Productivity 4.0 - NeoStrategy

This lesson is the summary and grand conclusion for all levels of PRODUCTIVITY. We have covered LIFE, MIND, STRENGTHS & TASK PRODUCTIVITY lessons under NEO PRODUCTIVITY 4.0.

NEO PRODUCTIVITY 4.0 is about breaking the conventional view of productivity and creating a holistic, radical and NEO way of PRODUCTIVITY. This will give you complete picture not broken pieces of productivity.

LIFE PRODUCTIVITY is about having right purpose, values, empowering beliefs, etc. This is the core and foundation for every thing else. Without getting this right every thing else can collapse. So make sure this level is really built solid. Many people rush into other levels of productivity without examining or really understanding this. Don’t be one of such people. We try to find answers/solutions else where but most answers you can get from this LIFE PRODUCTIVITY.

MIND PRODUCTIVITY is fundamentally about doing deep work and being mindful. After having a solid foundational LIFE PRODUCTIVITY you need to use your MIND to live life mindfully and use strengths of your mind and do deep work to deliver your life purpose/vision/goals .MIND PRODUCTIVITY is like a key vehicle for LIFE PRODUCTIVITY.

STRENGTHS PRODUCTIVITY is really unheard till now. We want to you take advantage of this hidden super power.You have LIFE & MIND PRODUCTIVITY but what if you don’t use your innate and natural strengths/gifts of yours and your teams. It will be super unproductive. This is all about leveraging your natural STRENGTHS fully and get maximum productivity.

Then comes to the real efficiency of delivering  every thing in the form of TASKS. At the end without ACTION nothing comes out. You need to be really smart in TASK PRODUCTIVITY by taking advantage of all LAWS of TASK/TIME Management.

For each levels of PRODUCTIVITY you need to be aware about the BOOSTERS & BLOCKERS – what enhances & what blocks your productivity. Analyse and reflect each level of PRODUCTIVITY and measure it for yourself.

Overall – Can you imaging the power this comprehensive NEO PRODUCTIVITY?. In the last lesson we also discussed about our NEO Time Management. Combing the concept and practical time management tools you can really unleash your personal and business potential.

We have seen many transformative success stories from the application of NEO PRODUCTIVITY 4.0.

Take advantage of this powerful concept for your life and business !!

We have completed LIFE, MIND, STRENGTHS & TASK productivity concepts. What next? How to implement these in daily life?. As there is no time management system that could incorporate all these in a integrated way, we have developed NEO TIME MANAGEMENT system.

We have included below elements into this TIME MANAGEMENT system.

1. Theme of the Day – This is to focus one theme for entire of day (as much possible) . For e.g if you are running a business/CEO then your themes could be Marketing, Sales, Operations, HR, Finance & Innovation. For e.g you can focus on Marketing on monday and Sales on Tuesday, etc. Whatever your role is you can identify core themes and then plan for theme of the day. This approach basically gives deep focus on a specific theme/function and also can do STRATEGIC, OPERATIONAL & ROUTINE areas of work for this given theme on the same day.
2. ZONES – We have divided each day into RITUAL, STRATEGIC, OPERATIONAL, ROUTINE & FAMILY ZONE. RITUAL & FAMILY  would be focused on LIFE/MIND PRODUCTIVITY related.  In the STRATEGIC zone you will do mainly high ROI activities like planning, strategy, etc. OPERATIONAL zone is where you focus on regular to-do list. And in the ROUTINE zone you would do tasks that are very tactical in nature.  Main idea of ZONES is that you would be doing DEEP WORK in those zones for maximum productivity
3. STRENGTHS – You will be consciously applying your STRENGTHS on daily basis. This will take care of STRENGTHS PRODUCTIVITY

This TIME MANAGEMENT system brings holistic view and considers all 4 PRODUCTIVITY LAYERS.

We have looked at the following elements under TASK PRODUCTIVITY.

• BOOSTER & BLOCKERS
  • BOOSTERS – Planning & Prioritisation, Batching, Automation and Technology & Apps
  • BLOCKERS – De-focus & Indecisiveness
• Technology/Apps
• PERETO PRINCIPLE – 20% of our activity produces 80% of our results
• PARKINSON’S LAW – The more time we have to complete a task, the more time it will take
• CARLSON’S LAW – Continuous work takes less time and energy than when performed in several steps

Even though LIFE, MIND & STRENGTHS PRODUCTIVITY are more important, without getting them executed would be futile. Hence one needs to master TASK PRODUCTIVITY. Even though it looks very simple on surface there are lot of inefficiencies exists under TASK & TIME management. If we follow the time management laws/principles like the above ones you can substantially increase TASK PRODUCTIVITY.

Many people are aware about all these laws and principles directly or from common sense. But the main problem comes in how to integrate all these things into daily time management. Most time time management systems are focused on one or two main focus areas (prioritisation, batching or deep work, etc). We have not found any system that integrated majority of these key elements.  This made us to think and come up with a “Neo Time Management” system. More on this in the coming lessons.

You can come up with your own system. Make sure you think through all the key elements for best PRODUCTIVITY at all levels.

Carlson’s law is also called as “Law of homogeneous sequences” . This means continuous work takes less time and energy than when performed in several steps.  This was invested by Sune Carlson, Swedish economist (1909-1999).   Now when we read this it might look like no brainer. But I think we should give enough credit for this level of observation/research in those days.

I think this concept got more popularised/enhanced  in the recent times with different names. One is “Batching”. Batching is same as doing all related tasks in one block of time. Latest and more populaized name is “Deep Work”. There can be some difference between these two. You can even think of Deep Work as an enhancement to Batching. You can batch all related tasks then do the Deep work. We discussed in earlier lessons about Deep Work – it is your ability to focus without distractions on a cognitively demanding task. Real challenge is to train your brain to be able to focus on longer hours in the distracted world. But this is where real value creation happens.

