How can you increase business productivity when you have (a) reduced all the costs you can in your business and (b) increased your (and your staff) work load to the limit?
3. “By working faithfully eight hours a day,
you may eventually get to be boss and
work twelve hours a day.”
Robert Frost, Poet
4. Darren Hardy’s Essay “Accomplish more by doing less, 7 Productivity Strategies of the Superachiever”
Accomplish More by Doing Less
1. Learn to Stop Doing
– Figure out your 80/20 activities
2. Create and Protect your Boundaries
– Put a junk filter on your life
– Just say NO
3. Study more
– Digest, contemplate, act, review and implement
5. 4. Stay consistent
– Start & stop process is what kills progress
5. The Management of Time
– Return on Energy
6. The Art of Delegation
– Ask for help – trust and empower others
7. Value Time Off
6. Manage Tasks not Time
“I never mastered time
management. No one manages
time; time cannot be managed. I
merely manage activities.”
Earl Nightingale
7. The 5 Types of Work That Fill Your Day
Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky
8. Do Less..
1. Focus on quality not quantity – stop doing ‘busy’ work
2. Cut back on non-essential commitments
3. Have fewer meetings
4. Say no – focus on what you are doing – focus on results
5. Kill off whatever stops you from doing your great work
6. Set limits on number things you commit to do every
day
7. Delegate
8. Take time off
9. Cut out distractions (email, Internet)
10. Act more, talk less
More for less money (stock, using email, using ip, online banking/invoicing, franking, cloud computing/applications (pay as you go), open source software) More productivity for less – the process (ditch the stufff that’s not working, build & improve systems and processes, cloud computing,
One way to increase productivity is going the technical route (new technology or reorganising processes). Another is to demand more from employees, set the bar higher..multi tasking however doesn’t work - most of us can’t multitask even though we think we can Killing efficiency and effectiveness by overworking already exhausted team members, damaging morale more - negatively affecting the quality of the organization’s results, and damaging more the business unit’s or government agency’s reputation. I’m not sure that is the more they were after. Want all three – eliminate waste – lean thinking (TPS toyota production system)
Is this true – is there a way to get more time? In order to get more done, need to invest more time? Will working longer hours make you more accomplished? What do you do when all excess capacity is used up and all the corners have been cut? Instead of question – how do I do more for less, ask how can I optimise my resources?
… the key is not to do more or work harder; the key is actually to find ways to do less and think more , to be less busy and more productive (1) Learn to stop doing; Re-evaluate your time & stop the timewasters – only way to gain time is to stop doing. Figure out what you can stop so you can concentrate on what you should be doing to get better results from your life. Stop doing the 80 activities & focus more on the 20 activities that make difference to results. If you double the 20, you double the results (2) Create & protect your boundaries; Natural boundaries of work, family and personal are fuzzy. Technology has penetrated all – constant intrusions – stream of information and demands – put junk filter on your life – become clear on what you want – what are your values – what are your goals Saying no – remember if you say yes, you are saying no to something else – time cannot be created only traded self-discipline strategist Rory Vaden suggests that much of the anxiety induced by over commitment is actually a form of self-flattery and procrastination. In other words, saying yes to everything makes us feel good and allows us to avoid our more challenging but higher-priority tasks (3) Study more – it’s the lack of time given to real study and implementation of your learning – enables you to empower others
(4) If you start, keep going… (5) Management of time – about energy management - get a better return on energy – if your activities are sapping your energy, what good are you doing? Get rid / delegate etc of activities that drain your energy (7) Time off – being valued for how hard we work (puritanical conditioning) – over work/burnout leads to depression, burnout, sick leave Best results are when work and effort are in tandem with rest and renewal
You can’t save time up for later, you can’t make it last longer or spend it faster than it comes to you. Time simply proceeds as it always has, uninterrupted and all you can do is live within it Manage Activities not Time - To manage your activities, know two things; what to do first and what to do next Less worry about time, more about getting things done All linked with the ability to get things done
1. Reactionary Work: Responding to messages and requests - emails, text messages, Facebook messages, tweets, voicemails, and the list goes on. Reacting to what comes into you rather than being proactive in what matters most to you. Reactionary Work is necessary, but you can't let it consume you. Can slip into this without thinking – reading emails, insecurity work – checking out what’s being said about the business 2. Planning Work: Need to plan how you will do your work - includes the time spent scheduling and prioritizing your time, developing your systems for e.g running meetings, and refining your work systems. By planning, deciding how your energy should be allocated, and designing your method for getting stuff done. Best workflows are highly personalised and occasionally borderline neurotic, but keep us engaged. Planning Work helps you become more efficient and to execute on your goals. 3. Procedural Work: Many motions we go through every day, neither reactionary nor strategic. Procedural Work is the administrative/maintenance stuff that we do just to keep afloat (often with help of technology through automation where possible): making sure bills are paid, preparing tax returns, business presentation, tracking issues to confirm they were addressed/solved. Procedural Work is important, but remember to remain flexible. Procedures backfire when they become antiquated and remain out of habit, not necessity. Delegate and spend as little time as possible here. 4. Insecurity Work: Insecurity Work includes the stuff we do out of our own insecurities - obsessively looking at certain statistics related to your company, or repeatedly checking what people are saying about you or your product online, etc. Doesn't move the ball forward in any way - aside from briefly reassuring us that everything is OK - often unconscious that we're even doing it. 5. Problem-Solving Work: Creativity is most important during Problem-Solving Work. Requires full brainpower and focus, whether it be designing a new interface, developing a new business plan, writing a thoughtful blog post, or brainstorming the features of a new product. Whether you're working solo or as a team, you're leveraging raw creativity to find answers –be fully engaged.
1 - Recognise that you can’t do it all – decide what’s important 2 - Prioritise 4 - Learn to say Yes and No (not ‘maybe’ or ‘I might’ or ‘I’ll see’). Make quick decisions and commit yes/no 8 - Take time off (success of business depends on what you do not the time you spend doing it) 9 – Unplug
