How To Be Productive – Easy 2 Step System – Part 2 of 2

Note: this article contains 5 very short points.

This second part can make your productivity really soar.

I found an easy system that works really well for me when it comes to increasing productivity: it involves the combination of two simple parts.

If you haven’t yet, make sure you read (or at least skim) the first part; it shows how to make a great To Do list that works.

The Second (and last) Step – Setting a Quota

1) The Low Quota

Now that you know how to make a To Do list that will help increase your productivity (as opposed to taking away from it), the second easy step is to simply set yourself a quota.

Start off with a quota of 1.

What this means is that each day you need to cross off at least 1 item off of that ToDo list. That’s it, just 1.

So if you wrote “make a To Do list,” and then made one, you’ve just completed your daily quota. Congratulations!

If every day 1 item is crossed off that To Do list, every day you will be 1 step closer to your goal.

Now, I bet that you will not be able to keep a quota of 1 for very long; I bet that after the first day you’ll be doing at least 2.

2) Increase the Quota Slowly

Increase the quota every time you feel the need to. If you find that a quota of 1 is way too easy, and that you should be doing more, then up it; move it to 2 or 3.

I personally keep a quota of about 6. And since each task on my To Do list takes at most an hour, I can budget my time; I know my day will involve a maximum of 4-6 hours.

Normally, I’ll spend an hour late in the morning working, crossing off 1 or 2 items, take a long extended lunch break, then work a couple hours here and there throughout the afternoon…and I’m done.

You don’t need to fill your quota all at once; space it out over the day. Take breaks, relax, do what you want, work when you feel like it.

4) How to Fast-Forward

Sometimes, I’ll take a look at my To Do list and I see that it’ll take me about 2-3 weeks of work to get it all done.

And if I don’t want to up my daily quota (or can’t), I’ll hire someone for a temp or contract job.

I personally love to design and build websites, but I always don’t have time to actually code and build them.

I always think up great ideas for websites, and I know that I’d never be able to program and build all of them; it’s just not feasible. So I’d hire someone to build them for me.

Because I’d have to pay someone, it limits my ideas to ones that I’m confident would create a return in my investment. This also helps my productivity because I definitely don’t want to waste my time and money.

5) Summary

1. Make a proper To Do list where each job takes less than an hour.
2. Set a small quota of the amount of items to complete in a day.
3. Take your time and space out your work.
4. Increase that quota whenever you see it is necessary.
5. If you need to fast-forward the completion of your list, don’t be afraid to invest a bit of money in hiring a contract worker.

Good luck out there,
Corrado

PS: This blog post just filled up my daily quota.