Tips and Ideas for Improving Executive Productivity

You’ve heard the saying, “the early bird get’s the worm”. Well a new study by Philippe Peigneux, a professor of clinical neuropsychology at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium, compared the performance of subjects who woke up around noon with subjects that routinely work up at 5-6am.

According to the article “Want to Get Ahead? Sleep In” at Globe and Mail.

After 10 hours of being awake, the early birds showed reduced activity in brain areas linked to attention span, compared with the night owls. The early risers also felt sleepier and tended to perform tasks more slowly, compared with the night owls, when their level of alertness was measured.

This flies in the face of traditional thinking such as “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” -Ben Franklin. Research has shown that whether you naturally are an early or late riser is dictated by your genetic makeup. However, people who are naturally late risers are often forced or pressured by societal norms to wake up early, which causes sleep deprivation and this lack of sleep hurts performance. Natural late risers also tend to consume significantly more caffeine, probably due to being forced to fight their natural circadian clock, which can lead to chemical dependency or large swings in wakefulness.

According to the book Brain Rules by John Medina:

“Sleep must be important because we spend 1/3 of our lives doing it! Loss of sleep hurts attention, executive function, working memory, mood, quantitative skills, logical reasoning, and even motor dexterity.”

A set schedule for employees that requires that they show up at 8 am every day, may be robbing them of their most productive hours. It may increase productivity of workers if they are allowed to come in whenever they prefer, even if their start the day at noon.

Related Article

10 Benefits of Rising Early and How to Do It Zen Habits

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Email can be a major time drain and without proper email management, we can spend literally the entire day on email. There are two approaches to tackling the email Inbox. Some productivity gurus promote deleting all non-priority emails or filing them in folders, until your Inbox reads zero. On the other side of the spectrum is the strategy of never deleting email. There are pros and cons to both approaches.

The Email Inbox Zero Approach

Productivity guru Merlin Mann advocates striving to get your email Inbox to zero. He writes,

Just remember that every email you read, re-read, and re-re-re-re-re-read as it sits in that big dumb pile is actually incurring mental debt on your behalf. The interest you pay on email you’re reluctant to deal with is compounded every day and, in all likelihood, it’s what’s led you to feeling like such a useless slacker today. Maybe? Think about it.

The main argument of this approach is that having emails in your Inbox uses up mental energy. So if you can either delete or file every email that comes in, you are eliminating the mental burden. Additional benefits of getting your Inbox to zero are that you don’t have to re-read emails that you have read before and it can lower stress and bring you peace of mind of being finished. The downside of the Inbox zero approach is that each time you delete an unimportant email, it takes a few seconds. These seconds can add up if you multiply it by 1,000 for the week. Although if you limit unnecessary emails by unsubscribing to newsletters, turning off alerts, and even telling your friends to stop sending funny cat pictures, getting your Inbox to zero suddenly becomes much easier.

You can read about Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero series at http://www.43folders.com/izero

The Never Delete Email Approach

I take a starkly different approach to managing my email Inbox, I never delete email. The thinking behind this approach has to do with the presence of a search box, which most email Inboxes have. Why waste time sorting and deleting your mail, when you can instantly summon any email by entering a few keywords that you recall. If an email requires action, write a quick note on your to do list. When you have time for the task, search the name of the person who sent the email and chances are the email you need is at the top of the search results. The benefit of this approach is that you don’t spend time deleting and sorting email and you always have access to emails that you need in the future.

Do you have a preference or a different email strategy? Share it in the comments.

There is a good case for the argument that the improvements in technology, especially information technology, has made our lives more difficult. We are now constantly connected to others via our mobile devices, and constant streams of information from the internet can be overwhelming. One of the consequences of the abundance of easily accessible information is the potential to distract us from focusing on high priority tasks. The previous post about the myth of multitasking discusses the inefficiency of switching between tasks.

