Productive, not procrastinating

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I am a procrastinator, so is my sister

We both do good work, AND we do our best work at the last minute.  Agreed, it’s a weird way to live and something both my wife and brother-in-law don’t approve of, heh heh.

Yes, I have gotten better

  • Learning how to re-use content vs. re-creating the wheel all the time
  • Asking for a second opinion (thanks wife) for many / most decisions
  • Saying “no” more often than I used to; as Tim Ferriss says [paraphrase] “it’s hell yes, or no”
  • As Seth Godin might say, just doing more work.  Some of it will not be perfect, but you only get better by “shipping art”, not tweaking and perfecting 1-2 things. Be prolific – we live in a world of doing, not refining
  • Considering the audience.  What is CTQ for this situation? What it the quality level needed for the next step?
  • Being careful of performance metrics; our type of people are overly enamored of more; more money, more clients, more deliverables, more appointments, more calendaring, more proposals, more, more more
  • Linking up what I do – blog, teaching, book, speaking, workshops, classroom, research; flywheel

Yes, I have a L-O-N-G way to go

I recently tracked my time, and I probably burn 50% of my time on admin, email, checking things and other noise. When we think of Lean operations and CTQ (critical to quality); we should really focus on the essence that matters.

Also, I think ChatGPT gets a vote. The ways of working will dramatically change. While 100% of this blog post was written by me, the % of genAI influenced writing, excel, PowerPoint, research, graphics will only go up.

Remember, genAI is the dumbest it will ever be. They call it machine learning for a reason.

productivity tips 

I reached out to YOU – my network, readers, friends, and colleagues – to share productivity tips and hacks. This is what the wisdom of the crowds said in red font.  Added some commentary in grey standard font.

1) Write it down 

  • Simple to do lists
  • Making a to do list
  • Pomodoro technique (setting a timer, and doing 25 min sprints)

  • Using outlook to send myself emails that I use as reminders. I clear my inbox nightly

  • Take verbatim notes in meetings (i.e., try to write things down exactly as they are said)

  • Post-its. Love them even after the digital age
  • Break down any problem into smaller chunks which can be easily delegated or solved by yourself
  • So simple, it’s embarrassing. A simple “brain dump” to free up thinking. I have my kids write down bullets of every single thing they can think of that is rattling around in their brain (often keeping them up at night), no matter how unrelated. Whatever they do with it is up to them
  • I keep a yellow legal page to my right all the time to jot to do’s and thoughts on so I don’t get off track with something important I am working on;  I go back through the pages 1 or 2 times a week to capture critical items to move to my To Do list and prioritize
  • I keep pen and paper everywhere. By my bed, in my bag, on my desk. When you have a random thought (and we all do), just write it down.  You can deal with it later

2) Break the problem down

  • Understand the problem, organize your people, process, tech, data to solve the problem, scale setup
  • Plan ahead – I do this weekly, with daily check-ins
  • Categorizing, calendaring, prioritizing. The first act is the most important.
  • Start small.  Find ways to incentivize your desired end result
  • Break the problem into pieces – delegate some, do some, delete some

3) Block the time

  • Putting it on calendar

  • Block 2 hours to focus

  • Time blocking on google calendar and utilise an app called “to-do list” to set priorities and deadlines.
  • Time blocking and batch processing
  • Block out your calendar religiously
  • This is something I am super weak at.  On this one, I am a productivity dilettante (need to grow up).

4) Automate where you can

  • Embed system thinking to everyday life
  • Automate repeated tasks 
  • Create your digital 2nd brain
  • This is a big one. RPA was a big deal 5 years ago, but now with Gen AI, and the advent of bots and agents, there’s no reason for us to waste our time doing repetitive things

5) Prioritize 

  • Ruthlessly prioritizing
  • Clear the task that is holding the most power over you first.
  • As Mark Twain says, eat the frog first thing in the morning 
  • Letting go of perfection
  • Focus on big things that require high quality decisions
  • Don’t be the bottleneck. If people are waiting on you, that’s a problem

6) Delegate 

  • Don’t think, just do!

  • Delegate to the team

  • Delegation
  • Attract ambitious, talented grinders who want to learn from you

7) Focus on the work

  • Working in the office instead of at home

  • Take short breaks to walk around

  • Playing LoFi music with headphones to induce productivity

  • Setting a timer  

  • Putting my phone in another room

  • First focus on quality, then repeatability, then speed, then carving out your differentiation
  • Listen to Cal Newport – Georgetown professor. He is the Jedi of focus and deep work

8) Working smart, as a team

  • Weekly one on ones with my direct reports – at a set time, for 45 minutes, and it’s their meeting. This significantly reduces interruptions for everyone and ensures we make steady progress every week. I expect my managers and their managers to do the same with their teams

  • Almost every problem/matter has been solved before, find out where did this occur earlier and how did they solve it. Leverage for your unique situation/complication

  • As a manager of multiple teams I use a Trello board to manage my teams, each individual, and my own projects to keep focused

  • Create joint accountability with others; set a date and commit (shame is a powerful tool)
  • Co-create with your client; show them some early versions, get their fingerprints on the work

Set goals and reward yourself

Humans are not robots. We get bored. We self-sabotage. We create drama for ourselves. We need attention. We have ennui. We need some jazz in our lives. So, do what it takes to motivate yourself. 

Here is my personal – slightly silly example.  I have a 3 month project, which is a bit of a beast. Massive scope, lots of research, and also greenfield thinking.  Grr. Lots of calories being spent. So every time I do a Pomodoro (25 minutes of uninterrupted work), I put add a small token (oragami shape) on my monitor stand. Basically, it’s so I can see my progress, so I can physically show the work I am doing. Yes, I am a child. 

Give yourself some grace 

We are all different; we have strengths and limitations. Procrastination is one of mine.

My works bleed into the nights and also weekends. A lot of it is self-inflicted, and surprisingly, I don’t hate it. I can easily nestle into some working, thinking, researching, writing at night and early morning. Consulting, teaching is a profession, not a job, and I am happy with it.  Heck, it’s 1030pm on a week day, and I am blogging in a hotel room.

Wisdom is taking your own advice

Now, isn’t that the truth. We all have good advice for others. When I was in the Uber on the way to the airport today, I was speaking with a previous student, asking good questions and saying smart stuff.  Now the challenge is for John to “take his own advice” and do great work, and be productive. 

How about you?

This survey asks three questions here.  I will add your responses to this post:

  • What are good books you often recommend / give to others?
  • Any productivity hack or strategy that works for you?
  • What is the most common advice you tend to give others?
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