There is a simple hack to improve your productivity.
And it doesn’t require buying new tools or doesn’t cost anything.
Spend your time wisely in discussing ideas instead of discussing events and people.
Discussing ideas give you energy.
Discussing events and people drain your energy.
And the secret of getting more done is not having more time, but having better energy.
They say – you get “what” you ask for.
Unfortunately, that is just the 1/3rd of the truth.
It also depends on “how” you ask for it.
This is about your communication.
How convincing, confident, and truthful are you? What words do you use? How’s your energy?
And lastly, it also depends on “whom” you ask for.
This is about your network.
What’s that person’s authority? How’s your relationship with them? And more importantly, what they know about you?
If you’re feeling low, burnt-out, overwhelmed, or hopeless, here’s a simple suggestion for you.
Stop looking at the future and what’s ahead. Instead, do this.
Look at the past and how far you’ve come along.
Sometimes the future is inspiring, but sometimes it’s daunting too.
And sometimes the past is not exciting, but sometimes it’s inspiring too.
And the interesting thing is – it’s the same set of past events that happened.
But it’s your perspective to look at it needs to be different.
When you realize how far you’ve come along, you’ll find a new source of hope, energy, and inspiration.
And that’s all you need today, to tackle the future and what’s ahead.
If there is one secret to do your work most “effectively” – then it is “concentration”.
Every single time when I take up too much on my plate and commit to too many things – I mess up.
The quality of my work and results hamper.
And obviously, I never complete everything I commit.
On the other hand, every single time when I concentrate on only one important thing at a time – I excel.
While saying this is easy, doing it is very hard.
Even though I know this, I make the mistake of saying “Yes” to too many things all the time.
But constantly thinking and reminding about this helps me to keep building my self-discipline to say “No” more often.
In fact, concentration helps me to
– Finish things faster
– Produce better quality
– Use lesser resources
So my recommendation to you – review what’s on your plate, pick up the most important thing, and only concentrate on that thing.
There you have it – a simple, yet powerful secret to do your work most “effectively”.
All knowledge workers should work remotely now.
Forever, not just for this pandemic.
If you use computer to do your work, you should work remotely (preferably home or a closest coworking space).
You should let industrial workers, medical professionals, local businesses, or anyone who absolutely needs to be in physical space, give a priority.
It isn’t about a preference or convenience.
It is about being responsible and doing the right thing.
It isn’t just about social distancing and being cautious and prepared for another pandemic.
It’s about getting back the 5-10% time of our life we waste in commuting.
Less people on the road means:
Less or no commute time for everyone.
Less stress, neck and back pain, headaches, and accidents.
Less pollution and fuel consumption.
And more importantly – more time for family, exercise, cooking, and hobbies.
There are a lot of folks who are experiencing video meetings a.k.a. Zoom fatigue with the new normal of working remotely.
What if you get asked – “How do you feel?” before and after each meeting? 🤔
It needs to be a very lightweight approach to capture each participant’s “state of mind”.
Before the meeting, you can select one of the options:
• Great: Well-prepared, well-rested, excited, or calm.
• Meh: Not prepared, overwhelmed, tired, or distracted.
• Worse: Sad, angry, depressed, sick, or injured.
And after the meeting, you can select one of the options:
• Great: Inspired, hopeful, confident, or decisive.
• Meh: Confused, hopeless, doubtful, overwhelmed, or distracted.
• Worse: Angry, unhappy, lost, frustrated, or sad.
In Avoma, we already capture each meeting’s “Purpose” and “Outcome” to track meeting level success.
But this is taking it to the next level and understanding each participant’s success.
It would be interesting to capture participants’ feedback over a certain period and see how it affects meetings’ outcomes and employee satisfaction.
What do you think? Would you like to track this?
How could it be helpful for you as an individual and your team?
What separates a great salesperson from a good one?
It’s the same thing for a marketer, copywriter, engineer, lawyer, surgeon, and many others.
They know more.
There are only 3 ways they can know more:
1. They have more experience
2. They seek more knowledge
3. They continuously apply their knowledge
1. The hack to gain more experience at less age is to be more curious and take risks to work at small-scale companies.
The first job I got in 2002 after college was with one of India’s largest IT providers – Infosys.
I left it in 8 months, took a 40% pay cut, and went to work for a 100 person company.
2. The hack to seek more knowledge is to have a growth mindset and devour as many books and training as possible on the subject matter.
I’m an engineer by education, but people get surprised by how much I know about UX Design principles, Sales methodologies, or Copywriting.
All credit goes to reading a lot of books and taking online courses.
3. The hack to apply more knowledge is to try more in your day job but also do side hustles.
The only way I became an SW engineer from an HW engineer, or a product manager from an engineer, or a salesperson from a PM is – my side hustles.
So invest in yourself and know more than others.
Right now, most of us are trying our best to achieve our adjusted goals, but we’re still finding something is standing in our way.
And I hope it’s not one of these:
Let’s make sure we see and understand what’s occurring around us with the right mindset.
Let’s:
Let’s make sure we don’t keep doing the same thing, or blame society or economic conditions and, in the worst case, not do anything.
Let’s:
Let’s make sure our internal willpower is strong enough, so it’s not affected by the external world.
Let’s:
We’re in this together, and we’ll come out of this stronger.
Attention to detail is probably the most underrated attribute because of which many organizations are inefficient.
Every spelling or grammatical mistake, UI inconsistency, confusing copy, branding mismatch, etc., are typically considered as nitpicking and not necessary.
But these details matter.
And it starts with leaders.
If leaders don’t care, why should employees?
Attention to detail is about getting the small things right.
Attention to detail is about building a consistent habit.
Attention to detail is about building a culture of caring.
Attention to detail is about being passionate about your craft.
Attention to detail is about walking that extra mile but leaping miles ahead (in your career).
Quarantine has helped us to realize that there are two kinds of marketers: genuine ones and clever ones.
There is a thin line between those two.
Genuine marketers make it easier to find things that we need.
Clever marketers make us believe that we want certain things that we didn’t need in the first place.
Now you may realize –
You don’t need a fancy office space for white-collar jobs. A corner in your home works just fine.
You don’t need fancy equipment and a gym to do exercise. Bodyweight-based exercises work just fine.
You don’t need restaurants for everyday lunch and dinner. A home-cooked meal work just fine.
You don’t need 300% hyper-growth for your business. 100% growth would work just fine to sustain it.
You don’t need show-off living. A happy and healthy living works just fine.
