GTD
I have discovered advanced productivity systems with some of the books we have published. Some are still very popular like Getting Things Done by David Allen.
I learned a lot from it, but it failed with me for one reason: it depends on where you are, but after a certain level of activity, you do not improve by doing more but by accepting to do less. I needed something else.
Dan Sullivan presents a system in which entrepreneurs should share their time between 3 kinds of days:
– Free days in which you stay out of any job-related task. The goal is to rejuvenate and have good time for yourself and family
– Focus days to focus on what brings revenue.
– Buffer days for maintenance, training, teamwork, organisation and preparation.
The idea behind this system is to get a good balance between strategic projects, maintenance tasks and personal life.
I see it as something appealing but I have always found it difficult to put it into practice because I need more flexibility and I find it very hard to do only one type of activity on a given day.
Deep Work
There are too many distractions around us, emails and social media are constantly trying to get our attention.
David Hieatt (co-founder of The Do Lectures and Hiut Denim Co) explains that he is incredibly productive by doing a simple thing: turning offline (no wifi on his computer) 3 hours a day. The rest of the time, he takes care of his team and makes coffee.
This is the legend, but I believe it can make a huge difference to unplug and focus on a big project instead of responding emails all day.
no mail today
That is probably wisdom and I am going to try to improve my system by spearing my days between:
– focus time between 7.00 and 11.00 where I only want to work on my priorities
– buffer time between 11.00 and 15.00 where I communicate, meet, learn, take care of finance, etc.
– free time between 15.00 and 19.00. I take time for me, my family and my kids who need to see me before going to bed at 18.30
I am going to try this in the near future, and try (really try hard) not to look at my emails on the morning
I will keep you posted but would be happy to hear from you if you use similar tactics.
