Want to be More Productive?  How’s your Sieve?

The theme this week is productivity with meaning. How are you spending your time?

Picture a sieve.  The sieve is your productivity – items going into the top are your to-do items and contents coming out the bottom are the things you accomplished. 

There are many things going into the sieve.  These are all the activities that fill your day.  These include some activities you have to do, some activities you want to do, and some activities that come to you that might be beyond your control.

What comes out of the bottom of the sieve is what you have completed.  As it goes through the sieve screen with the holes, it is being worked on.  Essentially, the screen is your time.  The goal is for what is coming out the bottom to be the most meaningful and the most important.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how full is your sieve?  Is it a 10, with items mounding over the top and maybe spilling over the sides?  Or maybe it is a 3, with too little going in and you may be feeling underutilized?  What is the right amount for you where you can feel productive, meaningful, and still be motivationally relaxed while doing it?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does your output matter to you?  Is it a 10, where it is deeply significant for you, or a 1 where you get caught up in to-do items that bog you down and don’t help you move forward in the direction or way you would like?

Here are some ideas to consider as you are examining your sieve:

Clarify your goals.  Are you clear on the few projects or areas that are most important to you now?  Having this clarity keeps you on track for selecting the items in your sieve to spend your time on.  This is important no matter the amount of content in the top of your sieve. 

Get rid of the overflow.  If your sieve is overflowing, what is coming in may be unrealistic for the output you want.  Analyze what is coming in, so you know what to keep and what you could not do or divert somewhere else.  What should you say no to? (Check out my blog on The Power of a “No”.)  What could you show someone else to do so they can get experience?  Can you revisit your goals and actions with your boss to clarify where to best spend your time?

Proactive vs reactive.  Do you set aside time to proactively work on those things that matter most? Setting aside specific times to advance those items is helpful.  I will even set a timer for 20 minutes to use a chunk of my day advancing these things forward.

Examining your sieve periodically helps when you are not happy with your productivity.  It is a quick visualization to put into perspective the adjustments you may need to make.  Meaning fires up motivation and motivation creates meaning…production, and you, at your best.