What Doesnt Kill You Makes You More Productive

8/12/2019 What Doesnt Kill You Makes You More Productive

1/13

OR

how to beat the three most

dangerous productivity

threats

Brought to you byBrought to you by
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2/13

Look at your neighbors desk. Does your

col league seem worry-free and always ends

his or her workday at f ive oclock on the dot?

Then theres a big chance that your colleague is among

the lucky 13% of workers who manage to avoid overworking.

You, on the other hand, have an 87% chance of overworking

at least 1 hour per week.

Manage to avoid overworking

Overwork

Our feelings about those extra hours vary. For some indus-

tries a strict 40 hour week is not an option. Even if your com-

pany typically sticks to a 40 hour work week, there are situa-

tions when you might need to stay a couple of extra hours to

make sure everything is set and ready. But if overworking

leaves you stressed, it might hurt your productivity.

So, what if you and your teammates could work less and, at the

same time, get more done more during the day? To accomplish

this you just need to figure out a way to make ALL the time you

spend at work productive.

`

How can this simple e-book help you with that?How can this simple e-book help you with that?

First, armed with the results of multiple research studies, in-

cluding our own, well introduce you to the three most dan-

gerous productivity killers. This introduction, however, would

beTBU (true-but-useless), unless backed up by some action

items. Thats why well also provide you with an arsenal of

weapons to get rid of these threats once and for all.
http://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Things-When-Hard/dp/0385528752http://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Things-When-Hard/dp/0385528752http://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Things-When-Hard/dp/0385528752


3/13

Share this book:

Meet Tim, an average manager who

has been recently assigned to run a

marketing team. Though he has their

best interests at heart, Tim doesnt

seem to use his team to their fullest

potential.

To get the knack of each productivity killer, youll see it

through two stories: Tims and Toms. By the end of each chap-

ter, youll find a useful tip box that will help you make theToms insights even more practical. So, without further ado, let

us introduce you to the first of the three most notorious pro-

ductivity killers.

Now, lets imagine theres a better ver-

sion of him who happens to know a

couple of useful tricks and scientifically

proven techniques that help him trans-

form the way his new team operates

and thinks. Lets call him Tom.
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IT WILL ONLY TAKE A MINUTE!

Chapter 1

Problem: InterruptionsProblem: Interruptions

Its half past one. Tim needs to finish a presentation for his client meet-

ing by 3 p.m.

At this moment his colleague Rachel, a designer, comes to his desk to

show the brochure shes been working on and ask Tims opinion on the

general color scheme. Surely, it will only take a minute. Fifteen minutes

later, Tim is trying to get back to his presentation, when Josh, from the

business intelligence team, rushes in to him to share how frustrated he

is with the necessity to add the extra graphs to the monthly report.

Trying to continue working on the presentation in the background, Tim

ensures Josh that its a forced necessity and will pay off. After a while

Josh leaves, and just when Tim manages to get his focus back, the phone

rings and it takes Tim ten more minutes to give his telecommuting col-

league some clarifications on the latest assignment. Frustrated by the

call, Tim checks his e-mail inbox and finds himself answering a journal-

ist who asks to send her a couple of promo pics from his latest ad cam-

paign.

Some minutes later Tim looks at the clock. Its half past two, and he still

has at least half way to go with the presentation.

tick-to

ck

??


5/13

In Wrikes recent surveywe asked almost 2,000 men and women

what they consider to be the biggest threat to their daily pro-

ductivity. Interruptions were a clear winner with more than 80%of the votes. Anyones groove can be easily ruined by another

task or even a non-working issue, and studies showthat it takes

20 minutes on average to get your focus back!

Guess how often interrupt ions typical ly

happen?

During the day you are distracted 60 t imes!

Be it a disturbing noise, a phone call,

or a colleague's question, your

concentrations is under threat to be

broken every 8 minutes!

9 a.m. 5 p.m.

