2 Ways to Get the Best Out of Your Productivity
The two main paths- the “do less” approach and the “do more” approach
Productivity is the ability to produce or accomplish something. You can be productive in your career, relationships, and even your personal life.
But how do you actually get things done? There are many ways to stay productive.
There are two main paths- the “do less” approach and the “do more” approach.
The former is great for those that want to focus on quality with less work. The latter is great for those that want to do more but with less quality.
These two approaches are not mutually exclusive; you can use both of them at the same time! Here’s how:
1 — The “do less” approach
The first method I’m going to mention is the so-called “do less” approach. This method can be ideal for people who want to focus on quality with less work.
The idea behind this method is that you will only focus on the high-impact tasks that truly need to get done. How do you do this?
Well, if you’ve been following the productivity blogosphere for the past few years, you know this isn’t a revolutionary idea. However, it still can be overlooked by many.
An easy way to practice this approach is by writing down your tasks for the day and grouping them into four categories- high-impact, high-reward, low-reward, and low-reward.
Each category has three to five items in it and you can easily see the items that need to get done that belong in each category.
2 — The “do more” approach
The first way to get more done is to simply focus on doing more things.
You might not need to work overtime, but you can work on shorter cycles throughout the day.
If you are working a 9–5 job and have a list of 20 things to accomplish during your shift, you can break your tasks into 30-minute cycles.
If you work for a startup or have a tight schedule that you need to stick to, you can break your tasks down into 5-minute cycles.
However, this can take more time than focusing on doing less. You can always do more; you just need to work on a few different habits to make this happen.
My best tip on this subject is to begin making lists. Before you begin anything, write down the steps you need to take. If you want to eat a salad for lunch, list the ingredients.
Conclusion — The benefits of both approaches
Do Less, but do it better: When you do less, you focus on quality. You’re going to spend more time at work so you’re going to want it to be good.
This is going to make you more productive and get your work done in less time.
Do More, but do it better: When you do more, you focus on quantity.
By doing more, you’ll increase your output and speed up the process. This will make you more productive.
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