How did I find myself armed with personal productivity advice from people like Twitter CEO Dick Costolo to former Microsoft Windows Chief Steven Sinofsky?
It was a typical workday. I was on Twitter. It was making me upset. Their tweets suggested that my friends were far more superior human beings to me. Oh @jamiesoncox published another article on Pitchfork. Looks like @melissaaL is off for ANOTHER jog. Damn. Iâ²m so unproductive.
To curb this feeling of inadequacy, I sent 56 unsolicited tweets to people I deemed successful, and asked them their number one productivity tip. Most, understandably, ignored my request. But there were 8 responders who took pity on my plea.
Now Iâ²m overwhelmed with advice. Iâ²ve had enough talk. I’m going to put these expert tips to the test to see which will make me most productive.
Next week, each day I will try a productivity tip, then record how successful I was at getting things done. April 23, I will crown a winner, and announce the best way to be productive at work.
Here is my productivity challenge schedule along with the expert tips I received:
Moving Forward Monday
Iâ²m not in the position to delegate so instead Iâ²ll interpret marketing master Jeffrey Hayzlettâ²s advice as a type of countdown productivity technique. I will work off a list of things to-do and accomplish them one by one without referring back once Iâ²ve completed them.
Prediction: this advice could really keep the momentum going, but I worry it might produce lower quality work since I wonâ²t waste time double-checking.
Content Creation Tuesday
Since blogging is the favourite part of my job, I will focus on content creation all day to harness that passion Sinofsky is talking about. Then I will force my friend Jamieson (that infamous Pitchfork reviewer) to edit them for me. Heâ²s very excited.
Prediction: I have high hopes for this one but I wonder if passion alone can propel productivity? Will I suffer from the law of diminishing marginal utility by lunchtime?
Rested and Inspired Wednesday
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo gave the simplest, but perhaps most helpful advice: get enough sleep. I will make sure to get a full 8 hours before work on Wednesday, and then Iâ²ll start my morning following LifeOptimizerâ²s Donald Latumahinaâ²s tip by reading some wiki bios to get inspired by the lives of others.
Prediction: I donâ²t know if this will work, but if it does, it offers an easy fix for my productivity problems. Plus I love sleeping.
Anti-Social Thursday
Co-founder of Buyosphere (and more importantly, proud pug owner) Tara Hunt and self-help author Steve Pavlina both stressed the importance of cutting down on Facebook, Twitter et al.
So I guess that means no recreational social media of any kind on Thursday.
Prediction: There are always other tools to procrastinate with, but I do think this will be helpful. Sadly.
Focused Friday
Marc and Angel from Marc and Angelâ²s Hack Life and Elizabeth Harrin’s (PM4Girls) advice will round out my week. My desired outcome? Reaching 50 responders for my client happiness survey calls. There will be no multitasking. Iâ²ll be calling all day.
Prediction: I think having a focused goal is very important. This unrelenting single-minded focus will work extremely well for one day of work. If I were to adopt this advice every day, of course Iâ²d need to be able to balance more than one taskjust one at a time.
So thatâ²s my schedule. Thanks to all the experts for your great and varied adviceI canâ²t wait to test them out. Feel free to join me in this challenge, and in the comment section below, predict whose advice you think will reign supreme.
