3 Time-Saving Hacks

1. Ditching a to do list and moving to Time Box Calendar

The real problem with a to do list is that it is a momentary reminder of all the shit you have to do. In a word it’s a major mood killer! To do lists are infamous for creating “I have too much on - where do I start’ brain-freeze.

Performance literature suggests that using a calendar based system, forces us to take into account actual time when making commitments and saying yes to tasks, which decreases overwhelm and increases productivity long-term.

Time box calendars are proven to be a winning formula for time management - mainly because they take into account your day in a realistic series of hours. What I love about this method is that it forces you to set boundaries around your time, which segment off your day, not by accident - which is the method most people us now (“I’ll slot that in before the meeting and after lunch"… why because there is space there) but with a clear intention, that takes into account:

• when you perform best

• what your key priorities are

• your regular core duties

• peak periods for focus and flow.

Golden Rule: If a task takes less than 2 mins, do it now; if it takes more than 2 mins, schedule it in right now for later.

2. Setting a 3 Goal focus per week

The biggest challenge with said to-do list is that I would pick 5 key things I expected to see done per day, without ever really mapping how big those projects were. Then I would work until said projects were complete, even if it was midnight, because tomorrow there were another list of projects and meetings I needed to work on…

The challenge was not that there wasn’t enough time, the challenge were my expectations around what would get done in that time…

The problem of having so much on is that I would literally overload the working capacity of my prefrontal cortex and essentially stop myself from getting deep into flow or creativity because I was already thinking about the need to switch to the next demand! Sound familiar?

The change that happened here was I begun setting a maximum of 3 Top Priorities, per week. Not menial things, but major dice we needed to move forward and that would set the tone for the entire team and what we would collectively work towards. These 3 Priorities were my #1 priority :) I would then chunk down those goals into smaller pieces I would schedule in per day to see the projects come to life, again using a 3-5 Top Priorities Rule per day. The combination of this pre-planning, and singular focus allowed for so much more clarity and higher output!

Golden Rule: Start with 3 Key Focus Areas or Goals per Day or Week to start and if that’s comfortable you can move up to 4 or 5. There is a hard stop at around 6 as from 7 productivity drops once more.

3. Introducing the 80/20 Rule

Have you heard of the 80/20 Rule?
The rule is simple.
You should aim to launch a product, start a business or hit GO when you have 80% of the answers, 80% of the materials, or are 80% there.
The other 20% will come organically.
It always does.

In the words of Truman, imperfect action beats perfect inaction, every day of the week.

This doesn’t mean you leave the thing at 80% complete, it means that you acknowledge that every work, every project is always a work in progress, even after it’s technically ready.

We are always tweaking adjusting and improving – innovation is not a separate - it’s built in to our very fabric as human beings.

Let’s talk cooking. Have you ever followed a recipe to the tee, all the way from step 1-10, in anticipating of a perfect meal, then realised after sitting down and digging in that the ingredient you THOUGHT was salt, was sugar and the meal is a little funky? Ask any chef.

When cooking, trying the food along the way, provides LIVE feedback on how things are going. To wait for it to be plated up and perfectly presented before trying it, wastes the opportunity to adjust and tweak the dish to perfection.

To WAIT for something to be 100% ready before we share it launch it or celebrate it, goes against this ornate capacity within us for observation and adjustment and slows your results.

Golden Rule: Create a culture of imperfect implementation and phenomenal adaptation skills! Hit send, go, start, when you are 80% there and shift the expectations to the fact that this version will evolve and grow and improve, as it always was destined to anyway.

If this resonates with you, you may want to check out the article on the 10 Deadly Productivity Sins… HERE