ZEN TO GET THINGS DONE!

Manilka Ediriweera presents ways to help us focus and stop wasting time!

“Productivity is the deliberate strategic investment of your time, talent, intelligence, energy, resources and opportunities in a manner calculated to move you measurably closer to meaningful goals,” says business coach and author Dan Kennedy.

While productivity is a significant driver of economic development in the world, it’s certainly challenging to stay consistently productive.

Our productivity has peaks and troughs from time to time, and it is in our very nature as human beings to be distracted quite easily by the little things in everyday life. There are certain days when we struggle with productivity and end the day feeling like we’ve wasted it, or that we could have done more work or a better job.

If you’re sick and tired of feeling this way, here are some well-known and efficient productivity hacks – they will help improve your productivity and keep you on track whenever your productivity levels plummet.

TIME MANAGEMENT The Pomodoro Technique is named after the tomato shaped timer invented by entrepreneur, developer and author Francesco Cirillo. In fact, it’s one of the easiest productivity techniques to follow. The system motivates you to break work down into small, short and timed sections, and help reduce the complexity of tasks at hand.

It will help divide your work into 25 minute segments (called ‘pomodoros’) with five minute breaks in-between each pomodoro. You can take a more extended break after completing four 25 minute segments.

With this system, you can power through distractions and work with time instead of against it while improving one’s concentration. But the structured nature of the system, which limits interactivity and flexibility to some extent, is often hard to follow.

COMPLETING TASKS Getting Things Done (GTD) is the brainchild of David Allen. It’s a system that helps bring order to chaos by arranging tasks, priorities and schedules, in a manageable and organised manner. The end goal of this system is to ensure that the user spends less time completing tasks. There are six areas of focus in this system – viz. current actions, current projects, areas of responsibility, one to two year goals, three to five year goals and life goals.

After spreading activities into these categories, you can identify tasks that necessitate minimal time for completion and can be completed immediately. Similarly, the tasks that require a long time to complete should be broken down into smaller tasks. This system clearly outlines and organises the tasks that require action, and provides the capacity for greater performance.


At the same time, it reduces the strain on the mind since the necessary tasks will be organised efficiently. Some may find this system somewhat complex because there’s no rule book or one right way for it to work.

ZEN TO DONE This technique of Zen to Done (ZTD), which was introduced by Leo Babauta, is used to tackle problems that arise from the use of the GTD system. Babauta says: “It’s about the habits and the doing, not the system or the tools.”

For some individuals, the planning that must go into the GTD system may seem a little too much to handle. If so, the ZTD method is ideal since its priority is doing things more simply without any tension.

There are 10 habits of ZTD that promote methodical and focussed work – namely to collect ideas and tasks; process them; plan your activities by listing the most important tasks for a day or week; do one task at a time; have a trusted system to keep simple lists; organise; review; simplify your ideas and tasks; find a routine; and find your passion.

EAT THAT FROG Brian Tracy developed the Eat That Frog technique after being inspired by this famous saying by Mark Twain: “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the bigger one first.”

Tracy views a ‘frog’ as a task that’s difficult to avoid and will have a positive impact on one’s life. His suggestion is to tackle the most significant and challenging task first thing every morning since people tend to be more productive during this time. Tracy prioritises the importance of planning each day in advance as well as working from a list.

While there are many productivity techniques, systems and methods, it’s usually a challenge to find the ideal method that fits your needs best. All these techniques are well-known and popular methods. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of these systems may differ from person to person.

Ergo, it’s important to try out these techniques for at least two weeks until you find the perfect method that boosts your productivity. The key is to try these hacks, and then bring them into your life to improve productivity.