Cultivating Elite Productivity

I want to let you in on a little secret: I’ve discovered the best productivity system in the history of the universe.

The system is a hybrid of David Allen’s approach in Getting Things Done and Stephen Covey’s Four Quadrants from First Things First. I take no credit for coming up with the concepts and a very small amount of credit for smashing them together to create the system that will result in increasing your productivity to a scary degree. Read on if you dare.

Step #1. Make a comprehensive to-do list:

This isn’t a typical “here’s my plan for the day which includes a bunch of quick and easy bullshit items that I will cross off to get a micro hit of dopamine” list.

Comprehensive means every single thing that isn’t completely done yet. From returning an email or calling someone back to completing a massive, six-month long project on time and on budget. Put it all down on a list, one item at a time.  Include both work related items and non-work items e.g. inflate the tires, purge the basement, bookmark DestroyYourDadBod.com.

If this takes you less than two hours or you end up with less than 50 items on your list, either you missed things or you don’t have enough going on to need a truly elite productivity system. If you can swing it, take a day off work and devote it entirely to making this list. 

Why it works/why it’s critical:  Whether you are consciously aware of it or not, every single thing that is sitting out there that needs to get done at some point is occupying space in your head and is causing your subconscious to freak out about why it’s not done yet.

A small part of your brain thinks that you should be working on every item on your list, at all times. Coming up with a list that has absolutely everything on it gives you tremendous peace of mind.

You will learn to trust that as long as something ends up on the list, it will get done.

Step #2. Identify the next physical action step to be taken for every item on the list:

Once you have a complete list, go through it one by one and write down the next specific action that needs to be taken for each item. Don’t fall for the trap of writing down a list of steps next to each item, just write the next physical thing you need to do.

For example, if scheduling a meeting with your boss to talk about the annual budget is on your list, write “Email Bossman ManagerFace time/date options for the budget meeting”.

Why it works/why it’s critical:  Far too often when people create to-do lists they omit the critical step of identifying what specific action literally needs to take place to get things done. If there’s one universal theme in every good productivity book you will ever read, it is an emphasis on the importance of taking action.

By identifying the specific next step that needs to be taken to move every item closer to completion, you make it incredibly easy for yourself to make progress on any item, at any time.

Step #3. Categorize each item as urgent or non-urgent and as important or non-important:

We are in the home stretch but don’t skip this step, it’s the most important.

Go through your list one final time and ask yourself whether each item is urgent or not and whether it’s truly important or not.

Urgent items have time sensitive components and are generally relatively easy to identify.

Important vs. not important is trickier – you have to stop and think about whether the task truly matters in terms of accomplishing your key goals and making progress toward your ultimate objectives. You should end up with a fairly long list of important but not urgent items, things like strategic planning or improving your interviewing and hiring skills.

Why it works/why it’s critical:  This is the special sauce of the system. The vast majority of people let the urgency of items dictate what they spend most of their time doing.  The problem is that there are tons of truly important, mission critical items that are never going to present themselves as fires that need to be put out before the end of the business day.

Unless you develop the habit of identifying the truly important things and making sure that you devote sufficient time and effort to these items, you will never maximize your productivity. You will get a lot of unimportant, busy work done but you won’t ever be the type of person who makes other’s heads spin and ask “how the hell does she find the time to do all of that?”

Step #4. Plot all the items on a four-quadrant matrix, with their action steps listed directly next to them. Print out a copy and review it at the start of every day.

This should look something like the following:

Your matrix will be much larger than this but you get the picture.

Here is a blank template to play around with. Don’t discount the value of making it look professional – if you don’t like these colors or fonts, choose different ones. This document will be your living, breathing, productivity maximizing mastersheet and if it looks like shit, your subconscious won’t buy into the fact that it’s important.

Why it works/why it’s critical: Organizing your list in this way makes it completely clear how you should be spending your time.

Rather than being overwhelmed at how many things are on the list, feel confident that you have captured everything that needs to be done and that you now know which items truly deserve your attention.

Step #5. Live in Quadrant II and Quadrant I. Update the matrix on a weekly basis at a minimum. Remember me when you make your first million.

Quadrant II should be where you spent at least 50% of your time, ideally even more than that. This will almost certainly be significantly different than what you’ve done in the past but try it for two weeks and I guarantee you will see the benefits.

Pencil in 25% - 30% of your time for Quadrant I.

You’ll probably be forced to spend at least 15% in Quadrant III.

I strongly advise you to ignore Quadrant IV completely unless something there is driving you crazy and it won’t take much time to finish.

Why it works/why it’s critical:  By identifying and devoting your time to the truly important tasks, including those that aren’t perceived to be “urgent”, you will make progress on work that will pay the largest dividends down the line and you will accelerate your productivity to a completely new level.  

If it’s not yet clear to you, destroying your DadBod is a textbook Quadrant II activity – it’s critically important but it hides behind a wall of “urgent” items, many of which are simply other people’s priorities for your life.