So, what can be done to deal with this sneaky productivity killer?
http://www.wrike.com/blog/12/19/2012/Snapshot-Work-Life-Balance-Realities-Wrike-s-New-Fascinating-Infographichttp://www.wrike.com/blog/12/19/2012/Snapshot-Work-Life-Balance-Realities-Wrike-s-New-Fascinating-Infographichttp://interruptions.net/literature/CubeSmart-productivity-wp1.pdfhttp://interruptions.net/literature/CubeSmart-productivity-wp1.pdfhttp://www.wrike.com/blog/12/19/2012/Snapshot-Work-Life-Balance-Realities-Wrike-s-New-Fascinating-Infographic


6/13

1 Filter interruptions as they arise

Tom knows that the ability toinhibit the possible distractionshelps to

save focus and time. He is well familiar with Coveys time management

matrixand uses it to divide the potential interruptions into four boxes

based on their importance and urgency.

Important

Not important

Last-minute fixes for the featurerelease, sending the statistics for

the presentation in progress

Professional training activities,update list of potential clients,

draft marketing plan

Off topic phone calls and e-mailsResults of the yesterdays game,

reading through RSS feeds

Urgent Not urgent

These are the easiest ones, so Tom saves them for lunch and scheduled watercooler

breaks. He also encourages his team mates to do the same.

Not important + not urgent

Urgent + not important

Important + not urgent

Important + urgent

Theres time for collaboration and theres time for staying fully focused on your task.Tom knows it. So instead of answering the ringing phone, he lets an administrative

assistant pick it up and ask the telecommuting teammate to call back in a couple of

hours. To keep his flow, Tom puts on his Beats and listens to his favorite music. He

knows that if something really important happens, his teammates would reach him

directly via his personal phone or drop by his desk.

Realizing that these matters affect his teams long-term goals and success, Tom leaves

sufficient time for their completion. He creates a task in the task management system

he uses so that it doesnt slip out of his sight. Then he sets time the next week to deal

with it.

Yes, this deserves Toms attention. Armed with knowledge aboutdual-task interfer-

ence,he knows that his brain can successfully deal with only one issue at a time, so

he tackles the arising issues one by one.

SOLUTIONSOLUTION
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-work/200910/easily-distracted-why-its-hard-focus-and-what-do-about-ithttp://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-work/200910/easily-distracted-why-its-hard-focus-and-what-do-about-ithttp://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-work/200910/easily-distracted-why-its-hard-focus-and-what-do-about-ithttp://www.amazon.com/First-Things-Stephen-R-Covey/dp/0684802031http://www.amazon.com/First-Things-Stephen-R-Covey/dp/0684802031http://www.amazon.com/First-Things-Stephen-R-Covey/dp/0684802031http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/jobs/how-music-can-improve-worker-productivity-workstation.html?_r=3&http://laplab.ucsd.edu/articles/Pashler_AmSci1993.pdfhttp://laplab.ucsd.edu/articles/Pashler_AmSci1993.pdfhttp://laplab.ucsd.edu/articles/Pashler_AmSci1993.pdfhttp://laplab.ucsd.edu/articles/Pashler_AmSci1993.pdfhttp://laplab.ucsd.edu/articles/Pashler_AmSci1993.pdfhttp://laplab.ucsd.edu/articles/Pashler_AmSci1993.pdfhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/jobs/how-music-can-improve-worker-productivity-workstation.html?_r=3&http://www.amazon.com/First-Things-Stephen-R-Covey/dp/0684802031http://www.amazon.com/First-Things-Stephen-R-Covey/dp/0684802031http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-work/200910/easily-distracted-why-its-hard-focus-and-what-do-about-it


7/13

Before yelling, try telling

DONOTDISTURB

His teammates are no psychics and Tom knows it. So he

makes sure they are aware of the pressing presentation hes

working on at the moment. Following the example ofnurses

who wore special veststo let their colleagues and patients

know they are busy preparing medication and cant be dis-

tracted, Tom puts a do not disturb sign on his desk and in his

Skype status. He also lets his colleagues know in the groups

chat that hell be busy for the next couple of hours.

