6 tips from the guru of productivity, which in fact do not work

1. Get up as soon as possible

In almost every article or book on productivity it says that early birds more likely to achieve success than the owl. From the point of view of the authors, you have to get up at 6 in the morning, take a cold shower, work out, meditate, write something in diary, to set priorities for the day, read inspirational quotes, eat a protein-rich breakfast, and only then to go work. I do a bit too much?

Form a useful morning habit - it is certainly good. But each person has a sleep mode, and, respectively, and the productivity peak at different times. This is confirmed by studiesEarly to bed, early to rise: Diffusion tensor imaging identifies chronotype-specificity Scientists of the Institute of Neurobiology and Medicine in Jülich.

Remember: for every Tim Cook, who gets up at 4:30 am, there will my Winston Churchill, stay in bed until 11:00. So it is certainly not an indicator of success.

There is no point in trying to reshape itself, causing the body wakenIf you are used to at this time to sleep. It does not matter when you go for a run: six in the morning and six in the evening. The main thing - to determine the time of day when you are most energetic, and plan on him their problems.

2. Strive for excellence

"Striving for Excellence" sounds like a worthy goal. But it is not so: almost perfectionists are never satisfied with the results of their labors. Therefore, they spend much more time on a completely ordinary matter.

Surely you have met these people on their work (or are those yourself). When they commit to create a PowerPoint presentation or write a report, they manage to somehow spend on it is 2-3 times longer than the other team members.

The problem perfectionists is that they always get stuck working on the little things.

Because of this, they are forced to continually assess, modify, enhance and edit their works. The amount of time that fans spend an ideal, something to improve, it is possible with great success to direct on more useful things. In the end, nothing is perfect in the world does not happen.

If you are thinking of a perfectionist, it is best, do the following:

• Give up thinking "all or nothing". Instead of addressing only the fact that you think you are given a perfect, discover other areas in which are good not so good. This allows you to constantly build new skills and experience.
• Aim for 95% perfection. You will try to do something perfectly 100% - you kill a lot of time, and associates are unlikely to appreciate your thoroughness. Try to do things are not perfect, just good enough, and carry out their tasks in a professional and timely manner.
• Set realistic goals. Do not dream too long for the impossible success overnight. Establish goals to achievable. So it will be easier to achieve and enhance their confidence. And also do not have to expend energy to waste.
• Focus on the big picture. As already mentioned, perfectionists often pay too much attention to detail. Avoid this by focusing on the problem in its entirety. For example, if you create an important working paper, be sure to include only necessary data. Try to cover too much information - and a waste of your time and the time of other people working on the project.

3. eat frogs

There is a popular productivity technique, which is called "Eat a frog." Her invented Canadian-American motivational speaker and author Brian Tracy self. It consists in the following: if you have some unpleasant tricky business ( "frog"), you must deal with it as soon as possible, at the beginning of the working day ( "eat" it) to then not have to worry.

Robust grain in the reasoning of Brian there, but this method does not fit all. Often, we have a few more or less simple tasks scheduled for the day and a "frog". Let's say you took up the challenge in the first place, and successfully completed it... spending a large part of the day and so exhausted that simple task nor the strength nor the desire to no longer exists. We'll have to probably postpone them for later.

Or you can do logical and at first light to alter all things, and then to take on difficult and unpleasant. You will make more and then be able to deal with your "frog" at least until the evening.

You just do not want to get up in the morning, if you know that right now we need to "eat the frog." It is better not to spoil the anticipation of a good day, after you wake up eat passion fruit.

Nina Amir, a blogger and writer

To take up the frogs in the morning is worth only if you eat them quickly. Or simply spend the extra time and effort.

4. Aim for multitasking

Multitasking - the present trend of our time. Maybe it's in the computers that most people working today. These devices with their possibility to simultaneously run a bunch of programs open and a pile of papers and pushed to multitasking.

To some it seems to be the ideal means to improve productivity, but in fact leads to the opposite result. This is because people make three mistakes:

1. Try to do two or more things at once.
2. Constantly switching to new things without finishing the previous one.
3. Quickly switch between tasks, which creates the illusion of their own hard work.

However, the truth is that the human brain is not designed for such cognitive shuffles. Multi-tasking leads to a confused mental state, which can be called "residual attention." This means that, without completing one task and switch to another, we continue to think about first. And it distracts us.

Here's what the research has shown, dedicated multi-tasking:

• constant switchingMultitasking: Switching costs between tasks can cost you about 40% of the time - as much as 16 hours a week. This is tantamount to wasting two business days.
• Multitasking, you spendMultitasking Damages Your Brain and Your Career, New Studies Suggest so much attention and mental abilities, as if lost 10-15 points to your IQ. By switching between the cases, you will not be so smart and efficient as they could be, if focused on something one.

So you'd better do one thing, and then move on to the next.

5. Use the to-do list

Since then, as David Allen came up with the GTD system, Internet overflowed with all sorts of advice about how to make task listsTo all-all to keep up. But lists of cases there are several problems.

Firstly, they do not give a visual sense of importance and time consuming task.

"Buy milk" and "finish the project" in the list is occupied by a single line, although these things, to put it mildly, a little different in complexity and priority.

Secondly, the lists do not allow us to estimate the time allotted to the task. That is, looking at the list, you will only be able to understand that you have to buy food at 18:00 and 14:00 to complete the project. How many will take the other actions of a single line is impossible to guess.

Therefore, choose your day planning tools more balanced. Lists are good for quick tasks. But for serious work better suited calendar: no coincidence that successful people give preference to him. Calendar allows you to more accurately estimate the time and carefully plan objectives.

6. Do not delay anything for later

Successful people never put off anything until later. In the words of US General George S. Patton:

A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan that will be executed next week.

George S. Patton

Well said, right? Or... Sometimes the correct prioritization is more important than avoiding delays. Imagine you are writing an important message to a colleague via e-mail about the project, work on which will begin next week.

And when you are totally immersed in the work, your phone suddenly rings. This is a client with an order to be executed as soon as possible, and he is ready to generously pay for urgency.

What do you do?

• Option A. You will tell the client that will soon take his order, and then will return to the drawing up of letters. After all, started business one can not bring to the end, right?
• Option B. You should immediately rush order, a letter would take only when the higher priority will be executed.

Surely any sane person will choose the second option.

Of course, you have to postpone your email, but the goal in this case, the good: the time you release a task that brooks no delay. So this option is uneven evil.

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Write in the comments, what advice seem silly to you?