Find a Zen-like place to work

Sometimes I struggle to focus when working from home because there are many distractions. I will notice clutter that I should organize or be tempted to watch a show I recorded on DVR. I have found it helpful to escape these distractions by finding a place where I can better focus on the task at hand. For me this is a Starbucks, for others it could be the library, or the park.

Lock away your mobile device

Many of us are addicted to our mobile devices. For some it is an extension of our bodies and we can feel incomplete without it. To avoid being tempted to check your mobile for text messages, the Twitter stream, or being interrupted by calls, put your mobile device out of reach. This could be in the other room or in your coworkers desk. Anything that makes it more difficult to habitually check your phone should help.

Let go of the need to know everything

Former Apple and Microsoft executive Linda Stone wrote this over at BusinessWeek:

In the case of continuous partial attention, we’re motivated by a desire not to miss anything. There’s a kind of vigilance that is not characteristic of multi-tasking. With CPA, we feel most alive when we’re connected, plugged in and in the know. We constantly scan for opportunities – activities or people – in any given moment. With every opportunity we ask, “What can I gain here?”

The fear of missing things is often overblown. The book The 4 Hour Work Week suggests that you should completely avoid reading news and rather ask others if anything interesting is going on. It is good to revisit the consequences of not reading every blog post in your RSS reader or reading every Tweet from the people you are following. You will see that a lot of the information that you consume on a daily basis is insignificant and you would be just fine if you ignored most of it.

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There is a common belief that you can do multiple things at once and be more productive. The problem is that your brain can not focus on more than one thing at once, unless they are tasks that require very little thinking. For instance you can chew gum while you work, however your brain can not simultaneously focus on multiple complex tasks at the same time. Instead your brain must switch its attention from one thing to another, and every time you do this your brain undergoes a process that takes a fractions of a second or more.

According to the book Brain Rules by John Medina

Multitasking, when it comes to paying attention is a myth. The brain naturally focuses on sequentially, one at a time. This attentional ability is not capable of multitasking…To put it bluntly. Research shows that we can’t multitask. We are biologically incapable of processing attention rich inputs simultaneously.

Every time you switch tasks, your brain must undergo a specific process called rule activation. When your brain wants to start a new task, your anterior prefrontal cortex activates and sends out a two part message. The two parts include a search query to find the neurons responsible for doing the task, and a command to arouse the specific neurons once discovered. When you need to switch your attention to something else your brain must disengage from the current task, then activate the anterior prefrontal cortex, which sends out a new message to find the neurons you need for the next task and activate them. This process takes several tenths of a second.

“Studies show that a person who is interrupted takes 50% longer to accomplish a task. Not only that, he or she makes up to 50% more errors.”
-Brain Rules

Some evidence that shows how bad we are at multitasking is the awful driving performance of people who drive while talking on their cell phone.

According to Brain Rules “Cellphone talkers are a half second slower to hit the brakes in emergencies, slower to return to normal speed after an emergency, and more wild in their following distance behind the vehicle in front of them. In a half second a driver going 70 miles per hour travels 51 feet…50% of the visual cues spotted by attentive drivers are missed by cell phone talkers…they get in more wrecks than anyone except very drunk drivers.”

So if you are serious about getting more done, turn off the email alerts and close your email, close the internet browser windows you are not using, and limit unscheduled co-worker interruptions. You’ll be more productive and probably less stressed by not trying to do a million things at once.

Cogi is an interesting productivity tool that records your phone conversations and can transcribe your calls into text. Cogi calls your cell or landline, you answer it, then Cogi connects you to a third party. The call gets recorded in a MP3 format so you can listen to the call later, or share it with coworkers. Instead of having to take notes during the call, you just highlight parts of the conversation you would like to have transcribed.

This is a paid service and costs $29.95 a month, which gives you 1,000 minutes to record and 30 minutes of transcription to text. Each additional minute of transcription costs 99 cents.

