Mike Vardy's Blog, page 80

Why Consistency Powers Productivity

This piece was originally published in The Productivityist Weekly. Not signed up for the newsletter yet? Click here and you’ll get it delivered to your inbox every week and receive a copy of The Way of The Productivityist Manifesto absolutely FREE!

I’m writing this right now from my FitDesk. I’ve recently started spending 25 minutes a day biking and this allows me to write while working out. I know I need to get in better shape, and this is one way to do that. I’m writing this is on Day 3 of the streak, and I’m planning on making it a long streak.

I’ve attached biking to my evening routine because this routine is already built in with other established habits. It’s the first thing I do after my son goes to bed and if I keep this schedule then I’ll be wrapped up before my daughter goes to bed (which is important since the FitDesk is situated in a room adjacent to her bedroom).

Now I won’t always write from this bike. I won’t always check email from it either. Sometimes I’ll watch something on TV instead or listen to a book or podcast – maybe even an audio “blink” from Blinkist because the timing of one of those matches up so well with my time on the bike. But what I will always do is cardio for 25 minutes a day. I won’t always be able to do it in the same way (like when I’m traveling), but there will always be other ways to keep the streak alive.

And I will keep this streak alive because I’ve made it manageable and fit it in with the other aspects of my life without disrupting it too much.

One bad habit I’ve picked up is drinking soda. I’ve been a soda drinker for as long as I can remember. While away at the World Domination Summit I drank a rare Cherry Coke at the border crossing. Then I swore off soda as a regular drink before promptly forgetting and having a Coke later that night after a meetup I co-hosted. I was mad at myself the next day when I realized I did that and swore off soda once again. Since then, I’ve only had four soft drinks. That’s one per week. I’ve given myself permission to have soft drinks on the rare occasion, but they no longer have a place in my home (at least for me). Another streak is alive and well after an early misstep.

Streaks are crafted through consistent execution. But they can only be created and valued when the awareness required to be executed is strong. Streaks are made up through habits, and Charles Duhigg has written about this at length here. Using the idea of cue-routine-reward is wise when you want to establish a streak because you need to really think about ways to improve your odds of keeping it alive.

So how did I do that with the FitDesk streak? I did the following:

1. I moved the FitDesk downstairs. It simply fits in better there in terms of layout and I pass it every single day when I go to my office. Plus it’s close to my office so I can grab reading material (or this MacBook Pro I’m writing on) easily.

2. I recognized that exercising in the evening works better for me. There’s a reason I created The Night Owl Action Plan I’m a night owl and I know others out there are too. So I’m better off exercising later in the day than first thing in the morning. Right now I’m exercising later in the day but perhaps once the streak is well-established I’ll move it to before dinnertime. But I can’t see myself working out in the morning. It’s just not…me.

3. I came up with things I could do while on the FitDesk. These activities better leverage the device and not steal from other aspects of my life. Writing this newsletter is one thing I can do. Reading is another. Watching TED talks on the TV is yet another. There are many things I can do on the FitDesk that will allow me to do something I rarely do otherwise: multitask.

Now what about the anti-soda streak?

1. I asked my wife if we could stop buying soda. That was a very easy sell.

2. The SodaStream is downstairs and the syrups for it are upstairs. The bottles are in the downstairs fridge so when I want some carbonated water, I can make that happen without much friction. But if I start to want a sugary soda, I then realize that the syrups are upstairs which then forces me to recognize why they are upstairs. That has really worked for me – using that distance as a deterrent to make a sugary soda. Instead, I have pure juice downstairs I can add to the bottle if I want – and only a tablespoon at that.

3. I created two permissions when soda is acceptable. I can drink soda at the movies and at fast food establishments. Since I rarely go to either, this makes the permissions very infrequent. Even at home I’m now drinking carbonated water (or plain old water) while watching Netflix or whatever.

So far these streaks are going strong, but they are only in their infancy. Other streaks have lasted much longer, such as my daily theming and morning and evening routines.

