and list but I could keep 'get up early' or 'put first thing'. After reading this article, I thought I have to do manage myself productivitly.
While we keep seeing “how-to” lists, especially on productivity and time management, I think that this is one of the best. I really like the tip of having a separate list for incoming task. I know that often times when I have a to-do list, if I get more assignments or things I need to do, I just tack them onto the list, and then that screws up my plans. Keeping two separate lists is a good tip in keeping focused on the task at hand.
It does not really seem like this list has any groundbreaking tips. It seems to me that the reason you see one of these articles pop up so often is not because people are not aware of effective working habits, but because it takes a lot of effort to actually implement them into our lives. Maybe after reading the same tips over and over again, they sink in a little better.
I agree with the above comments that these are things that most of us know to do, yet, dont always seem to follow through with. Personally though I feel that some of these tips make very good points, and the ones I use the most are the waking up early and getting rest; I also feel that it is also just a lot about will power. As dumb as it sounds, and I'm not always saying that I follow this but, not procrastinating and buckling down also helps you be productive
Productivity strategies are only useful if they are productive. Now this might seem obvious, but I know that I have spent many hours getting organized to not end up getting what I had set out to do done. Techniques are only useful if it is useful to you. Not everyone works the same way, therefore not every technique will be useful for each person.
However, these thirteen strategies are pretty general and thus can be put into many strategies and techniques. It is always very useful to see a plethora of techniques so that you can pick and choose to find what will work best for you.
None of these tips are revolutionary, but they're organized in a great way, with personal experience to back it up. Personally, I know that when I try to wake up early, it just doesn't happen. But that's great if it works for other people! Time chunking sounds really good, I'll try that! I've actually been using the pomodoro method (from a previous article) and that works really well too. I think I'll try chunking, and break that down with pomodoros. I also don't really agree with the 80/20 thing. I agree with Robert that the ratio is completely personal. But, I'd also like to add that the extra 80% of time you spend is sometimes worth more than the original 20% you put in. It's the finishing touches, and edits that make work excellent instead of ordinary. I'm not saying it has to be perfect, but this method doesn't seem to even work with having high standards.
I do really like the tip about motivation triggers though. I need to work on finding my triggers and just motivating myself in general. I also really like the idea of goal setting. That's something I need to do more of.
This article does have really good tips for motivation, but I'm not sure about the time management techniques.
Oh life hacker -- the best thing I liked about this article was number 2, talking about how to keep your work space organized and spacious. I wonder whether that translates to me productivity being worse these past two years in a cluttered, to visually stimulating office here at school, where at home it was more spartan and "zen." How I wish I could have a desk with just a monitor, a clock, a pen and a few little knick-nacks. Perhaps next year I'l revamp the whole thing -- I also think the room you're in really affects how you use your work space.
Being on run crew and having final projects to do has made me keenly aware of my time. Lunch breaks have become lunch and work breaks and former down - time has become more work time. When you get out of crew at 11 or 12 its not very good for you to work until 4 or 5 am. Thus getting work done during the day has been a great help. I think that I will continue working in chunks throughout the day, even after crew, that way I won't have a giant pile of things to do at night. I too have trouble waking up early when I plan too, but I've started going to bed earlier than I used to. Working until the wee hours of the morning, while you may get stuff done, is ultimately detrimental to productivity because each day you stay up late the next day's work becomes exponentially less productive and it ends up being of a lesser quality too. These tips, while common sense, really are useful and when implemented make a big difference in productivity.
I enjoyed this article much more than I have the many productivity articles in the past. This one seemed useful in the fact that it involved ideas and methods that not everyone is aware of already. While there where some obvious things such as 'wake up early' and being organized, things such as the 80/20 rule are probably new to some people who may benefit by trying them. I also appreciated the helpful links under every strategy and the writer's own admission that they themselves aren't always productive.
Regardless of my feeling towards these kinds of articles, I'm happy that this one started off with the disclaimer that this was not written by a so called "expert." Too many of these articles just re-iterate topics that get covered in Freshman year's Meta-Skills, and more often then not, they're presented in article form as THE way to improve that aspect of you life. The links within each of the sections however, were the real start of this article. Someone actually thought to include explanations of their more abstract ideas that didn't drive up the length of the article, points to them.
Well it seems like this is one of the hot articles this week. Yes, productivity and time management are all something that we struggle with, and constantly want to improve. One of the strategies provided by this article that I directly connect with is having a work conducive environment. I have noticed that I am less efficient working at home, because that is a space for fun, eating, and sleep. When I am at school, there are more places that are completely dedicated for working. Yes, I do prefer to be at home to work because it is comfortable, but when I am focused on my producivity I really do need to be able to be in a space that is focused on work rather than distractions.
This is an awesome article. I think that there is no way that one person could do all of these things. It is important for a person to find their way of organization and scheduling to get work done without being stressed out. This list is a great place to start. Two of the most important things are getting rest and waking up early. Rest is so important and if a person doesn't get enough rest then there is no productivity going on. I can not function if I am too tired.
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