4 smart steps to improve your productivity in a hybrid working world
Office vs remote. Where do you get most work done? Is one better than the other? Or is it just about implementing the right hacks to maximise your productivity?
For the past few months, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Erik S. Meyers’ 2020 book “The Accidental Change Agent.” It’s not a long book; I just dip in and out of books, particularly ones with bite-sized chapters.
In chapter 21, Erik talks about staying focused and more productive at work, and as I nodded my way through the chapter, I reflected on a previous blog, realising that I already do these things — but many people don’t. Yet.
Here’s a build on my blog from January…
1. Go dark when you want to focus.
This goes for both remote and office-based work. Switch off notifications on your desktop (yes, Teams and Yammer, you interruptants) and on your phone (on my iPhone, I use the Focus mode to prevent alerts and pings).
Even better? Close down your email. Basically, while you’re focusing on a task, be that writing, coding, brainstorming, thinking or whatever, remove all other distractions.
If you’re in an office, take yourself to a meeting room to get away from those ‘wetware’ interruptions ;)
2. Be your own PA
I’ve only once had a PA but given that I wasn’t used to having one, I largely managed my own time by blocking out my calendar with meetings called ‘KF’ — Keep Free. I still do it.
The idea is that when I look ahead in my calendar to see the following week’s meetings (or as my calendar starts to fill up in the week), I immediately block out time between meetings for a break, coffee, toilet break, water break, whatever — something to save my brain from having to bounce between different subjects.
It also helps to schedule time for doing actual work, rather than having a day full of meetings and no time other than evenings and weekends for doing the actual work.
I block out certain times of the week on repeat, e.g., first thing on a Monday and Friday; 4–5pm on a Monday; lunch slots (they vary); Friday afternoons (yes, every week). Then I do my best to stick to them.
They’re all marked ‘KF’ but I sometimes type in the task I want to work on during that time slot.
3. Help ‘Monday-You’ on a Friday.
Take some time on Friday to block out the coming week’s calendar, as mentioned above, as well as doing a brain-dump of the week’s meetings and key projects, and updating your To Do list, so you can hit Monday running.
I don’t know about you but over the weekend, I forget a lot of what’s happened the week before, but on a Monday, I thank Friday-Me for those notes and that To Do list.
One of the reasons I block out first thing on Monday is to remind myself of what I’m doing this week — if I have a meeting first thing, I can often sound clueless (moreso than usual) about what’s going on.
4. Challenge meetings. Every. Single. One.
People love meetings. They also love blocking out an entire hour for them by default. They also like inviting loads of people and having no agenda, proving the validity of Parkinson’s Law to faff away the hour.
I recently told someone I couldn’t make a one-hour meeting and asked for it to be 30 minutes. We discussed what we needed to in those 30 minutes with ease.
Challenge every meeting you’re invited to — particularly those without an agenda or desired outcomes up front.
Summary:
- Eliminate distractions to allow yourself to focus. Notifications and email: OFF.
- Block out your calendar — before someone else does.
- Plan the week ahead on the Friday before. Monday-You will thank you.
- And challenge every meeting. Shorten them or remove them entirely if you can.
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