The key to consistency is to make it achievable and setting up frameworks and boundaries are going to give you a great start on that. In the weeks ahead I’ll be offering up some resources to help you implement frameworks that can really help you keep your streaks – no matter what they are – alive and well.

The post Why Consistency Powers Productivity appeared first on Productivityist.

                

The Productivityist Podcast 64: Passionate About Productivity with Amber De La Garza

On this episode I chat with fellow productivity specialist Amber De La Garza. We talk about the reason you want to be productive, how multiple screens can help (or hinder) your productivity, messy desks, and why the apps out there aren’t enough to make you more productive.

Relevant Links

Amber De La Garza, The Productivity Specialist
#ProductivityPowerHourParty Tips From The Best On Personal Productivity! | Blab
Why You DON’T Want to Improve Your Productivity | Amber De La Garza
Productivity: There’s No App For That! | Amber De La Garza
Can You Boost Your Productivity With Multiple Screens? | Amber De La Garza

Are you looking to grow your business is less time? Then join Amber for a webinar set up exclusively for listeners of The Productivityist Podcast on Friday November 13th (not November 6th as stated in the episode). Just click here and you’ll be all set!

Enjoy the podcast and want to help make it even better? Then become a patron The Productivityist Podcast through our Patreon campaign! Check out The Productivityist Podcast’s Patreon page and take a look at all of the perks – including regular Productivity Pack deliveries sent every January, May, and September – available only to Patreon supporters!

The post The Productivityist Podcast 64: Passionate About Productivity with Amber De La Garza appeared first on Productivityist.

                

Too Much Of A Good Thing

A while ago, I went to the dentist for a cleaning. I got the same report as I did the previous time and the time before that. Your teeth look good. You need to floss more. Thanks for coming.

Before I was called back, I waited in the lobby with a book. I picked up this idea from Stephen King who once said “the trick is to teach yourself to read in small sips and long swallows.” The waiting room was perfect for reading, but only to a point. While I waited for the dentist to read my x-rays, I could have read a couple more paragraphs, but I didn’t. I don’t try for perfect productivity.

I find five minutes before school lets out is great time to reply to an email or to scroll through Twitter. A commercial break works really well too. But I don’t need to take a call while in the bathroom.

Good productivity is like a nearly empty toothpaste tube. In the same way there will always be toothpaste left in the tube, there are always ways to squeeze more productivity out of your life. Don’t worry about them. It’s not worth your time to get all the toothpaste.

Economists call this diminishing returns, and it works for productivity too. Your first productivity system is a huge help. If you create another productivity system that can be helpful too, but not as much as the first. Eventually, the time it takes to create another productivity system takes more time than it saves. 

If you find yourself doing productive rather than being productive, you’ve reached the end of the toothpaste tube. Here are few tips to help you stay on track: 

Make productivity a daily habit. We all brush our teeth as part of a habit, and we can have our productivity work the same way. Mike Vardy does it by planning out his night before. I take notes on index cards. Whatever your thing is, make your thing a habit.

Have better productivity with good tools. I have a spin toothbrush that works better – or so my dentist says. I also buy flossing picks because I like them more. Good tools are ones that help you get more done, not ones that necessarily do more. Jim Woods has a computer that isn’t connected to the internet to avoid distraction and to get more words on the page. Your tools should reflect your goals.

Schedule a check-up. Most of the time I don’t think about my teeth. Only if something hurts or my check-up is next week, do I remember I have them. The same can be true for our productivity systems. Create a habit and use good tools, and then schedule a check-up in the future to see how those things have done.

You’ll never squeeze all of the toothpaste out of the tube. Your productivity system will never be perfect, and that’s fine.

Instead, create something that works good enough so that it lets you do the work you wanted.

 

What good enough system do you use? When do you leave toothpaste in the tube?  Let me know in the comments or on Twitter, @mikedariano.  

The post Too Much Of A Good Thing appeared first on Productivityist.