There are several useful applications of this tool. If you are having an important conversation with a client or partner, it may be very beneficial to have the information recorded in audio and text. Since it could take hours to type out everything that was said, this could be a good time and money saver. The transcription was very accurate when I tried it, which suggests it is transcribed by a person rather than a computer.

The 2 minute rule is a really easy way to simplify prioritizing tasks from David Allen’s getting things done. If there is something that you need to get done that will take 2 minutes or less to do, get it done first. This will shorten your to do list and prevent you from wasting mental effort thinking about it later. David Allen says in GTD that our brains are often reminding us that we have to do things at the precise moment that you can’t do anything about it. By sending that thank you letter first, you have to spend time thinking about it later, especially when you are driving on the freeway or at a meeting.

Sometimes we avoid getting started on a task because the time commitment is too daunting. That is where a technique called timeboxing can be useful. The idea is that you set aside a box of time in which you will try to make as much progress in the task as you can within the alloted time. It is okay if you don’t finish the task, but at least you are making progress.

Steve Pavlina describes it like this:

First, let’s say you want to get something done, but there’s a risk it could end up taking far more time than it’s worth because it’s the kind of task where you might exhibit perfectionist tendencies. So you give yourself a specific amount of time, which you won’t go over, and you simpy do the best job you can within that time.

It is also a good tool for avoiding procrastination. You may dread engaging in a tedius project like taxes for instance. As a result it gets pushed back until you have to rush to meet the deadline. However if you commit to just spending 30 minutes a day on it, it can be much more palatable and your work may be much better in quality since you don’t have to rush.

It is also helpful to perfectionists who may waste valuable time striving for perfection when good enough will do. If you commit to spending 30 minutes that day on a project no matter how much progress you make, it can prevent you from stretching out the time a task or project takes to complete.

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Many executives spend more than their share of time checking and answering emails. We often feel obligated to answer emails promptly when we receive them. AwayFind is a brilliant tool that can potentially save you hours of time per day on your email.

How it works is simple. When someone sends you a message they receive an auto-responder message informing them that you only check email a couple times a day, but if it is an urgent matter they can click on a link to fill out a webform. People with urgent messages are directed to awayfind.com/yourname where they can submit a short message that is delivered to your cell via SMS.

It is a brilliant idea and it is free for the basic service. It basically retrains senders to prioritize your email for you. It only takes a couple minutes to set up so it is definitely worth a try.

A smart way to get more things done is to delegate lower level tasks. That’s where a virtual assistant can be a tremendous asset. Written about in books such as The World is Flat and The 4 Hour Work Week, a remote virtual assistant from firms like Brickwork will take care of numerous time consuming tasks that can free up your time to do things that are more important to you. From a business approach, virtual assistants can do data entry, sales support, calendar management, and other administrative tasks. But they can also help with personal tasks such as booking dinner reservations, managing your email inbox, or even calling your spouse as was highlighted in the 4 Hour Work Week. When you can delegate tasks like finding a dentist you also conserve brain power because you don’t have to think about it or remind yourself to do it.

Remote virtual assistants are very affordable. Indian companies like Tasks EveryDay advertise services for as low as $6.98 per hour. Unless your time is worth less than $7 an hour, it is a no brainer. If your time is worth $100 an hour, you are saving about $93 by not finding a dentist yourself.

Some of the negatives of a remote virtual assistant from India can be difficulty communicating or misunderstandings. In the 4 Hour Workweek they give an example of a virtual assistant who wasted a lot of time on the clock because they didn’t understand what the client wanted. Therefore it is important to make sure that you are on the same page and you check the status of longer projects to ensure the VA is using time wisely.

However, I think the pros outnumber the cons, and even if you don’t need a VA right now it is good to get some experience managing a VA for when you do need one. If you are a busy executive, just think of the things that a VA can free you up to do.

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by Marc Evers

This post is about the principles of time management that underlie the book Do It Tomorrow by Mark Forster:

Have a clear vision
Have a clear vision of your goals, of the things you want to do and the things you don’t want to do. A clear vision directs your priorities. Setting priorities is only meaningful between projects, not between tasks that have to be done anyway (’project’ is loosely defined here as an activity that leads to some desired result and that cannot be finished in one go).

