What does your average work day look like ? Wait. Don’t tell me.
Does it look something like this ?
You get into the office, fire up your computer and start hacking away at that pile of e-mail that is sitting in your inbox. You don’t even wait to get into the office, but have your smartphone on your nightstand and “just quickly check e-mail” first thing in the morning. You quickly stop by your desk to drop off your things and rush straight into your first meeting
I used to be like you. I used to be that guy. Constantly rushed. Never any time. Always on, always connected.
At some point, I remember being on my fifth cup of coffee by 10.00 AM as a regular habit. Checking my Blackberry in every meeting I went. Firing off e-mails literally while I was going down the elevator, ready to hit “send” the second I got out. And having conference calls in the back of taxi cabs like it was the most natural thing in the world.
At some point, things got so bad I started feeling guilty if I didn’t. And I hated it.
As an entrepreneur, you have a lot of freedom. That is probably one of the reasons people feel attracted to this kind of life – the idea of being able to steer your own course and make decision independently.
But this kind of freedom has a flip side – you have to make calls on basically everything. Often, there is no one else – you are the guy in charge and you have to make the choices that no one else can make for you.
There is plenty of research out there that points to an overwhelming conclusion: when faced with too many choices, we break down and resort to “the default”. When we panic, we freeze – meaning we don’t choose at all.
When it comes to making decisions, things are pretty much the same. When there are too many factors to consider (like when you’re starting up a business), the temptation is huge to put off making choices or resort to the default.
Now, I am all for getting things done quickly and being as efficient as possible and often the default option can be the best one. I have learnt to make decisions quickly, by relying on gut instinct as much as hard data.
To trust the wisdom of the crowd or rely on others’ input. And to quickly scan the environment and – say – ask for a few opinions when I need to make a hard call.
But every so often it pays to be a little obsessive. Steve Jobs was more than a little obsessive. Santiago Calatrava is. And no doubt the person that first coined the phrase “the devil is in the details” was.
In fact, probably everyone who has had a certain amount of success in life was obsessive about certain things. Like quality. Or efficiency. Or getting things done.
Or shoes.
Many years ago, we had a shoe repair shop close to our house. The owner was Spanish, but looked Italian, dressed Italian and even spoke with a slight Italian-sounding accent. The man was obsessive about shoes. I am not talking merely enthusiastic. No – I am talking outright obsessive. He could tell you everything about where the leather for his shoes came from, why this particular type of sole was better than another and how to care for shoes so they last for years and years. Why it was important to have several types of shoes, in different colors and what to combine with which color suit and tie. When to go formal and when you could probably get away with a little fantasy on the side.
I absolutely loved spending time there, in this little shop on the corner. I loved talking about shoes, and became a loyal customer of his for many years. His obsessiveness and attention to minute detail made me feel that – when it came to shoes – there was nobody better suited to advise me than this man.
I still love spending time with people who are a little obsessive. Who take the time to talk about the intricacies of their craft, and speak with passion. Who are out to make a difference, no matter how small or big. Who can’t seem to leave well enough alone, but are always looking for that extra bit.
Who refuse to compromise, or take the easy way out.
In today’s world of instant gratification, an emphasis on cost and what seems to be a never ending race to the bottom when it comes to purchasing patterns, the future seems bleak for those who put the emphasis on quality over quantity or profit.
OK. So there we are. Number One on my list. My absolute personal favorite.
If there is only ONE thing that you take away from this, that you put into practice, then please let it be this one. Focusing on this rule (or principle) alone will give you a massive boost in productivity and make a tremendous difference in how you perform, how you feel and how others see you at work (and probably outside of that).
After about 25 years of being heavily into personal development and growth, I have made this my cardinal rule. Ready ? Here goes.
Spend the first 90 minutes of your day religiously taking care of what matters most.
That’s it. Sounds simple, doesn’t it ? Spending the first 90 minutes of your day doing what matters most. But let’s dig a little deeper. In fact, let’s analyze what a typical day for most of us looks like once we get into the office.
Right after getting our – must have – morning coffee, we usually do one of two things:
we open our e-mail app and start firing away
we go into a meeting
Which really translates into one thing – we start “looking and acting busy”. Now, if I were to run into you in the hallway and ask you “what is the most important thing that you do to make sure you are successful in your job ?” I am willing to bet the answer is NOT going to be either of those.
More likely, it will be things like reflecting on major business issues, talking to clients, developing proposals, writing or other things. What do most of those have in common ? Right, you need some peace and quiet to do them – and they “don’t look like work”
If nobody cares, why should you ?
For years, I went into the office and did meaningless stuff first because I thought it made me look good. I thought that if I went into the office and rushed straight into a meeting, it would give me the image of a “go getting, high-flyin’ super talent”. Guess what ? Nobody cared.
What my boss (and pretty much anyone else) cared most about was getting results. Results they could see, measure, touch and feel. Results that mattered. Results that – dare I say – made them look good.
