You know the principle that says 20% of your effort accounts for 80% of your outcome. Yes! The Pareto Principle. In other words, 20% of the things you involve yourself in a day contribute to 80% of your achievement for that day. Productivity merely is playing around with these numbers, to do less in the most efficient way to achieve a higher and better result. How then can you maximize your time and energy to improve your productivity?
Adeolu Akande is someone I know who has lived a highly productive lifestyle since I have known him.
Adeolu, aka Prof Dii, was phenomenal at that despite being involved in many activities, he was on top of everything he chose to involve himself in. He was the best-graduating student in his whole faculty, a profound SiFE contributing member, consultant to a state government on a United Nations project even as a student, bagged his Master's and PhD (in reputable institutions in Europe) in his 20s, became the first expat in my circle of friends. With all of these, he still maintained a healthy social lifestyle.
One thing I’d attribute to the success of Deolu’s productive lifestyle would be the fact that he was disciplined when it comes to scheduling; he had a strict routine and time set for everything. He planned the next week’s activities at the end of the week. He had a timetable for his meals, the movies, or the documentaries he sees. I remember he would say he only had 45mins to see a movie or an episode of season movies”, that’s a lot of self-discipline.
“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” — Bruce Lee
I didn’t understand this then until I had to stick to a routine myself. Having a routine may seem like a boring lifestyle, doing the same thing and not having the flexibility or freedom to do anything you want; however, it is a great productivity tool.
We waste a lot of time and energy in making decisions that are not that important every day. When to take a bath or brush, what to wear, movie to watch, a common one is making the decision on what to eat for lunch, and while those aren’t bad, The time and energy invested in this process can be transferred to doing something more productive.
“It’s not always that we need to do more but rather that we need to focus on less.” — Nathan W. Morris,
Since I started scheduling and sticking to my routine, I had more time and energy to make decisions on the crucial aspect of my life and day. The first and last 4 hours of my day are already scheduled; I don’t have to think and plan before doing anything, I just go into that automation mode.
Putting it all together
So, if you want to make the most of your day count, identify the repetitive decisions you make daily, put them on routine, focus more on decisions that require more logical reasoning, and watch your productivity rise.
