We spend most of our time at the 60 Second Marketer providing social media and mobile marketing tips. But occasionally, we’ll upload a post about an off-topic subject. For example, a while back we uploaded a post called How to Get Out of a Marketing Rut and it proved to be quite popular.
This go-round, we wanted to focus on a topic that’s important to all of us — how to improve your productivity. After all, if you can get 12 hours of work done in 8 hours, over the course of time your career and your business will thrive.
So, without wasting any more time, here are several tips to help you on your way:
- Leverage the Quiet Hours: Why do most C-Level executives get to the office before everyone else? Because they know that they can get 80% of the day’s work done between the hours of 7:00 am and 9:00 am. Admittedly, some people — particularly single parents — have child care issues that make this a challenge, but if you can get into the office a few hours before 9:00 am, those hours can dramatically improve your productivity and performance. (Side note: Some people’s quiet hours are from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm. No matter what, figure out a way to have uninterrupted blocks of time when the phone calls, emails and knocks on the door are held to a minimum.)
- Use Time Blocking: We live in a 24/7 world, so it feels as though work goes on around the clock, but research indicates that if you block out down time, you’ll actually be more productive during the up time. In other words, if you set boundaries — for example, no emails after 7:00 pm or no work on weekends — then you’ll be more productive during the times when you are at work. Short bursts of intense work are a business necessity, but if you’re always on, then you’ll eventually burn out. Set boundaries and, if you follow them, you’ll find that the quality of your work and your productivity actually improve.
- Set Time Limits for Each Task: New research is indicating that multi-tasking is less productive than focusing on one task at a time. But if you focus on one thing at a time, you’ll find yourself confronting another problem — having 10 items on your To Do list but only having enough time to get 8 done. What’s the secret? Force yourself to finish each task in a set amount of time. For example, I’ve set a time limit of 45 minutes for this blog post. By forcing myself to finish the post in 45 minutes (-ish), I allow myself time to get other important tasks completed.
- Get 10 Things Done Rather Than 1 Thing Perfect: This may come as a surprise to you, but perfectionists don’t succeed in business. Instead, they focus, focus, focus on getting every last detail perfect … while their competitors speed past them. Did Bill Gates become a billionaire by making sure every version of Microsoft Office was perfect? Hell no, he did the exact opposite, which is why he’s the richest man on the planet.
- Avoid Meetings: Meetings are fun, but they’re productivity killers. The only time you should find yourself in a meeting is a) because you need to brainstorm new ideas for your business, or b) you’re launching a new project. Okay, maybe there are one or two other good times for a meeting, but you get my point — avoid them if at all possible because they’ll sap your productivity like it’s nobody’s business.
- Meditate: I try to meditate twice a day for 20 to 25 minutes. People are often surprised when I tell them that because they assume I’m too busy for meditation. But the truth is my mind functions at a much higher level when I block out time for meditation. I’m convinced that the 40 to 50 minutes spent meditating frees up about 90 minutes of time for me each day. And when you add the health, spirituality and psychological benefits on top of that, it’s a no brainer.
Hopefully, the tips above will help you get 12 hours of work done in just 8 hours, but here’s the real question — did I hit my goal of writing this blog in just 45 minutes-ish? Yes, which is why there are probably a few typos in it*, but that brings us full circle to one of the tips mentioned above — it’s better to get 10 things done than it is to get 1 thing perfect.
See you tomorrow.
* I actually came back to this post in the morning and tweaked a few sentences, so add another 5 minutes onto my time allocation.
Jamie Turner is the CEO of the 60 Second Marketer and 60 Second Communications, a marketing communications agency that works with national and international brands. He is the co-author of “How to Make Money with Social Media” and “Go Mobile” and is a popular marketing speaker at events, trade shows and corporations around the globe.