Here’s How You Can Increase Your Output

But the difference between getting to the top of our field and remaining mediocre comes down to how we use those hours.

Not surprisingly, the world’s most successful innovators and business people think very differently about how they use their time.

They have deliberate techniques to get unstuck 

Everyone has experienced being stuck on a project.

For the average person, this often leads to some form of procrastination, such as checking Facebook to see if your cat video has received another like.

But the most successful innovators have strategies they draw on to get un-stuck.

Nancy Duarte, global expert on presentations and co-founder of Silicon Valley’s largest design firm Duarte, has a go-to strategy for whenever she reaches a stuck point on a project.

“Whenever I got stuck,” explains Duarte, “I would go on a walk and I’d be, maybe, 10 minutes down the trail…and I would see it. I would solve it.

“I would actually run the entire way back to my office, so excited because then I could sit and just keep going again.”

They are constantly reflecting and re-evaluating the way they use their time 

Many of us can feel like we are at the mercy of time.

But to milk your workdays for every last drop, we need to constantly reflect on how we use our time and set goals for getting the most out of it.

Wharton Professor and best-selling author, Adam Grant, has a weekly ritual to get the most out of his time and ensure he stays focused on what matters most.

“I like to start a week by asking myself what are three things I want to accomplish, and who are three people that I want to help, or three ways I want to be helpful,” describes Grant.

“Then, I do an informal check-in on a daily basis to ask, ‘Am I making progress towards those goals?’

“I think it keeps me from getting stuck in the weeds of the one goal that’s happening to loom large at the moment, and it forces me to make sure that I’ve got my priorities in order.”

They have novel ways of managing their inbox

For many of us, email can be the bane of our working lives and certainly one of the biggest drains on our productivity.

Where the world’s most successful people differ is they have created tricks to taming their email beast.

To help make the task of email less tedious, Adam Grant came up with a new way to sort his email.

“I actually started going through my inbox and sorting by where I could have the most impact, and so it wasn’t who emailed me first, it wasn’t necessarily who I knew best, it was where could I add the most value.

“As I answered a few of those emails, I started to get a rhythm and I started to feel like I’m doing something useful here.

“Then, that would give me the energy I needed to finish the task and get my inbox cleaned.”

They finish their day halfway through a task 

It is tempting, and normal, to end our workday when we reach the end of a task.

However, this can often make starting the next day more challenging.

“How you start is really key to the rest of the day,” says Botsman.

“And a really easy trick I learned is if you’re in flow the day before, don’t finish the paragraph.

“So, get halfway through the paragraph, and then stop writing. It’s then really easy to pick up the next morning.

“Days where you’ve completed something, and you’re starting again, they’re harder because you’re kind of starting the engine from scratch.”

Dr Amantha Imber is the Founder of Inventium, Australia’s leading innovation consultancy and the host of How I Work, a podcast about the habits and rituals of the world’s most successful innovators. To connect with her, email us at editor@leaderonomics.com.

Reposted with permission.