Your vision is not something static: it will change over time. So frequently revisit your vision, to keep your priorities clear as well.

One thing at a time
Focus, focus, focus! Use for example timeboxing or working with a pair (like pairprogramming) to work in highly focused way. Don’t dilute your focus by having too many projects at the same time.

Little and often
Work on things frequently, in small bits, iteratively and increment, so that results grow over time. If you want e.g. to write a book or finish a Ph.D. thesis, work every day on it. Actually doing something and keep doing it is more important than the amount of time spent.

This works for writing, uncluttering your home or office, bookkeeping, and many other larger activities.

Define your limits
Creative thinking works better within clear boundaries. An example of limits is timeboxing your activities, e.g. using the pomodori technique.

Defining limits is also important for your projects: determine the boundaries (and frequently re-determine them) to get a clear focus of what you’re doing and what you aren’t doing, instead of being busy with a cloud of all kinds of vaguely interesting and possibly relevant stuff.

This week, I’ve started to make a map of all the projects that I currently have and that I want to take on this year. Being an independent consultant, I don’t have an organisational context that sets a lot of boundaries for me so I’ll have to set them myself in order to be effective.

Closed lists
A closed list is a list that has a line under it and that will not change. For every day, you make a Will Do list, a closed list with the stuff that came in the previous day and your recurring tasks. As the list is closed, it will only shrink when you’re finishing items from the list. This will give you a feeling of accomplishment at the end of each day, when all the Will Do items have been checked.

Anything that comes in during the day and that is not a real urgency, will be put on tomorrow’s list or below the line of today’s list. You’ll first finish all the items above the line, before doing the newly added things.

This approach enables you to plan most of the work you do, so you can work much less reactively and much less governed by self-inflicted urgencies. Your day to day planning will become more predictable and you’ll get early feedback when you’re structurally overloaded.

The Will Do list is limited by your daily processing capacity (so you will need to find out what it is), so you prevent backlogs from building up. If you get more work each day than you can handle the next day, you’ll have to either cut down on your commitments, make your systems more efficient, and/or allocate more time for the stuff on your lists.

Willem asked, what do you do when the telephone rings? It depends: you can answer the call, make a note, and take action tomorrow (unless, of course, it’s about your house being on fire). You can also decide that you won’t answer the phone during certain activities, listen voicemail later on, and get back to the callers the next day. It depends on the nature of your work and your preferences.

Another advantage of closed lists is that you don’t have to prioritise between the items. They all need to be done and if the list is limited by your daily processing capacity, it will be finished. Prioritizing doesn’t make sense for stuff that needs to be done anyway.

Working this way gives peace of mind and reduces waste: you don’t have to spend your energy making difficult decisions about priorities. Prioritizing is waste: it’s work that adds no value, but just increases the pressure on you! You’ll have more time and energy left for actually doing useful stuff.

Forster’s recommendation is to start with the least urgent things first. If work has to be done anyway, why not do it right away?

A bright, grand idea like writing a book is not something you can finish the next day. This becomes a project, a task that recurs (a little attention every day) until the work is finished.

Reducing random factors
By preventing most ‘urgencies’, you will reduce a lot of (self-inflicted) variability in your day to day work. Closed lists system make the underlying systems problems visible. You can’t eliminate all variability and randomness, but you can reduce them substantially, giving you more freedom, making sure your important things get done, and enabling you to handle the remaining randomness better.

Commitment vs interest
You can be interested in a lot of things, but you can have only a limited amount of commitments. It is important to know your commitments, as these provide a framework for your decisions. It’s like the pigs and chickens metaphor used in Scrum (chickens are only involved, but pigs are committed). A pig only has limited ham and bacon it can provide… (the pigs and chickens metaphor has its limitations, but that’s another story)

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons 3.0 Netherlands License.

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