Mention your colleaguesname in the tasks com-

ments to draw their atten-

tion to your question with-

out interrupting them. Your

colleague will later notice

the mention and will answer

as soon as they have time.

Mark the important but noturgent tasks as backlogged

without the need to set a

strict due date. Youll be able

to prioritize them and set

time to deal with them.

Use the timer in the task tolet your colleagues know

about the important/urgent

matter you are currently

working on. Once you click

play, the task you are work-

ing on is automatically broad-

casted to the Activity Stream

(real-time project news feed).

How Wrike can help you

http://www.wrike.com/

2 31

Compare Tim and Tom when the clock strikes three. Tim, who was con-

stantly distracted, has only 20 out of 30 slides ready, keeps working on

the presentation until the very last moment and, as a result, is late to the

meeting and stressed. This becomes a mental distraction, and Tim

doesnt have his best to give during the presentation. As you can imag-

ine, the client isnt very impressed.

Tom, on the contrary, finishes the presentation 15 minutes early and hastime to drink a cup of coffee and get in the right mood for the meeting.

Confident and ready, his verbal and body language communicate confi-

dence, presence and charisma. As a result of the meeting, Tom gets a

fruitful contract for his company.
http://www.innovations.ahrq.gov/content.aspx?id=1799http://www.innovations.ahrq.gov/content.aspx?id=1799http://www.innovations.ahrq.gov/content.aspx?id=1799http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2012/04/13/how-to-master-the-art-and-science-of-charisma/http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2012/04/13/how-to-master-the-art-and-science-of-charisma/http://www.innovations.ahrq.gov/content.aspx?id=1799http://www.innovations.ahrq.gov/content.aspx?id=1799


8/13

The productivity killer Tim is facing in this chapter came as the second most

dangerous one in our survey. No wonder. Statistics show that as much as 95%

of people admit that they procrastinate at least occasionally. And for 20% of usits a chronic problem.

DUE TOMORROW? DO TOMORROW!

Chapter 2

Problem: ProcrastinationProblem: Procrastination

of us are chronicprocrastinators.

20%

95%of people admitthatthey procrastinateat least occasionally

Tim has two tasks he cant make himself start working on.

First is a global financial conference he has to plan.

Its been hanging over his head for the last two

weeks. But every time he opens the document

to start planning, he just stares at the

blank page and then switches to

another less pressing task. He alsoneeds to sort through all the busi-

ness cards he brought home

from the recent conference.

The task seems simple but

Tim keeps postponing it, and

now it has become almost

awkward to act on them.
http://studiemetro.au.dk/fileadmin/www.studiemetro.au.dk/Procrastination_2.pdfhttp://studiemetro.au.dk/fileadmin/www.studiemetro.au.dk/Procrastination_2.pdfhttp://studiemetro.au.dk/fileadmin/www.studiemetro.au.dk/Procrastination_2.pdfhttp://studiemetro.au.dk/fileadmin/www.studiemetro.au.dk/Procrastination_2.pdf


9/13

The first question you need to answer is Why?

Why do we keep postponing a task till the very last minute and create

for ourselves a whole bunch of extra problems. To say nothing of

stress and panic. Once you figure out why you are procrastinating, you

can decide how to deal with it.

Tom knows that it will be easier to manage a task if he splits it

into several small actionable items that he can handle right

away. So he starts with making a guest list and then assigns his

assistant to look for the conference venue. He also creates a task

Send out the invites in his task management software. He now

feels that the conference monster is not that scary any more.

Split it into several small actionable items

Try using the 3+2 rule

Tom follows the advice of developer Jakub Stastny and

com-pletes 3 big and 2 small tasks and calls it a day. Today,

world domination can wait.

The reason why Tim cant make himself sort through the busi-

ness cards is that the task seems too boring and meaningless

to him. What can Tom do about it?

