These are five new alterations (“hacks“) that I am integrating into my ultra-productivity system.
Ultra-productivity system: new hacks
Here we go:
A. 12-minute meeting system
From today I have started working with 12-minute meetings, for agility, comfort, focus and expansive work. Because the main idea of having less long-lasting meetings is to reduce and hopefully reach sessions of 5 minutes before the end of 2018. I dream of it and a secret, an even greater dream, to eliminate the meetings in my life.
Action: could you cut back in 5 or 10 minutes the meetings that you carry out daily?
B. Telephone off
I’ve been testing this for several days, and it’s quite useful. I unplug the phone while doing what I consider to be my essential job. That avoids unnecessary distractions when I must produce the kind of work that I should do best. Aim for greater excellence and efficiency in the key points that generate a better return. Without a telephone and other distractions already eliminated and left behind, it is more comfortable, within the complex.
Action: very simple, disconnect your phone when you know that you will perform the most definitive work of the day.
C. Mail off
This is obvious, perhaps, but I hadn’t tried it until a few days ago. Disconnect the email at the moment I identify my efficiency window and make it fit with my important work. A month ago I disconnected all kinds of sounds, indicators or messages that could take my attention to my inbox. Mainly, because I’m already very attached to my inbox, so imagine with small reminders. I work without email on the PC, and, if I have the phone disconnected, I don’t have to worry about it either.
Action: disconnect your email when you work on your outstanding work, don’t fall into temptation. If you want to go a little further, check it four times a day, morning, noon, afternoon and evening.
D. Disconnecting iMessage (or WhatsApp)
Until a few weeks ago it was one of the few ways to contact me. If you are within my circle of friends, professional contacts, and family. I have not used WhatsApp since April 2014. I answer and check social networks once a week. And I don’t have notifications on my pc, nor on my smartphone, nor on my tablet. So, I disconnected iMessage (the warnings, the sound was already disconnected almost a year ago). And above all, I unplugged it from the PC, so that I can only see it on my smartphone when it’s free time. In this way, I achieve a better concentration not only at work but in the present moment.
Action: Disconnect your instant messaging systems. At least all notifications of any kind.
E. Intermittent fasting: 1 day a week
That is also part of my ultra-productivity system, of course. It is not only related to work, but to lifestyle. To work less, to produce more and to live better, that is the end goal. Months before I started the experiment I spent 20 days fasting, my high-performance teacher Ricardo Soares, recommended intermittent fasting one day a week with alkaline water only. It was about September, then I started one day a week with fasting, at the end of the experiment I continued. The results are magnificent. Especially for the Ketosis, vitality, focus, and consciousness that are bringing back this weekly super-habit.
Action: if you think it’s for you, maybe you could try intermittent fasting and see how you evolve.
Moving up to a new a level
I’m testing almost daily (I’m not lying to you) with practices, habits, techniques, strategies and even experiments that modify my way of life. This impacts what I do, say, think, live and produce. That is the core of my ultra-productivity system.
Photo credit: Bridges for Music.