Harvards no.1 Productivity Method

QUOTE OF THE DAY

HARVARDS NO.1 PRODUCTIVITY METHOD

299 Words | 1 Min 5 Sec Read

Harvard carried out a study (who would have guessed) to figure out what the most productive tip, routine, or method is, and after months of iteration, they came out with ‘time-boxing’ on top.

What is time-boxing?

Time-boxing is a term taken from agile project management and has been recognised as the most useful productivity hack.

It involves translating a to-do list into blocks of time on your calendar, scheduling them, and sticking to that schedule.

Simply put, it gives you a plan for what to do and when.

At a quick glance of the picture above, It may seem overwhelming, but the hidden benefits of doing it this way are clear.

1. It removes the paradox of choice.

Having a to-do list and leaving it at that is great, but you’re still left with the fact that you have no idea what to do and when. You can easily get into this state of paralysis that is induced by having to choose between a multitude of tasks on a seemingly never-ending to-do list.

2. It incorporates Parkinson's law.

Parkinson's law is the principle that a task will take the time you give it to be completed. If you just give yourself a list of things to do with no time boundaries, you could be spending far more time than you need to on it, therefore being less productive.

ACTIONABLE NEXT STEPS:

Try it yourself. You can use an online calendar like Google Calendar or a physical day planner, something like the Project Kaizen Journal, where you can write your to-do list out and then schedule it accordingly.

It may seem very specific and strict to narrow your life down to a matter of minutes on a piece of paper, but if you struggle with time management, this could be your cure.

TAKEAWAYS:

If you want to upgrade your productivity routine, try time-boxing - heres why it works:

1. It removes the paradox of choice.

2. It incorporates Parkinson's law.

LESSON OF THE DAY ⤵️

It's a willingness to let things go wrong, and an ability to live with the consequences of things going wrong, that generates a confident person.

Discipline is something that's built up over time and also something that you can’t necessarily turn on; you either have it or you don’t.

The reward mechanism of giving yourself small rewards for small milestones, however, is something that you can easily control to create cognitive reinforcement that the things you’re doing are good.

It’s not one or the other; discipline will always be the end goal as a renewable force that keeps you going, but until you’ve built that up to the standard you want, the reward mechanism is a great method to use.

Want to ask The Kaizen something? Click this link, ask your question, and every day we pick one out to answer in the next day's newsletter.

ARE YOU SICK AND TIRED OF US?

We get it, for some, the daily emails can be a lot, but the last thing we want is to lose you as a subscriber because of that.

So we came up with an alternative: The Kaizen Weekly.

One hard-hitting edition a week, every Friday.

We both know you need The Kaizen in your life, and whether thats once a week or once a day, thats up to you.

If you want to change your preferences, check out this link:

CHANGE TO THE KAIZEN WEEKLY

Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here

Got any questions or thoughts about this edition? If so, send us an email to [email protected]