Step 2: Identify The Non-Productive Work
This step is actually very simple. I just have one question for
you:
“Go through all the recurring activities in your log one by
one. What would happen if you would stop doing them?”
If the answer is:
“All hell breaks loose.”
Don’t change
anything. But if your answer is:
“Nothing would
happen.”
You’ve hit gold.
We all do activities that have
ZERO return.
I call those activities time-wasters.
Step 3: Eliminate The Time-Wasters
Boom. That’s it. Know where your time goes. Identify the
critical tasks from the trivial tasks in your life. And cut the
trivial, time-wasting, tasks.
“That simple?”
Yes. If you want
to be a super effective person, you regularly keep a log. You
don’t have to keep a log for 365 days a year. Instead, do two
stretches of two-three weeks a year. That’s enough to keep
track of your time and identify new time-wasters. Also, the
additional benefit of such a simple exercise is that it forces
you to think about your daily routine.
Often, we start time-wasting activities, and they become
habits. And if you don’t become aware of the pointless
behavior, it’s difficult to break those bad habits. I’ve found
this exercise to be one of the most powerful things in
productivity. Start now. Your activity log probably looks
something like this:
(insert time) — Read Darius Foroux’ article about
keeping a time-log and started my own time-log.
(insert time) — Turned off my phone and got back
to (whatever you were working on).
(insert time) — Browsed the news, Facebook,
Instagram. And watched YouTube videos. (Be honest
with yourself. Shit happens).
(insert time) — responded to emails.
Great. I’m happy to see that you started. Now keep going
for another two weeks.
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