                

The Trick to Getting Projects Back on Track

I’m a fan of fables, and Hansel and Gretel is one of my favourites. I like the resilience and resourcefulness the children employ to keep themselves going. They didn’t give up and are rewarded for their efforts.

I believe if you are resilient, even in the face of circumstances that aren’t in your favour, you will find yourself on the right path again.

When I was directionless in what I wanted to do for work, I turned to building frameworks that would help guide me. But I’ll be honest – those frameworks were flimsy. They were a lot like the bread crumbs that Hansel and Gretel used to mark their trail into the forest – good in theory, but not in application. My flimsy frameworks were easily dismantled because I had built something unsustainable. When Hansel and Gretel left pebbles behind to guide them, they were more effective because birds ate the bread crumbs, but wouldn’t touch the pebbles.

So I decided to start to using pebbles myself.

The pebbles have helped, but along the way I’ve found that they aren’t really useful unless you use them to retrace – or review – your steps. Getting lost is inevitable.  And getting lost doesn’t have to mean that you’re not going forward. Getting lost can also mean that you’re going forward in the wrong direction. And once you realize you’ve been doing that, you’re incredibly grateful for the pebbles.

 Recently, I felt a bit lost. I felt as if I had more going on than I could handle. I felt that things were pulling me in a direction that I didn’t want to go. So I retraced my steps and started to review. And that is when the path became clearer.

If you’re feeling lost, here are some steps you can take to find your way again:

1. Look at all of your projects

I took a look at all of my projects – active and planned – and wrote each of them down on a large Evernote Post-It note. I’ve also used paper before when I’ve been stuck, but this was different. These were full-blown projects that I wanted to give the proper amount of focus, energy, and time.

After writing all of my projects down, I stuck them to the wall of my workspace, creating what could best be described as “brainstorm tiling.” My entire wall was covered with these large lime-coloured sticky notes, and that visual alone forced me to see things as they actually were: I had a lot going on.

 2. Evaluate each of your projects

Once I placed all of my projects on the wall, I evaluated each one as objectively as possible. My wife sat in the room with me and I talked through each of the projects, almost pitching them to her as I went. Talking out loud about them was incredibly helpful, as it allowed me to view the scope of each project in a way I really hadn’t done since initially putting them through The IDEA Criteria test. I also received some additional perspective from my wife (who has taken on an operational role at Productivityist) that I hadn’t had before. This was beneficial because it forced me to explain things more clearly. If I had trouble doing that for a project, then I knew that the project needed to be defined more. And that meant it needed to incubate longer.

But the last part of the process was key to really moving things forward for me and my work.

3. Assign dates to each of your projects

I’m not a fan of deadlines, per se. But in order to theme my months appropriately, I needed to attach some delivery dates to the projects that weren’t tossed aside. I wrote down two dates on each Post-It Note:

1. Project development month

2. Project delivery month

Since I had already started to shape my year on the NeuYear calendar earlier in the month, I could now fill in the remaining months with project development themes as I saw fit. I decided that I’d have a buffer between project development months and project delivery months. The buffer wouldn’t be overly large so that I could stave off project scope creep (which is another way of getting lost), but would be there so that I could shift gears from creation mode to marketing mode more effectively.

When the project review process was complete, I had all of my available months themed and delivery dates indicated on my calendar. My projects were more clearly defined and, as a result, so were the months ahead.

We all lose our way from time to time. The key is to have the awareness to know when you are lost so that you know that you need to find your way back to the path you want to take. That knowledge comes from the framework and the workflow you create and foster.

Think ahead now, look back often, and leave a trail that leads the way. That’s how you stay on the right path.

The post The Trick to Getting Projects Back on Track appeared first on Productivityist.

               
CommentsI think the hardest part for me is evaluating my projects. It's ... by Karl Staib  

The Productivityist Podcast Episode 63: Project Management and You with Cesar Abeid

This week’s episode features a discussion with fellow Canadian and project management professional Cesar Abeid. Cesar is the author of the new book Project Management and You, and we talk about why he wrote the book, the struggles he discovered that people have with project management during his research for the book, and how to apply project management beyond the workplace and into your home life.

