According to best-selling author Donald Miller, a person's life has the most meaning when they live as though they are a hero on a mission.
Heroes on a mission live with purpose and intention. They know exactly what they should be working on and do not get distracted.
To be a productive person (i.e., a hero on a mission), we need to give ourselves a mission and then prioritize our time and objectives to accomplish our mission.
Human brains do not like to be confused about how we are supposed to be spending our time. Not being confused, however, requires discipline and focus.
I know, easier said than done.
Truth is, once you read these three simple productivity hacks and start applying them on a daily basis, you'll find that remaining disciplined in work and life is not rocket science.
#1 - Prioritize Your Primary Tasks
What's the most important thing you can do today?
If you answer this question on a daily basis, you are in an elite group of productive professionals.
A productive person knows how to invest their time. They know what work to do and what work to avoid or delegate.
The secret to focusing on your highest return opportunities is creating two task lists every day.
Task List No. 1 will be limited to THREE items. These are your primary tasks. They are reserved for your three highest return opportunities.
We need to reverse engineer our overall objectives to identify our highest return opportunities. Any work that moves us closer to our objectives is a high-return opportunity. Any work that does not is not.
Task List No. 2 is for the odds and ends that need to be accomplished before the day is done. These are your secondary tasks like returning emails, picking up groceries, etc.
Taking small steps toward big goals by prioritizing our primary tasks is how we accomplish our most important objectives.
#2 - Block Your Time, Get More Sh!t Done
Time is worth more than money. Time is, literally, life. What we do with our time determines the quality of our life.
Productive people know time is their most precious commodity, so they manage it to bring the greatest return on their time investment.
One of their greatest skills is knowing how to block "work time" to get the most done in a shorter amount of time.
High performers block their time weeks in advance.
Once you identify what your highest return opportunities are, block your work week into chunks that allow you to get more sh!t done.
Blocking your time in advance makes productivity hack #3 a lot easier.
#3 - Say No to Distractions
One of the keys to being more productive is having the disciplined ability to reject distracting "opportunities" in exchange for accomplishing our priorities.
There are friends who want to "get together" and opportunities that, while not aligned with our goals, are exciting.
When we say yes to too many things, though, we say no to the deep and focused attention it takes to do a few important things well.
If we don't know what our priorities are, we end up saying yes to everything and delude ourselves so much that our lives and work stop making sense.
What will you say no to in order to say yes to a focused and meaningful life?
In Closing
There is little room for frantic activity when we are heroes on a mission. We know what we want, what opposes us, and what we must accomplish to solve our customer's problems.
Become a hero on a mission and start living with purpose and intention today.
As always...stay aware, stay educated, and most importantly, stay cool.
Talk soon,
Old Man Winter
