Here we are with you once again to learn how to better manage our time and be more productive, did you learn to manage your time better? Could you apply any of the techniques from our previous post? What, haven't you read it yet? You do not know what you are missing! But do not worry, at the end of the publication I will share the link so that you can take advantage of all the material that I have prepared on this interesting and practical topic.
Previously we were talking about five of the best techniques to make our time perform better and be more productive, a fairly detailed and entertaining article, can't you wait until the end to see it? ... ok here is the link ... (to that It's called not wasting time xD)
In this chapter, we will talk about five very useful techniques that will complement the previous five allowing us to have a wide range of choices to decide which of the tools is best suited to our needs and resources. Let's get started!
SourceSeinfeld method
Yes, we are talking about that Seinfeld. Proving that he is not only a genius of comedy, the American actor Jerry Seinfeld left us this simple, practical, and nice method to "force" us to fulfill the purposes of the day. To apply this method we will need a large calendar (you can make one yourself with paper, pencil, colors, and a ruler). This calendar should be placed in a place that you will always have to see, such as the bathroom door, the refrigerator, next to the mirror, or on my blog ;)
Every day when you get up make a list of your purposes or goals for the day, you can write it down or memorize them if you are like elephants (they are supposed to have a good memory), then at the end of it, you go to the calendar, if you could fulfill everything that you proposed, you will mark the day with a large X (X) of striking color, such as red, but if you did not comply ... you will leave the day without any mark. Believe me, you won't like to see your X streak interrupted, but be careful! Don't be tempted to lie to yourself.
Jay Shirley Technique
This productivity technique was created a long time ago by the renowned psychologist and technologist Jay Shirley, it consists of assigning all the tasks that you have pending or that you want to make three labels that respond to what you must do for today (I need), which is important in the long term (should) and what you enjoy doing (I won't), the idea is to motivate ourselves to do what we must and then do what we want, in this way our priorities would be:
• “I need” tasks: these are the urgent tasks to be carried out during the day and cannot be forgotten, they are so important and necessary that they cannot be postponed and must be done at a specific time, such as attending a meeting, finishing a report, voting on this post;) or make an important phone call. The tasks "I need" should be solved as soon as possible, if it is first thing in the morning, better than better.
• “I must” tasks: there are also tasks that, even though they are not as priority or urgent, their resolution or execution may generate benefits in the medium or long term, so as with the “I need” tasks, the “I must” productivity tasks ”They have to be part of our weekly agenda (and resolved, of course).
• Tasks “I want”: this is where we give ourselves the incentive to continue with our routine. Tasks "want" are a reward for performing those tasks less pleasant, but necessary. These tasks can be, for example: going for a coffee or a drink with colleagues after work, taking a walk home, or having delicious ice cream for dessert after eating. Anything that brightens our day and serves as an incentive to fulfill our work obligations.
Technique Marc Andreessen
Have you heard of the Netscape Communications Corporation or Mosaic, one of the first web browsers with a graphical interface that exists ? since the creator of this technique Marc Andreessen is the founder of both projects. Part of the secret of its success is due to the application of this technique, which uses the concept of a list (anti-ToDo) but, on the contrary.
For Andersen, the important thing to move forward is to meditate at the end of the day on what we were able to solve and not on what we have pending, that way we focus on our achievements and not on our pending ones, which gives us the necessary motivation to continue solving pending tasks.
An anti-ToDo list celebrates your progress and gives you a global view of your daily achievements, instead of a depressing list of things to do, this way you can measure your progress and calculate afterward the performance of your working hours, as well as the difficulties you have faced.
Sam Carpenter method
In his book entitled Work The System, writer, and entrepreneur Sam Carpenter urges us to discover what times of the day our body and mind are most productive, so this method is based on the principle of Ideal Biological Time.
To develop this method, we must concentrate on “listening to the body” to determine at what time of the day we are most productive, something essential to be able to get the most out of time.
All human beings are different in terms of motivation and energy peaks, although we might think that the day is to work and the night to rest, you would be surprised to know the number of people whose creativity and energy is triggered at dusk.
To apply Sam Carpenter's method to perfection, the author recommends following the steps listed below:
Listen to the body to find out what are the times of the day when it has the greatest amounts of energy.
Once these moments have been identified, rate each of them with a score ranging from zero (least productivity) to ten (maximum level of productivity).
Then all this information must be transcribed into an Excel sheet or any other program that allows creating analysis graphs.
One week after starting to collect data, we will be able to extract useful information and discover what are the times of the day when our productivity is highest.
What this system seeks is to take advantage of those moments of maximum energy to carry out those tasks that, in addition to being relevant, require a large dose of effort, work, and concentration.
Personal Method (the best of techniques)
This method can be a compilation of the best elements of all the previous techniques, of the advice that you have collected throughout your life and it has worked of course, or of the example that you have been able to observe of highly effective people (I hope to see your recommendations in the comments of this post.
In my case, I can tell you that I have identified some practices and tools that in particular have been very useful for me to be more productive when working, such as:
Do the easiest thing first. Previously, I was one of the people who left the easiest for last and started with the most complicated first but believe me, it was a serious mistake. Most of our tasks are routine and easy to solve, but for those that require all our creativity and ingenuity it is better to start them with a good dose of motivation, also perhaps what is simple for us for the person who waits for our work is complicated So why not think about the team first?
If you're done, get it out of your sight. When you work with documents to be processed, open files, products in preparation or you are doing several things at the same time, your mind captures all the work that you have in view as pending work which can generate a lot of stress. Simplify your life, every time you finish something, take it out of your visual field, that in addition to clearing your mind will provide you with a good dose of stimulus when determining the work you have already completed.
Productivity apps and tools are good as long as they're simple. I love trying productivity applications and tools, but when choosing one for me, the premise is clear: if a tool is worth investing a lot of time to be able to organize pending tasks, it doesn't work. I have tried many, right now for example TOIST has become my fundamental ally, in addition to being simple and practical, it synchronizes perfectly with my Gmail emails and I can use it both on my desktop computer and my mobile phone, although the free version has some limitations.
Well, friends, I hope that this publication can be of help to achieve our desired goal of being more and more productive, if you want me to develop some other point, in particular, do not hesitate to suggest it to me in the comments of this publication. See you, greetings to all.
Thank you very much for your attention
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