Written: January 23, 2019 | Released: September 16, 2021
There is a simple formula for thinking about how to be more productive that most people aren’t familiar with. It breaks down productivity into the product of three factors, namely:
PRODUCTIVITY = TIME x EFFICIENCY x OBJECTIVE
More explicitly:
PRODUCTIVITY
(i.e., the total value – according to your own values – of your work each week on a goal of yours)
= TIME
(i.e., the total hours you work on the goal each week)
x EFFICIENCY
(i.e., the average fraction of the goal you complete *each hour* of time you spend on it)
x OBJECTIVE
(i.e., the total value – according to your values – that would be achieved from *fully* completing the goal)
To make a metaphor for this equation: imagine you’re trying to drive across the country. TIME would be how long you spend driving each day, EFFICIENCY would be the number of miles you make it on average towards your destination each hour (i.e., related to your speed but also to what route you take), and OBJECTIVE would be how valuable it actually is to you to make it all the way to the other side.
This equation assumes that you do eventually achieve your goal (since for some goals, such as getting into a PhD program, not fully completing the goal may produce zero value to you). It also only measures the value in an “average” sense.
To see that this equation really works, consider how the units cancel each other out:
TIME x EFFICIENCY x OBJECTIVE
= (hours) x (fraction_complete/hour) x (value_for_completing_all)
= fraction_complete x value_for_completing_all
= value_for_fraction_you_completed = PRODUCTIVITY
When it comes to PRODUCTIVITY, people are often concerned with spending more time on their goal, but as the equation above makes clear, there are two other unrelated ways to increase productivity. Increasing any of the three factors by the same amount (say, 10%) is equally valuable when it comes to productivity since the equation is fully symmetrical in the three factors. I’ll take a moment now to examine each of the three factors and some of the tricks for increasing them.
(1) TIME in our lives is fixed, so making more time is usually about some form of prioritization, that is, taking time away from something else (e.g., social media, chores, sleep, hobbies, friends) to make more time to work on a goal. Though in some cases, it is about leveraging some resource (e.g., money or people you can delegate to) towards making more time.
TIME-related productivity tips include:
-don’t do tasks that are neither important nor urgent (just ignore these time-wasting tasks)
-make a list of all your goals and then permanently cut out all of them except the one or two or three most important ones, and focus for years on just those
-delegate and outsource as much as you can (e.g., if you manage people, delegate to them, or if you can afford it, considering hiring a part-time assistant)
-if you can afford it, buy time-saving devices (e.g., a laundry machine/dishwasher/cleaning robot like Roomba) and services (e.g., a cleaning service)
-know the value of your time so that you know how much money to spend on time-saving stuff (you can calculate it using our tool here: https://bit.ly/2Fwiy8r)
-get comfortable saying “no” more (in a way that doesn’t offend) when people ask you to do things
-avoid addictive things and time-wasting activities (where afterward you don’t feel good about that use of time) and consider using plugins to block websites you spend too much time on
-automate tasks you do regularly (e.g., by making excel templates, or by using Zapier or IFTTT to connect services together, or using our system GuidedTrack.com to create repeatable processes/reusable tools)
(2) EFFICIENCY is about working effectively during each hour spent.
EFFICIENCY tips include:
-figure out what times of day you are most effective, and do your most important and challenging work at those times
-use caffeine to help regulate which hours are most productive (i.e., to make the most important hours work best for you)
-avoid getting too little sleep and avoid low sleep quality if you can (e.g., don’t drink caffeine at night)
-do restorative activities when you need a mental break from work if you can, such as quick exercise, yoga, taking a walk, or meditation
-turn off all non-essential phone and computer notifications so that you don’t get pulled out of the work you are doing
-avoid multi-tasking since it tends to lead to both slower and lower quality work
-leave long blocks of uninterrupted work time if you can (e.g., at least two-hour-long blocks with no meetings or distractions) so that you can achieve deep focus
-use the Pomodoro technique if it makes you more efficient (e.g., https://bit.ly/1gCYr3U)
-learn to use your tools faster (e.g., learn the key commands on your computer so that you can use the mouse less, and learn the shortcuts for the email program you use)
-if you can, make sure to have high-quality equipment for your work (e.g., if you spend 10 hours a day on your computer/using the internet, make sure your computer and internet run fast)
-get feedback from other efficient people about the process they do to do similar work, and see what ideas they have for streamlining your process
-break down the difficult tasks you do into sub-skills, and practice those sub-skills until you get good at them. For instance, if you are a slow typer, specifically practice your typing if it influences the speed at which you do all your other work.
-plan your route to achieving your objective carefully. Don’t just jump into working on the goal immediately; try to figure out the most efficient path to get you there. Compare multiple possible plans for achieving your goal to figure out the most efficient one.
-get others to critique your plan of how you’re trying to achieve your goal to see if they have ideas for a better path you may not have thought of.
(3) OBJECTIVE is about making sure the goal you are working towards is one that, if achieved, will produce a ton of value (according to what you consider valuable).
OBJECTIVE-related tips include:
-spend time reflecting on what you think is truly valuable, since the better you understand what is valuable, the easier it is to seek value in your goals
-don’t just pick a goal right away; compare multiple potential goals and evaluate how valuable they are before deciding between them
-explain your values to other people whose opinions you trust, and explain which goals you are considering, to see if they have thoughts about which goals to pick
-make sure you are aware of what the actual results of achieving a goal will be. For instance, if your goal is to become a doctor, investigate thoroughly in advance what it is like to be a doctor (ideally by talking both to current doctors and to people that decided to leave medicine).
-make sure that the goals you choose are based on what you believe is valuable and that you aren’t accidentally basing them on what others think is valuable instead (e.g., due to social pressures you experience)
It is in this OBJECTIVE variable that you tend to see the largest multiplier effects on PRODUCTIVITY since some goals are, in an expected value sense, at least 100x more valuable than others. Though typically, in those cases of very large amounts of value, the uncertainty in the value is also high (so one goal might be 100x better in expected value but still have a substantial chance of producing no value).
Oddly, some goals we may choose may have negative expected values (even according to our own value systems). Consider, for instance, someone who works for years towards a goal because they think it will make their parents happy (and it makes them miserable to work towards it). But it turns out they are wrong, and their parents are actually indifferent to them achieving the goal! In that case, due to a false belief about the world relating to their parents, the OBJECTIVE factor in the equation ends up being negative, making the whole productivity equation negative (hence the more TIME that is spent, the *less* value is produced, reversing the usual relationship!)
So, keeping all this in mind, what should you do if you want to be more productive? Well, remember that productivity is about three factors – TIME, EFFICIENCY, and OBJECTIVE.
It’s not just about how many hours you work towards a goal, but also about how efficient each hour of that work is and about how valuable the goal is to achieve in the first place. Each factor has unique techniques and tricks that can help you increase your total productivity.
Great article. Thanx