In an average lifetime you will spend 25 years in bed, 8 years eating and 18 months in the bathroom. These are all necessities, while you can certainly skip meals here and there, the time you take to actually perform vital tasks can’t be reduced by much. But what about the other aspects of life? Where we while away time on trivial activities? Some of the most successful and productive people in history recognised the need to spend their time completing important goals. Your middle aged years are when you should be building your career, making a name for yourself and getting things done. Doing them more quickly and efficiently will mean you achieve more. So what is the key to developing hyper-productivity? Focus on the tasks that truly matter. Reduce time and effort on mundane activities. So how do you streamline and free up some extra minutes and hours? Develop a daily routine.
While it might sound boring and perhaps the mantra of someone who is inherently dull, it makes good sense. From the moment you wake up, if you have a clear task list to achieve before starting the day (exercise, shower, dress, eat breakfast, catch up on emails etc.) you spend less time dithering or making time-sapping decisions. While at first, this may seem trivial and a little unnecessary, some simple maths can highlight the benefits. If you spend 1 minute each morning deciding what you will have for breakfast, over the course of a month that could give you an extra 30 mins. But over 5 years, that’s 28 hours – the equivalent of two full working days. Granted, that’s not ground-breaking. When you apply this process to more and more tasks, then you can start to make a more significant difference. I’ve mentioned the theory of marginal gains before in this blog. Adding all the small improvements up will result in a much bigger saving.
Albert Einstein famously only wore grey suits and shoes without socks. He was uninterested in the trappings of fashion, his unkempt hair being a trademark reminder. This removal of the small, almost meaningless decisions and saving of extra time by sticking with a single outfit or “uniform” is something has been more widely embraced that you’d think. Stanley Kubrick exclusively wore chinos and blue shirts, Alfred Hitchcock always dressed in a blue suit, Andy Warhol went with 501’s, a button down shirt, striped tie and a blue jacket and famously Steve Jobs decided on his daily wardrobe after a visit to Japan in the 80s, going with a black Issey Miyake turtle-neck, Levi’s jeans and pair of new balance trainers. While wearing the same type of clothes every days seems like a bit of an extreme measure, the path of the truly exceptional is not always conventional.
When you break this kind of lifestyle down it really boils down to meticulous planning and organisation. If you get into a routine which takes care of the mundane day to day tasks then not only will you save precious time which you can spend on plans for world domination, but you will also free up your mind to concentrate on the more important aspects of the day. Your routine will become second nature and you can bring order and greater achievement into your day. My challenge to you is to adopt this way of life for a month and track the short term benefits. Start by planning your morning routine, put together a weekly program for meals and get used to running to a schedule each day. When done correctly you’ll find you have more time and structure to your day. This will increase productivity and make you more efficient. I understand it is not for everyone, but I’m going to give it a go and see where it takes me.
The post The productivity routine appeared first on The Hosting Insider.