Lately I've been tinkering around with the idea that being busy, doesn't necessarily mean you’re productive. So I put it to the test. I set up two scenarios for myself.
Scenario #1 (S1) – Super-Productive
I put myself in a situation where I had no distractions, to keep my focus at an all time high. I deactivated my Facebook, I turned off my phone, I went to the library, and organized and listed everything I wanted to accomplish that particular day. I was setting myself up to be Super-Productive.
Scenario #2 (S2) – Sort-of Productive
Obviously the opposite of #1; Facebook was in front of me (even Twitter), I had a book out, I was on Google Reader catching up on my subscriptions, I was texting friends and I was at my favorite coffee shop. My work was still laid out in an organized and listed fashion to be accomplished that day. I was set-up to be Sort-of Productive.
I know what you want to ask me, “So which Scenario allowed you to get the most work done?”
“It’s obviously Scenario #1 right?”
Well the answer is NEITHER surprisingly and I’ll tell you why.
S1 did keep me away from all the distractions I mentioned above except for one; CRAVING! I was craving to check my Facebook and my phone which took a lot of my focus away from actually doing my work. When I would start to work on something, I’d get distracted by my craving to do something else. And I know I’m not the only one that goes through this craving.
On the flip side S2 is an obvious one. Since I had all these distractions readily available, I was distracted 80% of the time I was trying to work. I would be reading feeds, glancing over my book, responding to my text messages and drinking a boat load amounts of coffee, so I was wired to be distracted.
So since the first 2 scenarios didn’t work, I had to find another way; bringing me to Scenario #3.
Scenario #3 – Rewarductive
Back when I was 8-9 years old, my parents bought a poster that they posted on my room door. It was a Chores Poster. They listed chores they wanted me to do and once I accomplished it for the day, week or month, I would receive a reward that I wanted. Based on how extensive the chore, the reward became awesome!
So I decided to follow this same system now, just a bit simpler to boost my motivation. I would work for 1 hour straight, and reward myself with something I wanted to do. Believe me when I say that my productivity increased tenfold in that 1 hour that I worked!
I organized and listed “mini” manageable projects within my project that would take an hour (give or take a few minutes) and once completed, checked and re-checked. I would grab a coffee, or watch an episode of Two and Half Men, or take a powernap, and sometimes even play some Call of Duty.
The idea behind the third scenario is to create a system where there is less work, with high productivity without limiting yourself from doing the fun stuff. This built motivation to work hard during the hour and maintained efficiency, because I didn’t want to look over it during my reward periods, I wanted to play hard also.
Since you don’t limit yourself from success by working hard, why should you limit yourself from doing fun stuff by playing hard?
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