Hi everyone. In the US, we had a long weekend. I usually feel energized after a vacation/holiday. I hope you had a good weekend regardless of where you are located. I recently read somewhere that in the US, people are productive only 90 minutes each day. In some countries this number is less and in other countries, it is more. But the common theme is that no one works an eight hour day. The remaining time is spent in distractions like reading the news, surfing the net, food, doing paperwork and unproductive meetings. So how do you get efficient and productive?

1. Instead of doing things haphazardly, make a list and focus on one thing at a time. I know in today’s environment, multi-tasking is common. I am guilty of doing this.
2. Pick an endpoint. Usually what I do is try to finish a report or write a certain number of words in a given amount of time. Sometimes, I don’t get there, but it gets me close to my objective.
3. List action steps. I know my report has a certain format, so doing things according to format, helps. But when there is no set format, I try to do things in a natural progression.
4. Remove interruptions. I am not good at this, but I used to work for someone who used to block time on their calendar and not answer phone calls etc. Also let other people know you will be unavailable for that chunk of time. I do this sometime on the weekends. I wake up at about the the same time on the weekends as on weekdays. But then I get caught up with members of my family and I don’t get things done on my list. So I will tell my family to not bother me until I get things done. Doesn’t always work. But at least I am conditioning them to expect it.
5. Work quickly. I read a quote that perfection is the enemy of done. Don’t dwell on things. Go through your action steps quickly and finish the task in the allotted time.

Speaking of which, I need to get back to my other action items. Hope you enjoyed this post.