5 Techniques That Help Me Stay Productive

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People often ask me how I write so much for this blog and others when I also hold a full time job and attend night classes. This has happened so much in the last two months that I worried I was portraying myself as some kind of superwoman who sleeps upright in some odd yoga position and fights crime undercover on her lunch break.

So here’s the truth: I’m not a productivity guru. I spend time looking through people’s pictures on Facebook, I play video games, I take forever to get ready in the morning, I’m horrible at planning ahead, and I forget to do simple things on a regular basis, like my laundry. Now you know, and writing it down has given me motivation to work on it.

While far from perfect, I do like to think I can get things done, for the most part. Here are some techniques I use in my own life:

Utilize Downtime

Most people would agree there never seem to be enough hours in the day, but I believe you can always squeeze out a little bit more by utilizing downtime. I’ve gotten good at utilizing my downtime, from my train ride to work to my gym routine to blow drying my hair.

For example, I write posts for Twenty Set all the time on my downtime, like this one, which I wrote in the shower. By that, I mean that I came up with the idea for the post, thought of 5 bullet points, and worked through the examples I was going to use for each point. No, I didn’t bring a laptop in the shower with me, but by doing all the real work in my head, by the time I sat down to write the post it was practically already there.

There are plenty of other things you can do during your downtime. You can listen to foreign language courses on your drive to work. You can read on the treadmill. You can play self-improvement games while waiting for a ride. Some would call it unfocused multi-tasking, but really, how much focus do you need while taking a jog? Your mind drifts anyway; let it drift to something useful.

Delegate

Delegating is one of the most obvious ways to get stuff off your plate, but people don’t use the technique nearly as often as they can. It’s easy to delegate to people who work for you, but you don’t need people who work for you to delegate, as long as you can figure out an incentive.

The first step to delegating without having any authority is to figure out what other people are good at. This takes respect for others and their strengths, and it takes a few minutes of your time to dig into a person, beyond the facts and credentials. Once you know what people are good at, plant the seed. Talk about what you need and who you are looking for to fill that need. Finally, ask for it directly. You would be surprised how willing people are to help when they know you had them in mind all along.

An example of when I’ve used this is to get guest posts for my blog. I know Twenty Set is growing fast now and soon I’m not going to have time to manage it by myself. So I wrote a post about it, even though I didn’t want to because self-promotion gets annoying. Then I made a list of people I wanted to write for Twenty Set, and started emailing them. I still haven’t made it very far through my list, but luckily the few people I did get a chance to contact responded well. And for some people, planting the seed was all it took – they came to me and offered. Some people wanted me to give them topics too, but instead I told them what I thought they were good at, and you know what? Those posts have turned out great so far.

Prioritize

Yes, make to-do lists, if you like. But prioritizing goes beyond keeping track of everything you need to do. The way I’ve come to think of a to-do list is a list of things I need to have done. Because then you can delegate the things you are not good at, and keep the things that play to your strengths and you can get done quickly. Maximized productivity.

For example, I need to have my bills paid on time. But I’m really bad at paying my bills on time, because every bill has a different billing cycle, and then there’s a lag time to account for when sending payments, and then I have to remember to buy stamps, and as I said earlier I’m bad at planning ahead. (And no, not all bills can be paid online, particularly when you have a mortgage.)

Luckily my husband is great at paying bills on time. Which frees me up to worry about other things, like how we’re going to get the money to pay the bills.

Declutter

I mentioned earlier that it takes me forever to get ready, and part of that is because I have a problem many women have - a closet full of clothing and accessories, but nothing to wear. Then I attended a talk about dressing for work from former Chicago Fashion editor Stacy Wallace-Albert, and her basic message was less is more. She convinced me to buy classic clothing as often as possible and cut my wardrobe in half by getting rid of items that I can’t wear multiple times a month. One of the benefits she touted was I would not need as much time to get dressed in the morning.

I tried it, and Stacy was right. There is a lot written about the paradox of choice: that given too many options, people choose to take no action at all because they can’t settle. There is also evidence that the more viable choices we have, the more unhappy we are once we’ve made a decision because we had to give up so many other choices.

By embracing a minimalist lifestyle, you can be more productive because you’ve cut down on one of the biggest productivity busters - deliberating over choices. Declutter your closet, your house, your daily processes, and your mind in the name of getting something done.

Pull Strategy

If you ever study distribution strategies in business, they talk about push vs. pull. Push is when you have a product and spend a lot of time and energy finding your customers, while pull is when the customer comes to you for the product after seeing advertising or hearing about it some other way - in other words, consumer demand drives the distribution. In most cases, businesses have to do a combination of both, but a pull strategy can be a lot less work for obvious reasons.

Having a pull strategy helps productivity because information comes to you rather than you seeking it. For example, members of Gen Y have been commenting or emailing me a lot lately to introduce themselves. I love it, because I get to learn a little more about my readership and I also get to check out their blogs, which I would never have found on my own. Finding new blogs provides content, a different perspective, and inspiration for my own posts, including this one.

Pull strategies have everything to do with networking, so if you want to use one, learn how to network well.

How do you stay productive? Share your tips in the comments section.

Tagged as: Features, Productivity

{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }

Miguel Pineiro March 11, 2008 at 1:13 am: Nice post! Simple tips make a difference. Thanks!

Matt March 11, 2008 at 6:29 am: Prioritizing and de-cluttering have made a huge difference for me. Being able to know what is important to do rather than having a list of things to do can help you be more effective and productive at the same time.

Matt @ Corporate Hack March 11, 2008 at 9:43 am: Nice, good points on Delegation… I’m terrible at that personally, but you’re right – play off a person’s strengths and they are generally very willing to jump in and assist!

Jaclyn March 11, 2008 at 10:49 am: Great post, useful tips. I especially loved your tips about decluttering your wardrobe and dressing for work. I find that perpetually challenging, so I’m always looking for good insight.

Monica O'Brien March 11, 2008 at 5:41 pm: I’m glad some people found at least one of the tips useful. I think like Matt said, they are best used in conjunction with each other. Thanks again for the comments.

Angela @ Girl Meets Business March 11, 2008 at 7:06 pm: For me, it’s all about routine. It sounds boring but I do the same thing on the same day week after week (for instance, I do all the laundry on Sunday – every Sunday). This really helps me get the things done I need to do. There is a downside to routine is by its very nature it’s inflexible – so it can really throw you off once you stray. By the way, I also do a lot of “writing” in the shower!

Monica O'Brien March 11, 2008 at 10:07 pm: Angela, that’s a great idea. I’m going to have to think of ways I can implement that better with my chores, like laundry. It’s hard to imagine having time every Sunday to get all my laundry done, but maybe it wouldn’t take as long if I didn’t let it pile up!

I’m glad someone else writes in the shower… I was wondering if that was weird of me. But I’m not alone, so we’re good.

Kelli Kromnacker March 19, 2008 at 8:28 pm: I know people who keep dry erase markers in the shower just for that very reason. Good tips Mon.

Monica O'Brien March 19, 2008 at 9:00 pm: Lol Kelli. Yeah, we kept them in our bathroom and decorated our walls when we lived on 5th floor Centennial. Good times! Miss you dearest.

max September 9, 2008 at 10:49 pm: I agree with your ‘declutter’ point. This goes for your work space and general living area too. I use to be such a pack rat, I hated throwing stuff away, but after I had a good toss out session my life was so much less stressed and complicated. If you don’t use it once every couple days, TOSS IT!

yukiru April 22, 2010 at 11:21 pm: nice post…like it..it helps!