Productivity is one of the most common concerns of professionals today. Many of us live with the latent feeling that we need to do more every day. To address the issue, there are many alternatives to turn to. Some resort to high doses of caffeine and long hours of uninterrupted work, others resort to strict schedules that may start very early in the morning, and still others work hard in the evenings while most sleep.
One of the most commonly used tools are to-do lists. Who hasn't made one some day? Do they really help?
For many it may seem irrelevant or even daring to question the use of to-do lists. What harm could they cause? The truth is that while there may be much benefit in the habit of making to-do lists, it is also true that to-do lists remind us how much we have to do, but not how we are going to do it or how best to do it. In fact, many people are more unconsciously stressed by the effect of to-do lists.
The problem...
Simply making a to-do list to be more productive during the day (or week, etc.) usually does not take into account the following factors:
The type of people we are... early risers, evening or night owls.
The Tiered Strategy is applied in those cases where you have a system that offers different levels of versions for different types of customers, such as basic, advanced and enterprise, for example. In this case each tier will have different levels of isolation and therefore an infrastructure must be developed to support them.
The type of people we are... early risers, evening or night owls.
The Tiered Strategy is applied in those cases where you have a system that offers different levels of versions for different types of customers, such as basic, advanced and enterprise, for example. In this case each tier will have different levels of isolation and therefore an infrastructure must be developed to support them.
Environmental conditions during the day are another factor to consider.
At what time of day do you have the best conditions to concentrate? Have you ever had to try to do the most important part of your work when the children had already arrived from school and you could not concentrate? Try to make sure that at least for some time during the day you will have optimal conditions to do what is most important. Some people choose to close their e-mail, unplug the phone, close the door and ask that no one comes to their door for a period of time during the day so that they can attend to the most important things. Have you thought about what steps you can take personally to make the most of your most productive time of day?
Simply making a to-do list to be more productive during the day (or week, etc.) usually does not take into account the following factors:
The solution...
Taking into account these factors, among others, we could change our stressful to-do lists for a spatial planning. Spatial planning consists of a map of the day (or week, etc.) in which we identify the spaces or blocks of time in which we are most productive and use them to do the most important things.
This can be accomplished by marking these time slots in a desktop weekly or perhaps on a board where we can freely take notes and chart. We could use alarms or reminders on our electronic devices to remind us that these favorable time slots have arrived, rather than reminding us that we have a long to-do list. This type of planning does not remind us of how much we have to do, but rather that we already know when we will do the most important things. This can reduce stress levels and make us more productive.
In any case, your planning system should be flexible, personalized and realistic. Can you think of other ideas for planning your days? Comment and share!
