HABITS OF A HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE PERSON! PART 5

This is the FINAL PART of our Productivity series, So far we have talked about Habit 1: Ruthlessly cut away the unimportant (and Focus on the important) & Habit 2: Allocate breaks strategically. Continue to read Habit 3 & 4. Habit 3: Remove productivity stoppers (i.e. distractions), Habit 4: Tap into your inspiration, Read 5&6 Habit 5: Create barriers to entry, Habit 6: Optimize time pockets, Continue to read 7 & 8 the final part.

Habit 7: Set timelines

The seventh habit of productive people is to set timelines.

This is a fundamental productivity habit. By Parkinson’s Law, work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. This means if you don’t set a timeline, you can take forever to complete what you’re doing. If you set a timeline of two weeks, you’ll take two weeks. If you set one week, you’ll take one week. And interestingly enough, if you set one hour, you actually can complete it by one hour too, if you truly want to.

So, set timelines. When you set timelines, you set the intention to complete the work by this time, hence paving the way for the reality to manifest.

I do regular goal setting to maximize my output. The 30DLBL Program was out last month as I had set the timeline for it to be released then. If I hadn't done so, it would still be in the works, possibly for release this month, next month, or perhaps even never. This month, I've timelines for other projects, such as for an upcoming workshop, to start writing my next book, write new articles, have a second anniversary celebration at Personal Excellence (more on that next week!), release Personal Excellence Book version 2, and hit new readership targets at PE. By virtue of just setting these targets and striving for them, I'm already increasing my productivity compared to if I didn't set any goals.

Be clear on what you want to achieve (Habit 1), then set your timelines for them. What do you want to finish this month? What will make you look back and think that this is the best way you've spent today, and there's no better way you could have spent it? Set that as your targets. From there, set your weekly goals. Finally, you can set your daily goals which become your day-to-day targets.

Habit 8: Automate everything possible

The eighth and last habit of productive people is to automate everything possible.

Technology today has made automation possible for a lot of things we do. Even when it's impossible to fully automate the task, we can still use the systems to get a lot of the work done for us.

Keep a record of the things you do today, and see how you can automate them. Some of the not-so-productive tasks that we do on a regular basis are:

1. Delete, archive, sort our mail
2. Delete spam mail
3. Paying our bills
4. Appointment scheduling
5. Planning our days/weeks/months (unproductive because it's still planning vs. acting)

Here is a partial list of things I automate:

• Mail: I have set up e-mail filters where all site requests and reader mail automatically go into my ‘Reply later’ folder. I also have filters where newsletters and subscriptions go into different folders depending on what they are about. That way, my only job is to read e-mails and respond where needed, not to sort.
• Scheduling: My schedules are somewhat automated. I set recurring items for things I've to do daily, weekly or monthly like paying the bills, posting new 30DLBL daily posts (for Dec 30DLBL), exercising (daily), training workshops, etc so I don't have to worry about them later. It's not exactly automatic in that I have to first create the entry, but once it's set I don't need to do anything about it anymore.
• Tweeting/Facebook: I automate the tweeting and posting of my new posts. Every time a new post goes live, my twitter will have an announcement, which automatically feeds into my facebook as well
• Book payments: My book payments are automatic. Whenever someone makes a purchase for one of my books, e-junkie (my payment vendor) will automatically generate an invoice, a download link and a confirmation email and send them to the buyer. The payment is automatically sent to Paypal.
• Coaching payments: The same goes for my one-to-one coaching, where the payment system is automatic.
• Coaching schedules: My coaching sessions with each client are set on a fixed day, fixed timing every week. Like #2, I have to first create the entry, but after that it's automatic. That way we don't need to arrange for a time slot every week and can get on with the coaching topics.
• Site maintenance: I've set up my blog and forums to be as low maintenance as possible, to the extent where my only involvement is to write/post new content and reply comments. Many things such as the statistics, category count (in the sidebar), etc are automatically generated by Wordpress.

I'm continuously looking for ways to automate my process, so I can spend more time on creating value for others rather than being stuck in busy work. By automating your to-do list as much as possible, you reserve your time for the absolute important things. If you get a deja vu feeling when doing something on your task list, that's a cue to automate that item.

Apply the 8 Habits of Productive People

Which of these eight productivity habits can you apply in your work/life now? Practice the 8 habits of productive people and boost up your productivity immediately.

By Celestine Chua