And it certainly seems like things haven’t changed much – a recent study by the University of St. Gallen and London Business School confirms that “only about 10 percent of managers take purposeful action.” The remainder are busy, just not very effective: 40 percent were energetic but unfocused; 30 percent had low energy, little focus and tended to procrastinate; and 10% were focused, but not very energetic.”
And as soon as I realized that, I started spending the first 90 minutes of my day doing what matters most. Now, I have coached and worked with entrepreneurs, startup CEOS, future executives and other movers and shakers.
Invariably, when I told them to do what matters most first two things started happening. Those that tried it say they can’t live without it anymore. Those that didn’t said “I can’t do that, what will people think/what will my team makes of this/what will my boss think”.
Those that tried it told me countless stories of the massive impact it had on their performance and their life. Those that didn’t – well, there wasn’t much to talk about
90 minutes is all it takes
Spending the first 90 minutes of your day working on what matters most is like “the gift that keeps on giving”, but a few things jump out in terms of what people have told me they experienced:
a massive increase in productivity as they take less time to “do the really difficult stuff” when they are at their freshest and most productive
a flow of new and innovative ideas that often result in dramatic improvements or radical new solutions to tackle problems
a feeling of achievement and purpose when they look back on their day, week or month and realize all that they’ve accomplished
a feeling of being in control of their own career and orchestrating events rather than being swept around by them (interestingly enough, this one came from a VERY senior executive)
Finally, nearly everyone that tried it told me that focusing on what matters most in the first 90 minutes of their day has earned them the reputation of someone who gets things done, someone you can turn to when you need a problem solved and – ultimately – someone whose performance makes them stand out by a mile.
So there you go. My Top-5 Performance Hacks. Five principles that I live by on day-to-day basis. Five things that have dramatically and positively impacted my performance and that of many others. And five things that could do the same for you – if you give them a chance and put them into practice.
I sure hope you will.
PS. As you know, I just started blogging again and the comments section looks a litlte empty right now. I would consider it a HUGE favor if you’d put in a word and let me know if you tried one (or all) of them, and what the results were. And don’t hesitate to use the social links to share – thanks !
PPS. I am thinking about putting together someting very, very special to “give back” and and make a real difference in 2012 (as I mentioned, my main goal for this year is to help as many others as possible). Stay tuned for more !
What if I could show you a way to save several hours of your time per week through simple performance hacks. Would you be interested ?
In my last blogpost (on the Pomodoro technique), I talked about the importance of cutting up your day into segments. One thing I mentioned is that doing this helps me see when I am spending too much time on a task or activity and move on.
See, I am a perfectionist by nature – no point in trying to hide it. When I say that to people, they often don’t see the problem. Somehow, the word “perfectionist” has almost come to be synonymous with attention to detail, quality and not quitting until the job is done.
That’s all true, but something else is true as well. Perfectionism comes at a huge cost – your time. In the past (and the occasional slip-up), I frequently spent way too much time on things that did not matter. On some occasions, I was probably spending 3-4 times the amount of time I could have (and still gotten the desired result).
If you look at that over a week, month or year, that’s a lot of time just wasted.
When I first started using Pomodoro, it really forced me to think about what I was doing, and whether it was really worth the amount of time I am investing.
Since then, I have become convinced that most people (including myself) can only be productive for 5-6 hours per day. That doesn’t mean “working time”. It means the amount of time you spend performing at your peak, delivering truly great work and output that matters.
Now imagine compounding that time.
If you lose 30 minutes or even an hour on doing something that doesn’t add very much to your personal bottom line, that’s a lot. Imagine for a second you could shave off 30 minutes per day – that 2.5 hours per week.
Now imagine doing that for only four weeks. Relentlessly cutting away the things that don’t matter, and putting a time limit on those that do. Meetings ? 30 minutes instead of 60. Phone call ? 5 minutes.
E-mail ? Two blocks of 15 minutes per day.
Whatever you do, whatever your day looks like, chances are you will be able to find those 30 minutes. Imagine the impact after a week.
Two weeks. A month. A quarter. Six months. A year. Imagine what you could do with all that time.
The problem most of us have is not that we do not have enough time – it is that we are careless with how we spend it. Realizing this, and using a simple technique like this to make sure I spend more time where it matters – and less where it doesn’t – has truly changed my life around.
Do you sometimes feel unfocused ? Like you can’t get that fog out of your head ? Low on energy ? Have trouble concentrating ?
I used to feel that way, until I discovered a basic simple truth. See, a day is more or less like a mini-marathon – there are a thousand things to do, to remember and to take care of. And like a marathon, if you just start running without a strategy or a plan you’ll likely run out of energy way before the finish line.
Experienced runners understand that they need a plan to get to the finish line – a plan that includes when to pace themselves, when to eat something, when to take in liquids and when to give it that extra push to beat their “best” time. Which is where performance hacks come in.
