Beset by unproductive days, Lewis Byford, co-founder, Antony George, tried numerous solutions until he found the ones that worked for him. Here, in the fourth and last instalment of a four-part article, he shares his experience and the best techniques he has found to become focussed and productive during the working day.
We have made it to the last part and the final of my techniques that have personally made a lasting impression on my life.
I want to talk about a productivity hack I call “the 4 Ds”: Do it, Diarise it, Delegate it, Dump it.
Or, in other words, your To-Do list. We all have one. We all love them (or hate them). But a good way of managing your time more efficiently is ensuring you are working on the tasks that make the most impact.
People spend too much time procrastinating about a task. Some like to focus on the easy stuff and leave the hard things till later, which sometimes leads to the harder tasks never getting done.
The following is a particular technique I have found works exceptionally well for me, and I think it could work well for you too.
Get an A4 piece of paper and split it up into 4 equal sections.
Section 1 top left, Do it, these are the most urgent tasks and are likely going to be time-sensitive.
Next to “Do it” you write “Diarise it”, these tasks are important to you, but they are not urgent, but they need to be done.
Under “Do it” you write “Delegate it”, these are tasks that likely urgent to someone else, but you don’t enjoy them. When you don’t enjoy a task, it has been shown that it is not done to the highest standard. This is a task you need to delegate to someone else, either a person who might enjoy it more or a computer system.
The last box in the bottom right is Dump it; these are tasks that are not urgent, nor important, but take up pressure time in your day, get rid of them. You need to free up your time by dumping items on your to do list that are no longer that important.
I have put together a free downloadable document of this that you can use for free. I ask you to go through your to-do list and put each one of your tasks into an allocated section. Then start with the “Do it” list first, then when you have diarised your other tasks, that’s when you do them. You will be amazed by the results.
So that is it! In these four articles I have put down the techniques I have been using to manage my time and increase my productivity. I hope you gained some value from these and I can honestly say if you implement them, it will be life-changing not only for you personally but also for your personal and work life.
Don’t forget to download your To Do list tool: To Do list download.
I would love to hear how you are getting on with this so please follow me on LinkedIn to share your comments, let’s all work together. Good Luck!
Email: [email protected]. Phone number: 01268 669 313
Website: https://antonygeorge.com
Antony George recently introduced a new recruitment business model: https://antonygeorge.com/fixed-price-financial-planning-recruitment/