Relevant Links

Project Management for You Amazon Launch Promotion | Cesar Abeid
Is a Projects List Necessary? | David Allen
Cesar Abeid on what projects really are, and how to manage them | Beyond the To Do List
Project Management for the Masses
My Jets Game Is Your Netflix | Gary Vaynerchuk
Cesar Abeid (@cesarabeid) | Twitter
Cesar Abeid, PMP (@PM4TM) | Twitter

Enjoy the podcast and want to help make it even better? Then support The Productivityist Podcast by becoming a patron! Click here to visit The Productivityist Podcast’s Patreon page and choose from a wide variety of perks – including monthly 20 minute coaching sessions with yours truly available only to Patreon supporters!

The post The Productivityist Podcast Episode 63: Project Management and You with Cesar Abeid appeared first on Productivityist.

                

The Importance Of Scheduling

Paul Minors is a productivity blogger who loves helping people improve their productivity so they can get more out of life. Paul’s new product, The Personal Productivity Toolkit helps you manage your time and get more done.

If you want to be productive, you must embrace the power of scheduling your tasks. You have two main tools that help you do this: your to-do list and your calendar.

Your to-do list is the place where you define and organize what you’re going to do.

Your calendar is used to identify when you’re going to do those things and how much time is needed to complete them.

When you schedule appointments in your calendar, you’re saying to yourself: “I’m going to do A, B and C by X date and it’s going to take Y hours.” 

Once you make this promise, it becomes harder to procrastinate.

You will find you are less impulsive as you’ve planned out your time.

As a consequence, you will get more work done.

When you place all tasks you want to do on your calendar, it is harder to forget to do things. This is why I plan out my weekends. Even though weekends are treated as time off, I schedule time for chores and different errands to remind myself to do various jobs.

By having your schedule at the top of your mind, your calendar acts as a filter against distractions. If someone comes up to you while you’re working, you can ask them to come back later when you’ve finished a scheduled piece of work. When you know that you’ve a set amount of scheduled time to do something, it allows you to stay focused so you can get everything done within a specific time. If you don’t, you’re going to have to reschedule everything.

When you schedule time for tasks in your calendar, you’re literally making time for the work you want to get done. So if you have five things you want to achieve today, and you budget 60 minutes for each item, it’s fairly easy to add these appointments to your calendar. Then you can literally see how long each task is going to take and how they fit into your day.

When your calendar fills up, you can schedule work around other appointments and you can see where the gaps are and when you’ve got time to do more. So  the next time you feel the urge to say: “I don’t have time,” think again and take a look at your calendar.

When you have your day planned out well, you no longer need to ask yourself: “what should I work on next?” You can simply refer to your calendar and move straight onto the next piece of scheduled work. This reduces the switching time between tasks.

By the end of the week or month, you can look back at your calendar to see what you’ve achieved. It’s extremely rewarding to look back at everything you’ve accomplished and this brings around a greater sense of personal productivity.

Using Your Calendar

The first thing you’ll want to do is set up the individual calendar categories within your account. For example, you may have a category for work, home, sports, family and so on. The categories you create will depend on the major areas of your life. Don’t go overboard with the number of categories as this will make it more time consuming when deciding what category an appointment fits into. Just make sure they’re mutually exclusive and that there’s no overlap between categories.

When you use your calendar, the more you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it. Some people only use their calendar for scheduling time sensitive appointments like meetings and phone calls. Feel free to try both methods, but I recommend you put everything you’re doing into your calendar. This includes workout sessions, social events, time for housework, time for mediating, side-projects, time for your job and so on. This way you can see very clearly where your time is being spent.

Recurring tasks are a really handy way of pre-planning the bulk of your week in advance. On specific days I go to the gym and visit family, so these events are set to repeat each week. This will save you loads of time when it comes to planning your week.

