Shereen Shabnam

Productivity is not always about doing more. Sometimes the most effective way to achieve more is to make fewer unnecessary decisions. From identifying our peak performance hours to simplifying what we wear, small daily rituals can free up valuable time and mental energy for the things that really matter.

I was recently a guest on a podcast when I was asked a question that inevitably comes up in conversations about careers: How do you manage to do so much?

My answer was surprisingly simple. I keep things simple. It made me think about the small systems and rituals we develop over the years, often without consciously recognising how much they contribute to our productivity.

One of mine happens before the working day even begins. Around 80 per cent of my wardrobe is black. Jackets, trousers, dresses and tops largely work with one another, which means getting dressed rarely requires much thought. I can add colour or accessories when I feel like it, but essentially everything coordinates. It is one less decision to make.

There is something of the Steve Jobs philosophy in this approach. Jobs famously adopted an almost uniform-like wardrobe, becoming synonymous with his black mock turtleneck, jeans and trainers. The principle behind simplifying everyday choices has since become closely associated with highly productive people: conserve your attention for decisions that actually deserve it. You certainly don’t have to wear black every day to benefit from the philosophy. The broader lesson is about reducing friction.

Finding your peak  performance window also helps once you work out when you actually work best. We often organise our lives according to the clock rather than our energy. We all have periods during the day when concentration, creativity and decision-making seem to come more naturally.

Your most productive hour should not routinely disappear into emails, administrative tasks and meetings if that is also the hour when you are capable of your best thinking. Match the task to the energy and keep a Time Log. You do not need an elaborate app or productivity system; a notebook or spreadsheet works perfectly well.

Batching similar activities can help as well. Emails can be answered together. Telephone calls can be grouped. Administrative approvals can be handled during a dedicated window. Social media can be scheduled rather than constantly checked.

This allows longer periods of uninterrupted attention for work that actually requires thought.

Give repetitive tasks a ritual. Routines become powerful when they remove the need to repeatedly decide what happens next. A simple morning ritual might involve checking the day’s priorities, dealing with urgent communication and then moving into the most important task before allowing smaller demands to take over.

There are dozens of tiny decisions we make repeatedly that could effectively be made once. Where do important documents live? When do you exercise? When do you deal with invoices? What do you normally eat for breakfast on a working day? Which day is allocated to administrative work? Creating defaults does not make life boring. It creates space for spontaneity where it is actually valuable.

A long to-do list can create the illusion of productivity while disguising the absence of progress. Completing ten minor tasks feels satisfying. But if the one assignment that genuinely matters remains untouched, was it really an efficient day? Try identifying the two or three outcomes that would make the day worthwhile.

Automate what you can as technology should reduce repetitive work, not create more of it. Calendar reminders, templates, recurring payments, saved email responses, cloud filing systems and scheduling tools can eliminate hundreds of small actions over the course of a year. Templates are particularly useful. If you regularly send similar information, create a strong master version and adapt it rather than starting from zero every time.

The same principle works for checklists. Pilots use them for a reason. A checklist reduces the cognitive effort required to remember a sequence and lowers the chance that something important gets overlooked.

Perhaps the most counterintuitive productivity ritual is deliberately doing less. A calendar filled from morning until night leaves no capacity for an unexpected telephone call, an urgent request, a delayed meeting or simply a moment to think.

White space is productive. Some of our best ideas arrive when we are walking, driving, drinking coffee or temporarily removed from the screen. A schedule that measures productivity purely in visible activity misses the value of reflection.

Being busy and being effective are not the same thing. The older I get and the more varied my working life becomes, the more I appreciate simplicity. The objective of efficiency is to spend less time on what doesn’t matter so that you have more time, energy and attention for what does. Success doesn’t require another elaborate productivity system. Sometimes it begins with a wardrobe full of black clothes and one less decision to make in the morning.

#Leadership #Productivity #Efficiency #TimeManagement #WorkSmarter