Reward
Want to be more productive? Never touch things twice
Payroll professionals are constantly busy, so Dr Travis Bradberry shares his top productivity hack to help you efficiently manage the time you have
W hen it comes to productivity, we all face the same challenge – there are only 24 hours in a day. Since even the best ideas are worthless until they’re executed, how efficiently you use your time is as important as anything else in business. I’ve become fascinated by productivity secrets because some people seem to have twice the time, and there’s no better way to reach your goals than by finding ways to do more with the precious time you’ve been given. It feels incredible when you leave the office after an ultra-productive day. It’s a workplace high that’s hard to beat. In my experience you don’t need to work longer or push yourself harder – you just need to work smarter. “Time is what we want most, but what we use worst” – William Penn. I’ve learned to rely on productivity hacks which make me far more efficient. I try to squeeze every drop out of every hour without expending any extra effort. And my favourite hack also happens to be the easiest one to implement. It’s so easy and useful, you can begin using it now. Never touch things twice That’s it. Never put anything in a holding pattern because touching things twice is a huge timewaster. Don’t save an email or a phone call to deal with later. As soon as something gets your attention you should act on it, delegate it or delete it. To pull this off you’re going to have to eat some frogs. ‘Eating a frog’ is doing the least appetising, most dreaded item on your to-do list. If you let your frogs sit, you waste your day dreading them. If you eat them right away, you’re freed up to tackle the stuff which excites and inspires you.
You’ll also need to master the tyranny of the urgent. ‘The tyranny of the urgent’ refers to the tendency of little things that must be done right now to get in the way of what really matters. This creates a huge problem as urgent actions often have little impact. The key here is to delete or delegate. Otherwise, you can find yourself going days, or even weeks, without touching the important stuff. You’ll need to get good at spotting when putting out fires is getting in the way of your performance, and you’ll need to delete or delegate the things which hinder real forward momentum. “Since even the best ideas are worthless until they’re executed, how efficiently you use your time is as important as anything else in business” ‘No’ is a powerful word you’re going to have to wield. When it’s time to say no, avoid phrases such as ‘I don’t think I can’ or ‘I’m not certain’. Saying no to a new commitment honours your existing commitments and gives you the opportunity to fulfil them successfully and efficiently. Research conducted at the University of California in San Francisco shows that the more difficulty you have saying no, the more likely you are to experience stress, burnout and even depression. Learn to use no, and it will lift your mood, as well as your productivity. If you aren’t going to touch things twice,
you can’t allow email to be a constant interruption. You should check email on a schedule, taking advantage of features that prioritise messages by sender. Set alerts for your most important vendors and best customers and save the rest until the scheduled time. You could even set up an auto response, which lets senders know when you’ll be checking your emails again. To make my system work, you’re also going to have to avoid multitasking. It’s a real productivity killer. Research conducted at Stanford University confirms that multitasking is less productive than doing a single thing at a time. The researchers found that people who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information cannot pay attention, recall information or switch from one job to another as well as those who complete one task at a time. Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance, because your brain can only focus on one thing at a time. When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks successfully. Never touching things twice means only touching one thing at a time. Bringing it all together We’re all searching for ways to be more efficient and productive. I hope my productivity hack helps you to find that extra edge. Think about which productivity hacks you rely on. About the author Dr Travis Bradberry is a bestselling author whose books have sold more than three million copies and his new book, Emotional Intelligence Habits , is out now. See here for further information: https://ow.ly/gl2750Pp0v9.
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 93 | September 2023
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