Principles to go from Busy to Impactful
The decisions you make about how to spend your time and energy matter. Below, you'll find helpful insights & principles to give you more bang for your buck.
Filling Up Your Bucket
Here’s a story that illustrates why prioritizing your life and managing your time matters. It goes like this.
During a college class, the professor holds a demonstration. He shows his students a bucket. The bucket is a container that represents your time. He makes the point "You can only fit so much into the bucket."
He begins to fill the bucket with sand, small stones, and pebbles. Next, he tries to add larger stones into the bucket, but they won't all fit. He empties the bucket and starts over.
This time, he fills the bucket with the big stones first. Then, he adds the smaller stones, pebbles, and finally the sand in. This time, everything fits in the bucket. The moral of the story?
If you fill your bucket with minor tasks and busy work first, you won't have time to fit in what's most important in life. Make sure to fill your time with what's most important, and let all else fit around the important things.
Maker vs. Manager Schedule
Different types of work require different types of schedules.
The "Maker vs. Manager Schedule" concept was popularized by entrepreneur Paul Graham. Makers need long, uninterrupted blocks of time for deep, creative work. (Think programmers, designers, and writers. )
In constrast, managers have schedules with shorter and more frequent time slots, suitable for meetings, emails, and decision-making.
If you are a maker, you want to set your schedule up for deep, focused workblocks. Consider 90 minutes sessions, half days, and even full days of work where you focus on one activity.
If you are a manager, frequent checkins with team members and projects is important. You will want to prioritize communication, oversight, and decision-making during your work day.
Knowing which type of schedule suits you and your work will help you set up your schedule for results.
The Modern Productivity Paradox
“The problem is not that productivity products and techniques like the 4-hour work week and Getting Things Done don’t work. It’s that they do work, in the sense that you’ll get more done, take more meetings, ferry your kids to after-school activities, generate more profit for your employer, and yet paradoxically you only feel busier, more anxious and somehow emptier as a result..”
On the one hand, fixating on your schedule and how you spend your time is stressful. On the other hand, a lack of structure sets you up to mismanage your time for what matters most.
Base your personal definition of productivity on your ability to do things that reflect your values and move your goals and long-term plans forward. Not how much work you can do or how busy you can be.
Pareto’s Law - Leverage Your Time For Greater Results
Creating time leverage is at the heart of gaining 5+ hours for what counts each week. Consider the Pareto Principle, often referred to as the "80/20 rule." Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto discovered that most of our results come from a small amount of our effort. Roughly 80% of results come from 20% of our total efforts.
Here are some observed real-world examples.
20% of the marketing efforts represent 80% of the sales results
20% of drivers cause 80% of all traffic accidents. Yikes!
Not all situations follow the 80/20 rule. Results vary depending on different factors and contexts. The rule of thumb is this - a portion of your efforts, what you do, produces the majority of your results.
In the visual above, the more time you spend on the 20% of efforts driving results, the more you can achieve. The inverse is also true. If your time is spent on low-producing activities and efforts, you will get a poor return on your efforts.
Make your time work harder for you! Hone in on which activities are most responsible for your results and double down on them.
Working From Your Zone of Genius
Wondering how to figure out what activities are most valuable?
Gay Hendrick's Zone of Genius Framework separates your work activities into four categories. The framework complements the 80/20 rule by giving you a way to gauge the value of each activity you do.
In his book The Big Leap, the Zone of Genius is defined as a state where you do what you are uniquely suited to do, combining your natural talents and passions. Work doesn't feel like work because you love doing it and are exceptionally good at it.
This contrasts with the other zones.
In the zone of Incompetence, tasks are not suited to your skills. In the zone of Competence, you perform manageable but not exceptional work. In the zone of Excellence, you perform well, but without a sense of passion.
In his book, Hendrick encourages you to find and work from your zone of genius to achieve greater levels of success and fulfillment in life. The sweet spot where you produce valuable, unique work, and love doing it.
Use the Pareto Principle and Zone of Genius Framework to hone in on where to best focus your time and energy.
Parkinson’s Law
Have you ever finished a big school project a week in advance of the deadline? How about cramming a lengthy assignment all in one night the day before it's due?
Parkinson’s law states that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.
Here's a "busy work" example that demonstrates how Parkinson's law shows up in everyday life. Have you ever gone to check your email quickly and ended up spending an hour in your email inbox? You might of intended to be in your inbox for 10 minutes. But, Because you didn't limit your time on email, time spent in your inbox expanded to fill the time you had available.
Knowing this, you can use Parkinson's law to set shorter deadlines and time constraints on how long activities take.This will help you drive action, focus your efforts, complete work faster, and prevent work from dragging on unnecessarily.
Going back to our earlier example, you can limit how much time you spend in email each day to 20-30 minutes. Your most important emails will get answered. And a lot of the noise in your inbox will cycle in and out without distracting you and pulling your focus. Win-Win!
Deep Work
Author Cal Newport popularized the term deep work in his book, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.
"Deep work refers to professional activity performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit."
The benefits of deep work include high-quality output, faster results, and improved skill.
Let's go deeper. (Heh heh.)
The time it takes to fully concentrate on a task varies. The nature of the task, your level of expertise, and familiarity with the task all factor in. Your envirorment matters too. According to some experts, it can take approximately 21 minutes to fully immerse yourself in a task and reach a state of deep concentration.
This figure isn't a strict scientific finding but rather a general guideline. The rule is often mentioned when discussing the cost of interruptions. An interruption can set you back 20 minutes in terms of reaching full concentration on the task at hand.
This is why working interruption-free is critical to producing high-quality work.
Psychology research also shows our brains have natural attention rhythms. These attention rhythms, or "ultradian rhythms," cycle every 90 to 120 minutes. They can affect our ability to concentrate.
You can use this insight to set yours work day up for success. Consider the maker versus manager schedule we discussed earlier. A maker will benefit from longer workblocks to achieve deep focus and concentration.
By tapping into deep work, you can accomplish more in less time. You can also engage with challenging tasks to learn faster and upskill. In an era of constant distraction, your ability to do deep work is a competitive advantage.
Create Your Own “What not to do list”
Cutting down on busy work to focus on what counts is as much about what not to do as it is what to do.
Work the problem from both sides to get faster results.
Here are a few examples of what not to do.
(Note - For our full list of what not to do’s, click here.)
Try Not To Multitask:
Trying to do multiple tasks at once reduces your efficiency and the quality of work you produce. Focus on one task at a time for better results.
Try to Not Check Emails Constantly:
Set specific times to check and respond to emails rather than allowing them to interrupt your workflow constantly.
Try not to Work Without Breaks:
Working non-stop without short breaks can lead to burnout, crashing, and reduced productivity. Break your work into manageable chunks. Take short walks, hydrate, stretch, and encourage those you work with to do the same.
Try Not to Skip Planning:
Jumping into tasks without a plan can lead to inefficiencies and rework. Spend time planning and prioritizing regularly. Consider David Allen’s point in his book Getting Things Done.
You can do
already planned work
you can plan work
and you can do unplanned work.
Be mindful of what your tendencies are.
By avoiding these pitfalls, you can cut down on busy work and shift your time towards more impactful work faster.