I love finding new books that blow my mind. Some are revolutionary ideas that I’d never thought of. They are the kind of books that rock your world and (sometimes) change the way you perceive reality. Others you know you should be doing, but you’ve never found the motivation or had enough ‘pain’ to pursue them.
When I read the following quote, I realized I wasn’t doing some of the things I knew I should be. Like taking the time to cool down after an intense workout, it should be done but doesn’t always happen.
Less But Better
– Dieter Rams
Mind = blown. I have stretched myself pretty thin over the first few months of this year. I’m not complaining, it’s actually been great. My freelance career has been booming and my role at SOUTH has been expanding on what seems like a daily basis. Business is good!
But…
I went out of town last weekend and forgot my pants. Not the pants I had on my body, thank goodness, but the pants I was planning on bringing with me all week. I was rushing around when it was time to go and I had zero clarity of mind. I was so scatterbrained I forgot a bunch of essential items. In short, I was doing too much.
This isn’t the first time I’ve let myself fall into this trap. I lived it for years at the furniture company and I see it all around me every day. When I realized what I was doing, I took a step back and tried to take a deep breath. Less but better.
I won’t sit here and tell you I had a melt down, but I did recognize I was headed in that direction if I didn’t make some changes. Fortunately, I know how to handle this situation and you may be able to learn from it.
Step 1: Determine What’s MOST Important
I had this “figured out” a few years back and I was the most productive person I’d ever known. I was in the office by 6 and out by 3, able to spend free time with Katie, exercising, and working on a personal project: the other things I found important.
I eliminated distractions and was able to focus on only the things that mattered while it was time to work. I wasn’t daydreaming or being pulled in multiple directions, I had a laser focus on the tasks at hand. When it was time to play, I focused on those other important things.
We have this misconception that we need to always be focused on our work, even as entrepreneurs. When in reality, some of our greatest breakthroughs come when we’re not even thinking about the big problems we’re facing. Please don’t take this to the opposite end and quote me as saying we shouldn’t work at all. I believe work should be fulfilling and it has a major role in our lives. But it shouldn’t consume us, we have room for other things in our lives besides work.
A key part about determining what’s important is putting everything else in the unimportant category by default. Know the difference and set your priorities. Take some time to think about what you value above all else. Remember, if everything is important none of it is.
Step 2: Eliminate the Non-Essential
At work, I needed time to think and plan. I was a manager of multiple teams and I was forging an unknown path. If you’ve never done it before, strategic planning takes ideas. Ideas don’t come when you’re running around like a chicken with your head cut off, they come when you have space to think.
Emails: Unsubscribed from everything other than the essential and got down to Inbox Zero.
Meetings: Avoided at all costs unless I was specifically requested (*Note that meetings are brainstorms are totally different. Most meetings are pointless, most brainstorms produce breakthroughs).
Phone Calls: “If it’s an emergency call me, otherwise use email. Emergencies consist of blood or large sums of lost money.” Phone calls magically went down 7,835% during that period.
Office Hours: Came in early when nobody else was around to distract me and left early to avoid the tasty beer in the late afternoon that would suck me in.
I had time to work on the things that mattered and not get bogged down by office chatter. I was able to do all the things I felt were important and give my work my full attention. When it was time to work, I was more effective AND efficient.
Step 3: Continue Saying NO
This is by far the hardest part and it’s actually part of the reason I quit.
If/When you do this, people are going to look at you funny. They’re going to ask, “Why does he not want to come to this meeting, I brought donuts?” And they’re going to call you selfish and they’re going to say you’re not a team player.
You will have social pressures to come to meetings that don’t require your presence. You will get crap for not joining your buddy’s March Madness tournament. You’ll even be called rude for not responding to unimportant emails or phone calls. But most of all, you’re going to get so much done it’s not even funny.
It seems like a really simple process. Simple? Yes. Easy? No.
If you do take this path, learn from my mistakes. Be productive, but don’t forget to communicate to those around you. If you plunge into this head first without first ‘warming up’ the people with whom you work, you might find yourself in some heated debates.
Getting Busy (again)
There’s really no need to be productive when you don’t have a job. Finishing your emails two minutes faster only leaves two more minutes of monotony in your day. So I began to fill my days up. I filled them with Meetups, freelance work, giving back, and exercise.
Soon I had a few jobs and my days were no longer slow and boring. They have become hectic and unpredictable. I have nobody to blame but myself.
“If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”
– Greg Mckeown, Essentialism
I feel like I’ve let Productive Mike down by giving truth to this epigram. I’ve said yes to everything and once again, I have too much on my plate. I wrote this to remind myself how to be productive, I hope you’ve learned a thing or two from my experiences.
If you’re really into the idea of productivity I’d highly recommend reading Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek
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Leave me a comment or chat with me on Twitter, I’d love to hear from you. Have a great weekend!
