I’m a programmer, designer, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Asana. Many well-known companies (Uber, Pinterest, Dropbox) use this software to boost team productivity. When I was a development manager at Facebook, I designed a tool for improving team productivity that Facebook still uses today.

In short, I spend a lot of time thinking about how to be more efficient.

Here are my tips for improving productivity, each of which focuses on optimizing three areas: environment, thinking, and process.

Improve the environment

Avoid all distractions

“Multitasking” makes us feel more productive, but studies show it makes us less efficient. We check our emails so often that the interruptions slow our thinking and take us longer than expected to get back on track. So when you need to focus:

  • Set your phone to Do not disturb mode. On the iPhone: Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and tap the moon icon.

  • Close all pages that are not relevant to the task at hand.

  • If your job requires you to write emails, don’t see new emails while you write them. Gmail bookmarks in Gmail (which filters out all content) can do this.

  • Turn off new email alerts on your computer.

  • Exit the chat software.

Discover your time stream

If you’re constantly interrupted by meetings throughout the day, it’s hard to get into the flow of time and tackle complex tasks.

  • Mark your calendar for a three-hour “meeting” in which you are the sole participant. Coworkers avoid this time when they’re scheduling meetings, and you can get work done without a break.

  • If you can, choose one company-wide meeting free day each week. At Asana, we have no-meeting Wednesdays.

  • Track your productivity times for different activities throughout the day. Do the hardest part of your job during your productive hours. Below is the method I use to determine my productive hours, which are 10 a.m. to noon. Related: Find your Superman hour.



Master the tools you use

If you use a computer all day, every time you reach for your mouse, you slow down a bit, blocking your time flow. The speed at which you operate the computer should keep up with the speed of your mind. To do this you need to learn shortcuts to common software.

  • Every time you need to use your mouse, see if you can use shortcut keys instead. You can usually find the corresponding shortcut in the menu item, or when you place your mouse cursor over the button will display the shortcut prompt. ⌘ is Command, ⌥ is Option, ⇧ is Shift, and ^ is Ctrl.

  • SizeUp allows you to quickly rearrange software Windows without using a mouse.

Optimization of thinking

One of my favorite books on this topic is The Power of Total Commitment: Managing Energy not Time by Tony Schwartz. The title alone is instructive.

Regular breaks

We often think that the more time we spend at work, the more we’ll get done. That’s not the case. Humans are not machines, and our brains need time to recover. Humans are not robots. Our minds need time to recharge. Research shows that working for 90 minutes and taking a 15-minute break helps you get more done in less time. Related: less is more (https://hbr.org/2011/12/how-to-accomplish-more-by-doin.html).

meditation

How I developed a daily habit. (https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-start-a-meditation-habit/answer/Justin-Rosenstein)

Take care of your body

  • Drink more water. Every morning, I keep five large glasses of water on my desk. By the time I leave work every day, I have finished my drink. Seeing all this water on the table reminds me how much I drink.

  • Improve your diet. A high-carb lunch will leave you with less energy in the afternoon.

  • Exercise: Aerobic exercise twice a week can help increase productivity.

In short, use the time away from work to refresh your body and mind, and you’ll be more energetic at work.

Confront difficulties and overcome procrastination

We procrastinate not because we are lazy, but because the importance of the task makes us anxious. When this happens, here’s what you should do:

  • Be honest about the cause of your anxiety. Write down what’s causing your anxiety, or tell a friend about it. Why are you so afraid?

  • Look for an easy next step.

  • I wrote an article about this: How to Overcome Procrastination by Facing Anxiety.

  • If you don’t have the energy to face your fears right now, at least do your second priority on your list instead of checking Facebook. Prolific Stanford University professor John Perry calls this practice “structured procrastination.” On the web site, StructuredProcrastination.com, he attribute his success in this practice.

Optimize the process

Set clear plans. Many inefficiencies stem from a failure to set priorities. You’re not clear about what will help you achieve your goals and what are your highest priorities.

  • Don’t start until the next step is completely clear and the whole team is in agreement.

  • Think about these things first: What are our goals? Why do we want to achieve this goal? What steps are required to achieve this goal? Who is in charge of each step? What is the sequence of these steps? What are all the steps needed to achieve this? Who is responsible for each step? In what order will these steps be performed?

Read: How to Make a Clear Plan. (http://firstround.com/review/Asanas-Justin-Rosenstein-on-the-One-Quality-Every-Startup-Needs-to-Survive/)

The team cooperation

Some people prefer to work alone, but I usually find it difficult and easily distracted when dealing with complex tasks.

  • Find a teammate who is willing to cooperate. Sometimes a task that took me two days could be completed in two hours with the right partner. “Pair programming” is common in the software industry, but it can be applied to virtually any field.

  • Or, you can have a self-talk, ask yourself what questions are important, and then write the questions and answers down in a text editor or notebook. I’ve written long conversations on the computer in a casual format that are strategic and productive.

Deadline for public statements

Use peer pressure to your advantage. If there is no fixed deadline for an important task, I confidently tell someone, “I’ll send you a copy of the assignment at the end of work on Friday.” I don’t want to look ridiculous in front of my colleagues, so I’ll try to make sure things get done on Friday.

Use software to track your work

Without a doubt, I think Asana is the best at this. It’s not just for maintaining your to-do list; It also manages the entire team’s workflow, so you don’t need endless meetings to stay in sync. Asana allows people to communicate face-to-face at the workplace, so you don’t have to constantly email for information.

Take time to reflect

Take a few minutes at the end of each day to think about what worked well and what didn’t. Are there areas in your overall workflow that could be improved? If you increase your productivity by 1% every day, you will be 15 times more productive in a year.

English: Justin Rosenstein

英 文 : Bole online – Michael

Link: http://blog.jobbole.com/101608/

Introduction to the translator

Mikkai: Non-senior developer of Android App and Framework, learning European history and Buddhism in spare time.

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