Productivity Strategies & Parkinson's Law

The goal is to find your inefficiencies and eliminate them to find your strengths so you can multiply them. He applied the answers to his questions the following day, eliminating 95% of unresponsive customers, firing 2% and kept the top 3% producers. 100% of his problems came from the unproductive m...

The goal is to find your inefficiencies and eliminate them to find your strengths so you can multiply them. He applied the answers to his questions the following day, eliminating 95% of unresponsive customers, firing 2% and kept the top 3% producers. 100% of his problems came from the unproductive majority. More customers doesn't immediately mean more income. Remember more customers isn't the goal and mostly translates to more housekeeping. So, slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference. Being busy is a form of lazinesslazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being overwhelmed is also a form of unproductiveness, plus it is far more unpleasing. Being selectivedoing less-is the path of the productive. Focus on the important few and ignore the rest. Lack of time is actually lack of priorities. 04.23.2023 REVIEW 05.03.2023 The 9-5 Illusion and Parkinson's Law If you're an employee, spending time on nonsense, to some extent, is not your fault. The world is stuck shuffling papers from 9-5 and since you're trapped in that office environment, you are compelled to keep yourself busy in that time. 8 hours a day is unnecessary to make yourself a millionaire or even feel like one. Since we have 8 hours to fill, we fill out 8 hours. If we had 12 hours to fill, we fill out 12 hours, but if we leave work early and only have 2 hours, we somehow achieve more in that 2 hours than we did for 8 hours. Parkinson's law dictates that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the allotted time for its completion. If you are given 24 hours to complete a project, you are forced to focus only on the essentials. If you are given a week, a molehill magically turns into a mountain. The end product of the shorter deadline is almost of equal or higher quality because of greater focus. There are two synergistic approach to improving productivity: 1. Limiting the task to the important to shorten work (80/20). 2. Shortening work time to limit tasks to the important (Parkinson's Law) The most important task is to identify the few critical tasks that contribute the most income and schedule them with very short time and clear deadlines. If you don't set clear task and set aggressive starts and ends to their completion, the unimportant becomes the important. At least three times per day on set hours, ask yourself the following: 1. Am I being productive or just active? 2. Am I inventing stuff to do to avoid the important? Dedication is often just meaningless work in disguise. Be ruthless and cut the fat. Questions and Actions The key to achieving more is by doing less. These are the two paths to getting there: (1) Define a to-do list (2) Define a not-to-do list. In general terms there are two questions: 1. What 20% of sources are causing 80% of your problems and unhappiness? 2. What 20% of sources are resulting to 80% of my desired outcomes and happiness? Hypothetical cases to get started: 1. If you had a heart attack and could only work for 2 hours a day, what would you do? 2. If you had a second heart attack and could only for for 2 hours a week, what would you do? 3. If you had a gun pointed towards your head and had to stop 4/5 of the different time consuming activities you are doing, what would you remove? 4. What are the top three activities I use to fill time to feel as though I'm being productive? 5. Who are the 20% of people that produce 80% of your enjoyment and propel you forward, and which 20% cause 80% of your depression, anger, and second-guessing? Poisonous people do not deserve your time. The best way to approach a potential break is simple: confine in them honestly but tactfully and explain your concerns. If they bite back, you have your answer. If you don't do this, remember that you are the average of the five people you associate with most, so do not underestimate the effects of your pessimistic, unambitious, or disorganized friends. If someone isn't making you stronger, they make you weaker.