Productivity Tips For The Busy Adult

The link between productivity and happiness is subjective and likely varying among individuals. But as we noted, there is a strong argument in favor of productivity helping happiness:

"There is never enough time to do the things we want, particularly in middle age where one's time can readily be squeezed by the generations above and below. (Of course there is always enough time to do the things we don't want to but that will be the subject of another post). Thus productivity can be important for one's level of happiness since it provides both the time to do those fun things as well as give us a sense of accomplishment."

But how does one become more productive? We came across a set of interesting if not provocative productivity suggestions from Marc Andreessen--co-founder of Netscape. Excerpts follow:

1. Let's start with a bang: don't keep a schedule.
2. Keep three and only three lists: a To-do List, a Watch List, and a Later List.# Each night before you go to bed, prepare a 3x5 index card with a short list of 3 to 5 things that you will do the next day.
3. Then, throughout the rest of the day, use the back of the 3x5 card as your Anti-To-do List.
4. Structured Procrastination.
5. Strategic Incompetence.
6. Do email exactly twice a day.
7. Empty your email box each time either responding or filing every email.
8. Don't answer the phone.
9. Hide in an IPod.
10. Start the day with a real, sit-down breakfast.
11. Only agree to new commitments when both your head and your heart say yes.
12. Do something you love.

Marc's tips can be grouped as follows:

Do what you feel like, love, think is important at that point and don't be sucked into what others think you should be doing. These are covered by his points #1, #4, #5, #8, #9, #11, and #12. Now this might seem unrealistic in a world where bosses and clients reign supreme, not to mention mandatory (and useless) meetings and chatty co-workers. That's why over half of his tips address this. The key point is that you will be significantly more productive on things you both like to do and believe are important and much less so on the others. Therefore as much as possible you focus on the former and employ whatever tools possible to avoid distractions (such as putting iPod earphones on to keep people from bothering you).

Now that you're working on what you love and what is important, don't trip yourself up with your own non-productive actions and bad habits. These are tips #2, #6 and #7. It's no secret that to be productive you need to be organized and you do this with a to-do list. But then don't get caught up on email exchanges. Twice a day clean out the box and any time you open an email it is acted on either by dealing with it then or properly filing it.

Feel good. These are covered by tips #3 and #10. #3's "Anti-to-do" list is simply a list of what you have accomplished. It's a way of reminding yourself of the progress you are making. Dieters know that it's easier to stick to a diet when your weight is going down and runners know that it's easier to get out there and train when you are seeing your race times continually drop. The same thing goes for the daily slaying of tasks. As for eating a good breakfast, it's hard to be productive if you are feeling weak.

Perhaps the most important point of Marc's post is that productivity is individualistic. What works for him might not work for you and visa-versa. But you should have a strategy. A suggestion would be to spend an hour reading productivity posts on LifeTwo and other sites and then write out your own plan. As time evolves you'll throw out what isn't working and add in new ones. After awhile you can write out your own productivity blog post (and please send it to us!).