Graham Allcott - Introducing Productivity: A Practical Guide

Published in the UK and USA

in 2014 by Icon Books Ltd,

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ISBN: 978-184831-649-2

Text copyright 2014 Graham Allcott

The author has asserted his moral rights.

Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders of the material reproduced in this book. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publisher will be pleased to make acknowledgement on future editions if notified.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Typeset in Avenir by Marie Doherty

Printed and bound in the UK by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

About the author

Graham Allcott is the founder of Think Productive, one of the worlds leading productivity training companies. Think Productive works with a diverse range of organizations including eBay, the Cabinet Office (UK Government), the National Trust, BT, American Express and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, running workshops that help their employees beat stress and develop playful, productive momentum in their work. He is also the author of the internationally best-selling book, How to be a Productivity Ninja.

Graham has worked on a number of charity and social enterprise projects in various roles including employee, founder, CEO and chairman. He is a currently a board member of Centrepoint, the UKs leading youth homelessness charity.

Despite an intolerance of failure elsewhere in his life, Graham is an Aston Villa FC season-ticket holder. He lives in Brighton, UK.

Authors note

Its important to note that there is much frequently-used research employed in the areas of productivity and time management.

Where I know the source, I have been sure to reference it, but my apologies here to the originators of any material if I have overlooked them.

Introduction

Welcome to Introducing Productivity, a practical guide designed to help you in your work and life. Improving your productivity can sound like a daunting, annoying and maybe even vague goal. There are holy grails that it feels like you can never reach and oh-so-perfect colleagues and friends to enviously compare yourself to. Its difficult to know where to start, particularly when youre so overloaded with things you have to do that you dont even have the time to think about productivity, let alone make changes. But of course, when youre feeling like this is coincidentally when you most need to improve your productivity!

The purpose of this guide isnt to take you painstakingly through your day working on every bit of it, but to give you quick tips that will make a difference. Thats why Ive written it as an AZ. After all, one thing we all have in common is that there are so many other things vying for our attention; so while I recommend you do read this book from start to finish the first time, its also something you can dip in and out of whenever you need a productivity boost. Some of the things you find here might be a refresher, while other things may be totally new. And while naturally a lot of the advice Im giving focuses on working life, many of the ideas are equally applicable to your home life, your hobbies, etc. you name it, it can be done more efficiently.

You may be wondering about my definition of productivity and who this book is really for. Put simply, if your work involves such a level of thinking and complexity that there is more than one way you can tackle your day, then this book is for you. And if youre stressed, deal with a lot of complexity or ever feel like you need to be more organized and in control, then this book is definitely for you.

You may also be wondering who I am to tell you about productivity. Well, I know first-hand what a struggle it can be to become really productive. Im naturally disorganized and unstructured, but a few years ago, close to burnout and realizing that working for myself meant I had no one to delegate it all to, I decided to kick my own productivity into shape. It became something of an addiction and inspired me to start my business, Think Productive, which teaches productivity skills to some of the worlds leading companies. I also wrote a best-selling book on the subject called How to be a Productivity Ninja.

I will talk some more about the way of the Productivity Ninja in the N is for Ninja chapter later, but suffice to say, if youd like to learn how to practice Zen-like Calm, become more Agile and Prepared, be more Ruthless with your focus and be Weapon-savvy with all the various tools that you have available, then thats a chapter that you cant afford to skip!

Although you may strive for perfection, I firmly believe no one is perfect at productivity its something that you need to constantly work at. Change can come from trying new things, but can also come from revisiting, refreshing or reinforcing good habits. Truly mastering something that you were previously really good at can give your productivity as much of a boost as trying something completely new. So keep an open mind and dont be afraid to dip in and out, cover the same ground twice, or skip bits to return to later. Focus on the bits of this book that either most excite you or most repel you. My experience is that a bit of exhilaration and excitement is important when focusing on changing your habits, which is ultimately what improving productivity is: good habits, skills and behaviours.

Of course, in a small book like this, its impossible to give you all the answers. But actually when it comes to productivity, its impossible for any book of any length to provide all the answers. A big part of mastering productivity is recognizing your personal preferences positive and negative and realizing that certain rules or principles that work well for you might not be the things that work for someone else, and vice versa. You see, Productivity Ninjas are human beings, not superheroes. They have foibles and failings, they screw up sometimes and they cant be perfect. Yet with a little work on fostering the right habits, skills and behaviours, they can often appear as effortless and magical as a superhero in their work!

So this book will start with the assumption that youre human and I hope it gives you a chance to reflect on the way you work. Whatever the work youre engaged in, I hope you can use this book to help you focus on the stuff that matters, get more done with less stress and develop a playful, productive momentum in your work and life.

A is for Attention

This book is an AZ of productivity. Luckily, the word attention begins with an A, so despite the potential constraints of such a format, its possible for us to begin at the very beginning.

There used to be a thing called time management. The idea was that your productivity was affected by how you spent your days: the literal management of the 9 to 5. But the term time management itself is deeply flawed, and those old time management techniques, with their rigid systems and paper diary planners, dont work anymore. We live in a technological age where rapidly changing priorities are no longer a distraction but actually part of what we have to manage.