Throwback Thursday: 10 Ways To Be The Buddha Of Productivity

The ubiquitous all-nighter is like an inside joke among workaholics, a contest to see who is the most productive with the least amount of sleep. Sleep is for the weak, caffeine is life. Those who stay up all night bow to no one—not the sun, not the clock, and more certainly not the REM cycle. If you don’t have time to be productive during the day, these dark knights of the workplace ask, why not put those pesky eight hours in bed to better use?

But selling your soul to an espresso machine to finish what you couldn’t during the day isn’t the same as productivity. In fact, it is the opposite. If you already manage your time well, there is no need to pull an all-nighter.

In this edition of Throwback Thursday, I’m highlighting Dannielle Blumenthal’s post “10 Ways To Be The Buddha Of Productivity” from last year. This short and sweet list reveals easy ways to change your workplace habits in order to get more done in less time. Small changes to how you organize and tackle daily tasks can help you attain workplace nirvana without sacrificing the good stuff.

Originally posted by Dannielle Blumenthal on May 6, 2013.

1. Decide you have had enough of the “overwork high.” Some of the problem is that you can’t let go of the idea that being frantically busy is good. Forget about what you see others doing.

2. Keep work for work time and weekend for weekend. When you force activity into a time box it gets done.

3. When you focus on one category at a time, one thing at a time you develop the habit of successfully completing things.

4. Adding some social aspect to every day, be it friends or family time, enhances your focus on work.

5. Use a timer app for boring stuff. I like Timer+. It makes elephant noises when the laundry is done.

6. Do certain things the same way every time. If you are constantly reinventing your processes it takes time away from output.

7. Co-create process with others so that the stability is mutually reinforced.

8. Wake up every day and delegate — yes to your partner and kids too. Then let them delegate to you. Everyone can do something and we all do some things better than others.

9. Before retiring every night get organized for the next day. Eliminate things that don’t need to get done.

10. Organize like tasks together “Batching” helps to attack a lot of mundane things at once.

**Every Thursday, GovLoop is combing through our archives to bring you stories of yore that could help you in your job today. So stay tuned for Throwback Thursday!