You Say Tomato, I Say Pomodoro
In business, the equivalent is to plan your day and time box it. For several years now, I have been using the Pomodoro technique and the results have been nothing short of astonishing. Not only am I more focused on the task at hand, but I have more energy throughout my day and just plainly get more done.
On the days that I don’t use it (mostly because I can’t) I keep finding I spend too much time on things that don’t matter, take too long to accomplish something or run out of steam late afternoon. And – even thought I can’t explain it – I feel like I have less energy and am often drained at the end of the day.
And the best of all ? You know how sometimes you can get so involved in something you spend much, MUCH more time on it than you should ? Well, no more. An unexpected benefit of having a short break every 25 minutes is that it helps me ask a very simple question – am I working on this task in the most efficient and effective way possible ? Is the effort I am putting in in line with the importance of the task ? Am I performing as well as I can, or is there something I need to change ?
Things have gone so far I even bought a chicken-shaped timer that I have in my office – which turned out to be a great conversation starter. Before I started using Pomodoro, I used to feel unfocused and – frankly – was nowhere near performing at my peak level. Needless to say, I cannot recommend it enough – it really is one of my all-time favourite performance hacks.
PS. One of the BEST things about Pomodoro is that it is … absolutely free. Download a free digital version of the Pomodoro book here, and get started today !
As human beings, we tend to overestimate our capabilities in certain areas – our ability to multitask is one of them. The simple truth is we are biologically incapable of doing anything like it, and are only fooling ourselves when we think we can. Most of what we call multitasking is in fact very quickly switching from one task to the next, like reading our e-mail while having a phone conversation with someone. More often than not, we end up doing both things very poorly.
Sometimes, performance hacks are not about doing more – they’re about doing less.
Losing hours per day ?
Damon Young, author of “Distraction” claims we lose about a minute every time we switch from one thing to another. “When we move from our job to an e-mail, it takes about a minute to recover our train of thought. And then we get another e-mail, or an SMS, so our concentration is fractured. The result? We’re not really multi-tasking. We’re switching between tasks in an unfocused or clumsy way.”
So, another way which I have personally found to be extremely effective in increasing my own performance is to do one thing at a time, and see it through until completion. For several hours per day I turn off my e-mail, turn my phone to silent and dedicate myself to a single task until I have completed it (or part of it).
I have found it not only helps my concentration, but actually helps me get more done faster. And the end result is invariably far better than it would have been had I been switching back and forth between tasks.
Probably 98% of people have the ability to turn off their phone for 1-2 hours per day, especially early in the morning or at the end of the workday.
Over the next five blogposts or so I will share with you the FIVE most important things I started doing that together have made a MASSIVE difference in terms of how productive I am on a day-to-day basis. Five performance hacks that have made my professional life more productive, more engaging and more fun. And I will promise you that – if you do these things – they will start making a real difference in your life as well. Ready ? Here we go.
No. 5. Start Positive.
How do you get out of bed every morning ? How do you spend the first 20 minutes of your day ? In your life, what sets the tone for the day to come ? For years, I spent my morning just getting out of bed and rushing to the coffee machine, having breakfast and then jumping in the shower. Sometimes the order changed, but that was pretty much it.
And then I discovered a basic, simple truth: how you spend your first 20 minutes makes a MASSIVE difference in how you will feel for the rest of the day. I now get up 20 minutes earlier, and start EVERY single day doing something I enjoy or consider of value.
Something that makes a meaningful contribution to my life. Something that makes me feel like I spent those first 20 minutes in the best way I possibly could.
It literally starts when I get out of bed; before my feet even touch the ground I take a minute or so to reflect on my day and remember all the things that are going well in my life. Things I am thankful for. Things that put a smile on my face.
Usually, by the time I do get out of bed, I feel great and I just know my day is off to a good start.
Then (after my morning coffee), I make it a point to do something I consider to be of value. Sometimes, it is playing with my young son. Sometimes, it is reading a chapter in a book (I only read non-fiction). Sometimes, it is reflecting on a business issue I have or collecting my thoughts (like how to start my blogging with purpose again).
What a difference a day makes
It is not a big thing. It is not something that takes a lot of effort. It does not require a major change in lifestyle. But it sure does make a difference in my life.
Do I do this every day ? No. On occasion (but not very often), there are events that happen that make it impossible. But you know what ? On those days I absolutely, positively feel the effects of not having gone through my usual routine. Which tells me something must be working, right ?
I used to start out my day pretty much as I would live it – reacting to events, one at a time. Just taking a moment (like, 25 minutes or so) to start out right makes a massive difference.
And you know what ? Funny thing, if you start the day positive, you tend to go on positive and you will probably end the day positive as well. The other day, this thought popped into my head – a great life can only happen as a sequence of great days.
So why not give this a try ? After all, 20 minutes is all it takes.