When you have all of your personal appointments added to your calendar, you can go through your task list and start scheduling time for everything in today and this week. Each task should correspond to a block of time on your calendar so that you know when you’re going to address each task and how long it’s going to take.

Set up an appointment at the end of each day that sets aside time for you to plan the next day’s tasks. When you start work the following day you can get straight into it without wasting time working out what to do.

You can now treat any blank space on your calendar as guilt free time to do what you want in. Down time is important so after about 7pm I don’t schedule any tasks. This is time for me to spend with my wife, watch TV and read.

Your calendar is a flexible tool and don’t worry if an urgent task comes up. You should have enough room in your day to budget for these unforeseeable tasks and move things around as needed. Make the time work for you, not the other way around. You can always postpone tasks until tomorrow and you’ll actually find that you constantly reschedule your week as it progresses.

Remember to schedule breaks throughout your day and make time for them in your calendar. Don’t worry, the world won’t come to an end if you go for a 10 minute walk. Just make sure you schedule time for it so that when you’re planning your day you can account for this time.

This is just a taste of what’s included in Paul’s new book,  The Personal Productivity Toolkit . It has just launched and is available at a discounted price until October 29th at 12 pm PDT. Check it out today and start taking control of your time.

The post The Importance Of Scheduling appeared first on Productivityist.

                

The Art of Efficient Thinking (How to Reduce Cognitive Load)

Sean Nisil is an entrepreneur and advisor based in California. He is committed to helping people achieve and maintain their ideal lives through his coaching and writing. You can follow him on Twitter @SeanNisil. To receive his most popular articles, join his free newsletter here. 

Does your mind feel like it is a tornado of noise, tasks, deadlines, people and projects vying for your attention?

“Don’t forget to use the new cover sheet on the reports at work.”

“Bring home milk on the way home.”

“John’s birthday is coming up soon in a couple weeks.”

If you feel like this, know you’re not alone.

David Allen says, “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”

And he’s right. Let’s dig into this deeper…

Why Cognitive Load Matters

We all have long-term memory and working memory. Our working memory is what we use for learning, decision making, reasoning, and comprehension. But when your working memory is filled with noise, it is not as efficient.

The amount of mental effort being used in the working memory is referred to as cognitive load. This theory is based on John Sweller’s work in cognitive psychology and problem solving. The less you have floating in your mind, the more working memory is freed up to think clearly and solve problems.

Download Your Mind

In order to better leverage your working memory, you need to reduce your cognitive load as much as possible. This will boost your creativity, reduce stress levels and even enhance your problem solving capabilities.

So, how can you do this? Here are three specific approaches that work well for me.

Talk It out

I’ve found one of the best ways to keep a clear mind is to use a dictation service. You just leave a voice recording and then an app turns the recording into text for you and emails it for you.

I use a dictation service every day for both personal and professional needs. After a client meeting, I do a dictation. If I have a business development idea I want to run by my team later in the week, I do a dictation. If I need to remind myself to pick up ice cream for a birthday party, I do a dictation. You get the point.

The typed dictation is sent to my assistant who updates my calendar and assigns me tasks as needed. If you don’t have an assistant, set some time aside at the end of each day to review your dictations and filter the information as needed.

The top two dictation services I’ve found are Copy Talk and Mobile Assistant. I’ve used both extensively, but decided to stick with Mobile Assistant because their smart phone app is fantastic.

If you are working on a lean budget, a free alternative is to use the talk to text feature on your phone and send yourself emails during the day.

Get A Storage Space For Ideas

For anything that is not time sensitive, I have an idea journal. In the past, I used a Moleskine pocket journal, but lately I’ve switched over to keeping digital notes in my iPhone. Ideas often pop up unexpectedly. Instead of holding onto all these ideas, I jot them down as quickly as possible when they come. Once I have download them into my idea journal, I move on.

