{"id":742,"date":"2020-06-10T12:00:07","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T17:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/?p=742"},"modified":"2020-01-15T11:18:31","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T17:18:31","slug":"getting-more-done-in-less-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/2020\/06\/10\/getting-more-done-in-less-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting More Done in Less Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Would having more time really make a difference in our productivity? Most of us would say yes \u2013 more hours would mean we could get more work done. However, productivity blogger, Scott H. Young, argues that focus rather than time dictates our output. Just turning off the phone, laptop, internet or locking yourself away for hours isn\u2019t enough to maintain your focus.<\/p>\n

Would having more time really make a difference in our productivity? Most of us would say yes \u2013 more hours would mean we could get more work done. However, productivity blogger, Scott H. Young, argues that focus rather than time dictates our output. Just turning off the phone, laptop, internet or locking yourself away for hours isn\u2019t enough to maintain your focus. The key to staying focused is energy. Focus requires willpower, which in turn requires energy. The more energy a person has, the more willpower, and the longer one can maintain focus on a difficult task.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The solution, then, is to preserve energy, not “manage time”.\u00a0 Young has several suggestions to do so:<\/p>\n

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  1. View time off as sacred.\u00a0 Young suggests taking evenings and one weekend day off. You may not be able to take that much time away, but make sure that you set aside at least some time every week to do activities unrelated to your work and guard that time carefully.<\/li>\n
  2. Never sacrifice sleep! If you skimp one hour a night to study, you need two additional hours of sleep to make up for it.<\/li>\n
  3. Constrain your working hours.\u00a0 Work in smaller, intense chunks of time rather than working nonstop all day.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In addition to maintaining energy, we also need to give ourselves the best chance to stay focused by eliminating time-wasting distractions.\u00a0 Switching between tasks too frequently (constantly checking Facebook, Twitter, texts, and email are the usual culprits) destroys our workflow. Productivity experts admonish us to think about only one thing at a time, but we often have trouble with that. If you find distracting thoughts intruding on your work time, take a minute to write them down to get them off your mind, and if they\u2019re important, schedule time to think about or act on them later. There are also a number of apps that will boost your willpower and therefore help you reserve energy for more important tasks:<\/p>\n