We get so tied down in mundane day-to-day and other routine activities, that it becomes virtually impossible to find the time to work on our more important strategic and longer-term goals. There is a simple solution – ELIMINATE > AUTOMATE > DELEGATE.
Eliminate
Be Ruthless: Simplicity requires ruthlessness. If you had to stop ⅘ of time-consuming activities—e-mail, phone calls, conversations, paperwork, meetings, advertising, customers, suppliers, products, services, etc.—what would you eliminate to keep the negative effect on income to a minimum? Used even once per month, this question alone can keep you sane and on track.
Avoid chitchat: Don’t encourage people to chitchat and don’t let them chitchat.
Art of refusal: master the art of refusal and avoiding meetings.if you absolutely cannot stop a meeting or call from happening, define the end time.
Low Information Diet: What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. It is imperative that you learn to ignore or redirect all information and interruptions that are irrelevant, unimportant, or unactionable. Most are all three. Develop the habit of asking yourself, “Will I definitely use this information for something immediate and important?”
Art of non-finishing: Practice the art of non-finishing. Starting something doesn’t automatically justify finishing it.
Tim Ferris – Author – 4-hour workweek / Tools of Titans / Tribe of Mentors
“Simplicity boils down to two steps: identify the essentials, eliminate the rest.” —Leo Babauta
Sunil Saxena – Author – Massive Action equals Massive Results
AUTOMATE
The last decade has seen a huge explosion in the number of apps, websites, programs, bots and tools that can handle with ease our most complex and most mundane tasks. To achieve high productivity, it is essential that you attempt to automate all repetitive tasks that will help free up considerable time for higher valued activities.
There may be a small learning curve, when it comes to figuring the best automation tool for your tasks and how to use these latest tools. However, the time, energy and money spent in these initial stages will pay for themselves multi-fold over time, as you gain the benefits of the large time savings that these tools provide.
Before you delegate or outsource an activity, it is useful to ask yourself – is there a tool or software available online that can automate this for me instead?
DELEGATE / OUTSOURCE
All low-valued routine activities that you have left on your
The following blog posts will help you better understand how you too can master the skill of outsourcing your value and other tasks to virtual assistants and other outsourcing channels
Other concepts on Productivity
Focus
A flow state (or being in the zone) is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. This leads to a tremendous boost in productivity and enjoyment, in anything that you do.
Parkinsons Law
Parkinson’s Law dictates that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion. Want to complete something in less time, budget less time for it and it will get done.
80:20 Principle
80% of the outputs result from 20% of the inputs. To increase your productivity and effectiveness, you need to focus on the 20% of high-impact activities, and de-focus on the 80% low-impact activities.
The Right Technique
We often do things the way we were taught, not because it’s the best way to do it. By keeping you mind open to new ideas and a little amount of research, you could be surprised by the vastly superior and more productive techniques that you can discover, that can boost your productivity and efficiency.