Most ideas come to me in the morning, while driving, or during exercise. So pay close attention to when your ideas usually come and be sure to have that idea journal handy during those times. 

Avoid Straining Your Brain

Try to reduce the amount of decisions you have to make each day. Since you only have a finite amount of mental energy, why waste it on the mundane? 

Prepare your outfit the night before. Decide on meals ahead of time. Create systems so you know when you’re running low on mental energy (both personal and business), so you don’t have to make that extra purchase order or trip to the store.

In summary, the big idea is to reduce your mental noise and congestion. By doing so, you will be able to think with both clarity and efficiency.

Do you have any tips or tricks for how you improve your thinking? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

Also, if you enjoyed this post I’d love to keep in touch with you here. I’ve got an upcoming book called The Productivity Playbook that is coming out in 2016. The book is packed with actionable advice to help you hone your vision, maximize your time, and excel at work.

 

The post The Art of Efficient Thinking (How to Reduce Cognitive Load) appeared first on Productivityist.

                

The Productivityist Podcast Episode 62: 15 Time Secrets with Kevin Kruse

Joining me this week on the podcast is the author of 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management. We talk about why Kevin wrote this book, how to wrap up your work day responsibly, the idea of awareness and how it relates to productivity, the importance of routines, and more.

Relevant Links

Get Kevin’s “15 Time Secrets” book for FREE (only pay for shipping)
Peter Tunney | Artist, Philanthropist, Entrepreneur
High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove | Amazon
The ONE Thing by Gary Keller & Jay Papasan | Amazon
The Website of Kevin Kruse
The Awareness Building Class by Mike Vardy & Shawn Blanc

If you’d like to offer patronage to the show, go to our Patreon page and lend any dollar amount you can. All of the proceeds go into making the show even better. (Plus there are some nifty perks for you to claim at the different patronage levels!)

The post The Productivityist Podcast Episode 62: 15 Time Secrets with Kevin Kruse appeared first on Productivityist.

                

Introducing The Awareness Building Class

Awareness and focus are two essential elements needed to “be” productive and take your life to the next level. To improve focus, you must also maintain a high level of awareness, and this often does not come naturally. Honestly, this is an area each of us can improve in.

Because of this, I’d like to present a new product I’ve created with my friend Shawn Blanc called The Awareness Building Class.

The Awareness Building Class is a 5-part series of audio lessons filled with real-life stories and actionable advice to help you stop guessing and start going. It really delivers the goods with five audio sessions, a PDF workbook featuring key takeaways and action items, and professionally edited transcriptions of all audio.

Shawn and I have always been able to connect deeply when we talk about productivity. In fact, you can listen to a conversation we had on Episode 61 of The Productivityist Podcast to get a sense of how introspective we get on this subject.

Want direct access to me and Shawn instead of just listening to us? You’re in luck because Productivityist is presenting a FREE webinar hosted by the two of us on Thursday October 22nd at 2:00 PDT. During this hour-long webinar we will discuss the 2 keys to meaningful productivity. Sign up now for this exclusive webinar.

The Awareness Building Class is designed to go hand-in-hand with Shawn’s flagship product, The Focus Course. Best of all, the five class modules align with the key themes of The Focus Course and cover the following topics:

Clarity What is clarity? How does clarity relate to your work, your personal life, your hobbies, your time, your finances, and more.
Confidence How does Confidence relates to productivity? Why it’s critical for doing your best work, how a lack of confidence is a form of Resistance, and more.
Integrity A discussion of Integrity’s vital role related to motivation and procrastination.
Self-Awareness This is about understanding our Vision, Values, Most important relationships, Priorities, Goals (the why behind them), our Capacity, and our Default behaviours.
Harmony Redefining the idea of “work/life balance” and bringing all the areas of our life together into something where the sum is greater than the individual parts.

The Awareness Building Class has been designed to go hand-in-hand with The Focus Course, so Shawn and I have made it available for FREE to everyone who signs up for The Focus Course between now and October 26. If you’ve already purchased The Focus Course then Shawn is also going to take care of you by providing access to The Awareness Building Class for free as well.

