Productivity Experiment
I generally don't make New Year Resolutions. I always make yearly goals, any month of the year. I never think one needs the month of January to decide to do something new. Last year though, the year of 2019, December , last week, reflecting on the year, I made my yearly goal. Simply for the reason that the realization came in the last week of December, it woould be taken as a new year resolution too then. For some reason, I realized that I hadn't learnt enough as an conclusion I decided that the year of 2020 would be to learn as much as possible.
The above thought is very vague, I must say. Deciding to learn a lot more. How do I measure it, how does one measure knowledge, Tests maybe ? Anyway that's for another article, probably one I would write at the end of this year, reflecting on this one.
To increase my knowledge, I realized that one of the necessities was I needed to be productive. I am from a middle class Indian family, working full time. That's 8-9 hours of work everyday. Then you have some house chores too, another 7 hours of the week at least. One sleeps for 8 hours everyday. not much time left. So how do I become more productive?
I work in a product company, specifically for their growth team. We do all kinds of experiments to find what contributes to the highest growth, which features suit the customer best and sort. This particular thought of experiment led me to think if I could experiment and figure out which productivity methods and tool work best for me. So I decided to spend considerable amount of time experimenting on this, taking different ways/tools , mixing them, and following them for 10 days each. Although this wont contribute in my "Knowledge Increase" goal of the year, one might say, but I argue that this particular productivity experiment is also increasing my knowledge in my matter.
The Experiment
The experiment was simple. Do and use different methods of productivity (found online in videos, books, articles) for about 10 days each. Use combinations, try again. Discard ones which don't work. Change some features of those which work (iterations) and try again.
(I watched a lot of youtube videos of famous human beings telling about these tools and videos, read a lot of articles too for the research before experiment)
Its been more than 6 months, its time to reflect on this experiment. For reasons in my learning, I will not mention what all methods I tried. But I can assure you, one "best productivity methods" on google search will give to plenty to start.
Here's an Important Part. The following methods were not at all employed:
- Waking up earlier than usual
- Sleeping later than usual
- Sleeping earlier than usual
- Eating healthier
- Drinking more water
- Exercising more
My usual routine (usual now due to lock-down): Wake up around 9 am, have breakfast and start working, move a little around lunch, have lunch and back to work. Shut laptop around 7:30-8 pm. Do some chores. Have dinner, watch TV series if any / study and sleep around 12. Yes, I know, not much healthy. Well that's for the next half of the year, another experiment probably :)
The purpose of the experiment strictly was "If i can be productive by incorporating small changes in my current routine". The above methods in numbered lists are proven methods to healthier lifestyle , thus making one more efficient. I know I would be more productive that way. So I wanted to find if I could be more productive even if I don't change those things, making the environment same as before. Typical A/B test.
Conclusion
How did I measure if i was more productive? I mostly used Clickup to measure how much I had learned, using their lists and marking the tasks done. But there was an intrinsic feeling that came with every experiment, every 10 days. I could compare myself. There were days, where I felt that I did better a few weeks ago, so those methods were discarded. There were methods which caused me to burn out, those were discarded too. I am nothing if not in good health. There were days, where I was satisfied from all the work and knowledge, I was happy with everything I was able to accomplish in the week.
Following are the learning from the past 8 months.
Every individual person is truly individual. What I mean is, the productivity/efficiency routine is yours, and should be tailor-made for yourself. The reason why I ain't mentioning mine. It would be of little use to others I believe. There were things, methods mentioned by well know popular humans of our time, telling how they work. But those didn't work for me at all. Some of them, iterations of them worked. I am actually a little proud of myself that I did this experiment. I would urge anyone, who wants to be more productive to do this. The experience , the learning are I think worth. One gets to know about oneself too.
Although, I ain't mentioning the complete routine, I would mention some important parts, which came as learning to me. The power of a PLAN.
Most people including me, I think, that a plan is a strategy document made to include as much work as possible so one is more effective. In one of my experiments, I don't particularly remember, if it was an article that I read or a video. But it said, the purpose of the plan is for you to work less. That made little sense to me. But when i implemented some method, it indirectly made me realize the meaning of this. If in the back of your mind, you keep that you are planning to work lesser. You would pick only important things to work in the day. Essentially Urgent Important Matrix . I always had problems in figuring out how to prioritize things, being early in my career. Once i worked on that, it became easier for me to plan properly, at least to an extend. If i decide to do 3 things in a day, I can pick the most important things, doing them will make me better and effective. I learned how I could prioritize tasks, mind you, I am still working on this. (Estimating tasks and giving them a priority level)
Most people including me, get annoyed when we have a plan but some adhoc comes and our plan is ruined. We complain, if it happens multiple times and it bothers us a lot. The experiment changed me. Earlier I used to think, if you have plan, you should follow it. But I realized the following. The purpose of the plan is to give you clarity, to remind you what is supposed to be done, to remind you of the urgent-important matrix, to reduce your anxiety. It can be loosely followed. Which means: I make a plan at night for the next day, will be doing A,B,C tasks in the same order. The next morning, I get D task. I take 5-10-15-20-30 mins (I hardly think, anyone would need more) to make a new plan. Lets say D, A,B and C on the next day. This is the plan i would follow now. If something new comes up, i will make a new plan and try to follow that. The more important thing is to have a plan at all times.
After this experiment, I can say, I have become productive considerably. To put in words, I have read about 6 books, sorry couldn't post all book summaries here, about 4 online courses, 2 side projects (which needed bit of research too) , 1 side project ongoing . Compared to before when i did side-nothing, this is a lot. This is apart from the office work, the chores and other house work, the sleep. (I was affected by COVID too.) . From this day onwards , it has become my minimum productivity in good health, it will only increase now.
This particular article may be intuitive to some people. Forgive me, it wasn't for me. I learned using the experiment. For those of you, who found this article not intutive, I am glad. In any case, if you have done such a experiment, or you have such learnings, different than mine, do reach out to me and let me know. I would love to know, maybe include them here for others to read.