If you’re someone who works hard and toils for long hours, yet feels the outcome isn’t productive enough, then you’re reading the right post. This blog will give you a basic understanding of productivity along with some simple techniques that will help you achieve maximum productivity. You’ll be learning from Manoj Radhakrishna, host at RareErth podcast, seasoned banker and life coach.

Before getting started, you need to put aside the IAKT attitude. IAKT stands for I Already Know That. If you're somebody who is very used to information downloaded from the internet or you’ve heard people speak about these concepts already, your mind tends to go into a state of “I already know that, this is nothing new”. When you discount information that way, then your possibility of learning something new completely diminishes.

What you’ll be reading about in this blog is based on information distilled from certain books, from well-known personalities like Ankur Warikoo, Ali Abdaal and a few others who have shared some of their best practices. These tried-and-tested principles are based on real-life experiences, and observing people in the business and corporate world who are good at optimising their lives. A word of caution, none of these practices can be thought of as 100% foolproof because each individual is different. You need to figure out what works best for you and simply tweak the rest.

Fundamentals of Productivity

What do you do when your focus is disrupted by distractions? Why is the energy you put in of paramount importance? What matters more – what you do or how much you do? The following fundamental principles will answer all your questions, so keep reading!

Productivity Principles

These principles are foundational and of prime importance as you begin this journey to unlock a more productive version of yourself. Think of it like building a house – you would want to spend some time on the foundation first, to ensure it lasts long.

Do you want to build a house on a loose foundation or do you want to build it on a solid foundation? Understanding these principles will serve as a strong base for you to build on, and make yourself much more productive.

Principle #1 – Focus

Focus is actually at a more premium than intelligence. If you're intelligent and smart, but do not have focus, you will have a hard time being productive. You are a star if you can stay focused and complete your tasks. A lot of people today do not have focus and it’s no wonder. It's hard to concentrate on one thing when there are so many screens competing for your attention – be it laptops, tablets or the phone in your hand.

We are constantly bombarded by information, causing all kinds of distractions which tend to disrupt our work. If you can actually bring your focus to one activity, you will become that rare individual who is able to accomplish all tasks in time. It’s really that simple. Remember, the art of focusing is the key to unlocking productivity.

Principle #2 – Energy

Energy is the currency of life. You may have the best tools in hand, and the smartest devices, but if you lack energy, you really can't accomplish anything. Take the example of your phone. If you charge it fully overnight, it will be at peak capacity in the morning with all the applications working at an optimal level.

But as you go through the day and run different tasks, it reaches a 60% performance, then 40% and finally drops to a 10% level. Our bodies are very similar. We work at different energy levels throughout the day. Learning to manage your energy while going about various tasks is the second key element of productivity.

Principle #3 – Effective rather than Efficient

What you do is more important than how well you do it or how much of it you do. Does that sound right? If you spend a few minutes observing the people around you, a lot of them appear to be busy doing something or the other.

The important question to ask is what are they busy with? Is it really a significant task that they should be focusing on? The key thing to keep in mind as you go about prioritising your day-to-day activities is that being effective matters more than just being efficient!

Principle #4 – Parkinson’s Law

A British historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson articulated a very interesting law. It states that work expands to fill the time allotted to it. Put quite simply, the amount of work required adjusts itself to the time available for completing a task.

Think about this for a minute. If you’ve been assigned a task and given a week's time, you can be sure that you'll take the entire week to complete it. But for some reason if the deadlines were to suddenly change and the same task needed to be completed in a single day, you are sure to achieve that too!

So, what really changed? Your mindset, your priority, the way you approached the task. Truth is we are all capable of being productive when time constraints are applied to our projects. You just need to train your mind to be more productive, all the time. You may think this is easier said than done, but with conscious effort and a shift in your perspective, it is quite attainable.

In the next post, we'll be covering a very important topic known as the productivity equation, originally formulated by Ali Abdaal. Keep reading and continue your journey to master productivity and learn organizational skills.