The reason why Tim keeps postponing planning the confer-

ence is that the task is too big and complex. When we are

faced with such a task we just dont know where to start, so

we never do. So, how would Tom handle it?
http://lifehacker.com/5853732/take-a-more-realistic-approach-to-your-to+do-list-with-the-3-%252B-2-rulehttp://lifehacker.com/5853732/take-a-more-realistic-approach-to-your-to+do-list-with-the-3-%252B-2-rule


10/13

Keying in business cards from the conference can be repetitive

and boring. But often tasks like that are necessary. So, to get

through this task Tom promises himself a hot cup of his favor-

ite coffee in the nearby coffee shop. You just need to find your

own trigger.

Reward yourself

Sometimes taking a short break is more rewarding than making

yourself work through with gritted teeth, and Tom knows it.

Instead, he takes a 5 and recharges his productivity.

Take short breaks

Spice the things up a little. A quick piece of advice from Tom:

why not compete with a colleague on who finishes the

monthly report first? You can also compete with yourself and

do the same task 3x faster with no harm to quality.

Create a competition

Rock productivity with music!

Music with an upbeat rhythmcan reduce stress by as much

as 41%

Charge your brain with a quick snack

79% of workers believe coffeebreakes make them more

productive

Get away from your desk

Regular, short exercise helps53% of employees to feel more

active throughout the day

Toms choice:
http://jimsmarketingblog.com/2012/11/18/when-we-work-through-gritted-teeth-it-shows/http://jimsmarketingblog.com/2012/11/18/when-we-work-through-gritted-teeth-it-shows/http://jimsmarketingblog.com/2012/11/18/when-we-work-through-gritted-teeth-it-shows/


11/13


12/13

SOLUTIONSOLUTION

Its impossible to foresee all the emergencies and

details from the very beginning.

So Tom starts with creating a framework for the

project. He opens the task management software

and sets the major goals and milestones. He knows

that a fixed time frame is important for the teams

motivation, as it creates the neededlevel of posi-

tive stress. So he sets due dates for every milestone.

However, Tom understands that along the way, hell

be able to adjust the schedule and add more spe-

cific due dates based on the project details he gets.

Take it one step at a time

It should be done byYESTERDAY!

Chapter 3

Problem: Inaccurate planningProblem: Inaccurate planning

Its not the first time when Tim encounters a task that

took him twice the amount of time to complete as he

had planned. This time it was a clients product

launch. He cant understand when Dont worry, we

still have time to deal with it! turned into How can

this task be two weeks overdue?

Tom believes his team members are competent and responsi-

ble enough to take care of their own tasks, so he doesnt mind

sharing some planning power with them ;-) After all, a little

trust can pay off and bring great results

Replace micromanagement with self-organizing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustresshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustresshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustresshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustresshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustress


13/13

How Wrike can help you

http://www.wrike.com/

21

Tim and Tom have gone a long way to fight the most notorious pro-

ductivity killers. Its up to you to decide whos done better ;-) How-

ever, staying productive throughout the day is easier than it may

seem. With these proven techniques and a little help from the right

task management software your team can finish more work in less

time, and easily become productivity superheroes.

Be victorious in your battle over productivity killers and have the

most productive day!

CONCLUSIONCONCLUSION

With love, your Wrike Team.

Add your projects milestones to the Gantt chart

and make sure to plan the first one in detail.

Once your project progresses, youll be able to

add new tasks to the chart. And if there're any

changes along the way, you can easily adjust the

schedule with a simple drag-and-drop.

Encourage your team members to pick and

assign tasks to themselves. Meanwhile, youll be

able to keep an eye on the tasks progress in the

Activity Stream and be ready to step in if needed.

Task management softwarethat makes your life easier!
http://wrike.com/?utm_source=cpm&utm_medium=ebook_submission&utm_campaign=productivity_killers

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What Doesnt Kill You Makes You More Productive