(After October 26th The Awareness Building Class will still be available, but only as a $79 standalone product.)

Furthermore, when you participate in The Awareness Building Class and spend some time going through the workbook, this will complement the work you do in The Focus Course by giving you an additional layer of context.

I’m really proud of what Shawn and I have built and I know that it will help you. Awareness and focus are two of the things you’ll need to have to stop guessing and start going. And what we’ve built will help you have both.

Click here to purchase The Focus Course and receive The Awareness Building Class for FREE until October 26th.

The post Introducing The Awareness Building Class appeared first on Productivityist.

                

The Value Of Going Off The Grid

This piece was originally published in The Productivityist Weekly. Not signed up for the newsletter yet? Click here and you’ll get it delivered to your inbox every week and receive a copy of The Way of The Productivityist Manifesto absolutely FREE!”

Let’s face it, we are being inundated with email, RSS feeds and many other types of information on a daily basis – it seems never ending. The web has opened up a floodgate of pertinent and trivial news stories that come at us from all angles. Memorandums and tasks arrive in our email inbox at breakneck speed and there is an endless stream of voice mails that begging for a response.

I’m feeling overwhelmed just writing about it.

All of this content can make a to do list end up being a “didn’t do” list. It’s not as if you’re able to write the tasks of the day off to reasons such as “had a ton of email” or “had a ton of phone calls to return.” Sure it would be nice if you could, but most offices don’t write days off due to information overload. You’ve got to cope with it all. Or do you?

I say shut it off. Shut it all off.

There’s no reason why you can’t go “off the grid” from time to time in order to boost productivity. There comes a time every day when you have to shut out the world in order to get things done. While I’m no expert at it – this article is almost a reminder for myself as well – I’d like to present a few elements on how to make it happen.

The only way you can go off the grid successfully is to prepare yourself accordingly. That means starting your day by going through your tasks and actionable items and making sure you can deal with the important and urgent ones that require being available.

Returning correspondence – even just to others know you’ll get back to them in a timely manner – is crucial. You don’t want to be caught off guard when you return from your self-imposed (and much needed) exile. When you place all of your ducks in a row, you will not only let others know that you’re working on something important, but you will free your mind. This allows you to put forth your best effort on the things you’re going to do.

Once you’re done preparing, you can go about removing yourself from everyone else’s equation. Let’s get started.

First, close your email. Seriously. Don’t open it until you’re ready to go back online. Then, turn the ringer on your phone off. If you only have a cell phone, turn it off altogether. Next, if you have a door to your office, close it. If you don’t, put headphones on. No music required.

There are other things you can do, such as actually listen to music through your headphones. I’d even suggest turning off your computer if it’s not needed. Just make sure you put yourself in the right state of mind and right environment to get done what you’ve set out to do. Then do it.

Once you’ve finished up the tasks you set out to do in “do not disturb” mode, now it’s a matter of getting back to the real world with email and all. The best way to keep your productivity levels up is to ease back in. I find that by doing this you’ll find it much easier to go offline in the future. In fact, if you do ease back into your normal routine, you’ll find that you can get more done when you’re online as a result.

Going off the grid allows me to be able to better prioritize my day when I went back to my online world. I have more focus and check my email far less often in order to maximize my time.

After all, email initially replaced the office memo so that you don’t (or shouldn’t) have to give a response instantly. Going off the grid will curtail your once insatiable need to reply to an email right away; you’ll temper your inbox-checking with more reasonable and rational uses of your time.

 I challenge you to go off the grid for one hour this week. Take that hour and get something that is really important done. Then, up the ante to two hours. Then three. Ideally, you should be at a minimum of five hours a week where you are off the grid – that’s one hour per workweek. You’ll find yourself more focused, more relaxed and more aware of your priorities if you do.

The post The Value Of Going Off The Grid appeared first on Productivityist.