Do you find it hard to start any task? It is because you have not made a system for it. When you have a lot of steps between thinking about starting and actually starting then it is difficult to start. Your process must be in place to kickstart quickly. Because more steps lead to overthinking about how you should do it and as we know overthinking is a productivity killer. But productivity and systems are friends.
Hi, I am Prakhar, and today we will explore how systems can help you make more productive and what are the ways to design them.
What is productivity?
As per the US bureau of labor statistics – Productivity is a measure of economic performance that compares the amount of goods and services produced (output) with the amount of inputs used to produce those goods and services.
In today’s world where we have a lot of different tasks which does not create direct goods or service, so sometimes it is hard to judge productivity in our daily life. But there are methods that can help you check how productive you are. It is the efficiency and effectiveness of the task you are doing. Today the world has shifted from perfect products to a minimum viable product.
If you pump out the work fast and that work starts helping then you are productive. You can later go into an upgradation cycle and improve your work but you have to keep pumping and keep publishing the work.
Lack of systems can cause…
If you do not have the systems you will start thinking about how your end product will look like. You will start solving everything in your head. This is because of the perfectionism trap.
If want to learn more about overthinking read more.
I am a creature of systems and habits. I have found myself many times in the trap of thinking too much before starting. Now I have trained myself to create systems. Whenever I find myself in a situation where I have to do a new thing, my go-to response is to create a system first.
How to create systems for better productivity?
As I have discussed we can be productive if we are fast and on point. No need to deliver too much, people get confused if you deliver too much. If you want to go the extra mile in terms of delivery then just go a mile not 20 miles. Be efficient and effective.
Now we have two things in our hands how to do it and in what time frame we need to finish. First set the deadline for delivery. But keep in mind before setting up the deadline you must know how much time it takes to finish. To know this either you can ask other professionals how much time it takes for them or you can do the tasks in your spare time and tweak the timeline. But what you will do when you have absolutely no idea how much time this task will take, than ask for time to plan?
When I do not have enough data about any task, I start planning by writing down the objective on paper. Then I allocate time for the research. My research includes the skills needed for the task, how many resources we need to complete the task, and whether can we do the task or if we should outsource the task. Based on the research I bifurcate the task into the tiniest possible subtasks. I allocate the time to them. All these things I do use pen paper and MS OneNote.
When you do the task, you need the skills and tools. So now it is time to prepare your tools. You should create checklists and templates for all your tasks and sub-tasks. When you allocate or outsource tasks, you have to give inputs to the other person and review the work and guide them. It also needs checklists and templates for all your tasks and subtasks. Here you are dependent on the other person, so ask them for their plan and task list along with the timeline. If they are unable to make one help them out by making the checklist and task list with the timeline.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you can create systems and checklists for anything. Surgeons and defense people use them all the time. The space industry and manufacturing industry run on checklists and systems. These systems will help you plan and execute fast. I have created a system for these blogs and now I just get up and start writing, it is as easy as that. It avoids overthinking and helps me write an article in just one hour.
If want to learn more about overthinking read more.
Are you using tools for productivity?