Carlson’s law is more from TASK PRODUCTIVITY and Deep Work is for MIND PRODUCTIVITY. When we combine these two then the real power of productivity can be achieved.

When you plan your tasks don’t simply create TO-DO list instead create batching and do them in the Deep work mode. When any task is done in several steps it will incur task switching cost. Hence it will take more time. Carlson’s law is essentially is taking about this.

Bottom line – Start to Finish. Get it done in one shot (as much as possible !!).  See how much time you can save !!

Do you remember what used to happen when our exams used to get postponed and get extra time for preparation? Mostly we end up with same situation – end up with the same range of marks. Even if we would have got some more additional time for preparation even then we get more or less same marks. And what happens if you get 2 days of time to prepare a presentation Vs one week of lead time? We end up mostly producing the same level of output irrespective of how many days we get. All these basically proves PARKINSON’s LAW.

PARKINSON’s LAW says  “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. This is another major important law you should consider to get best TASK PRODUCTIVITY. The best way to get this into practice is start cutting the time you allocate to tasks and see how much you are able to complete. To your surprise you may find that you are actually able to complete most of the tasks. This is another way for you to push your brain to become efficient with decision making and focus. It will take some time to get into the practice and it might seem like you rushing or pushing yourself but after some time your overall speed of action will increase dramatically. This is another reason why you should practice “Deep Work” as you will spend optimal time for the given task. One of the reason why you would fill the time is because you might switch between tasks or get distracted.

So, overall solution  – 1) Start cutting down the time you allocate for task 2) Practice “Deep Work”. Combining these two will help you in best TASK PRODUCTIVITY.

Time management is crucial for managing all level of productivity. Without managing this nothing moves. There are some fundamental principles you need to understand when it comes to time/task management. One of the most important principle is PERETO PRINCIPLE.

Pareto’s Principle (also known as 80:20 Rule) :  -20% of our activity produces 80% of our results 

It is called the Pareto Principle after its founder, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. This principle is applicable almost all areas of life. 20% of your customers will give 80% of sales. 20% of your products will produce 80% growth. Similarly this is applicable for time management also. 20% of your tasks will produce 80% of the impact/results. This is what we call in our Neo Time Management ( more on this in later lessons) – “Strategic” tasks. Basically, you should not measure your TASK PRODUCTIVITY based on number of tasks you completed  instead you should focus more on your 20% (strategic) activities. This is what “smart work” means.

Take a week long of your activities and analyse where you are spending your time. What are your 20% activities that can give 80% of results”. Some of the examples of 20% activities –

• Upfront planning – planning resources, activities, etc..all of these will give huge results. We all know the importance of planning but very few realise the impact of not having plan on the productivity
• Process Standardisation – It is much easier to operate in ad hoc way. But if you invest time in establishing standard processes then the benefits are huge
• Use of Technology/Automation – This is definitely a 80% result kind of activity. Think of all areas of work that can be automated using technology

Lot of Apps and to-do lists won’t take care of this principle into consideration. Hence many are not effective with TASK PRODUCTIVITY. Use 80:20 principle and get maximum impact delivered !! And work smart and strategic !!

There are many Technology/Apps can be used for TASK PRODUCTIVITY. There are different category of Apps are available. Below list is not comprehensive but will give some idea. As we use more and more technology and devices we end up using more productivity apps and tools. It started with calendars then to-do lists and now lot of advanced and integrated/collaborative apps are popping up every day.

• Apps for Task management: 10 Apps for task management
  • Wunderlist.
  • Todoist.
  • Trello.
  • ToodleDo.
  • Any.DO.
  • Things.
  • TickTick.
  • Google Keep.
• Apps for Collaboration :  Apps for collaboration and communication with project teams
  • Asana
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Trello
  • Slack
  • Team work

There are lot of Apps/tools available to manage tasks and for collaboration and communication. You can pick the best tools that suits you. Apart from the Apps available from market you can look at broadly what tasks can be automated using technology also.

Some times people spend lot of time on selecting the “right” Apps as there are so many Apps available  and it can be very difficult to decide. But you should pick one tool quickly and start using it. Most often tool is not the issue but the adoption is the issue. Many people don’t stick to these Apps for longer time esp for personal use.

Also, more than the App, what is really important is you need to understand some of the “rules” of time management. Will discuss about these in the next lesson.

Following are some of the BLOCKERS & BOOSTERS of  TASK PRODUCTIVITY. These are straight forward and simple to understand.

BOOSTERS: 

1. Planning & Prioritisation: Fundamental to TASK PRODUCTIVITY is planning. This is the starting point. Once the basic plan is in place, prioritisation should take place. With right prioritisation, effectiveness and productivity can be achieved. Now lot of tools and technology can be used for planning & prioritisation
2. Batching:  This is an important concept. When we batch lot of similar nature tasks lot more productivity can be achieved. Whenever we switch between tasks there is a “switching cost”. Your brain takes some time to restart the previous task and results in switching cost. Hence it would be productive to schedule similar tasks for the longer periods like 2-3 hours time so that your attention and focus is in place and you can get lot more done. But most often people tend to switch between tasks and between distractions
3. Automation:  This the latest and going be an ongoing one. You can’t imagine how much can be automated. It would be endless. In fact entire IT revolution is all about this. Next wave is about AI level of automation. This will be the biggest BOOSTER of all. Ultimate end of this would be bare minimum manual tasks.
4. Technology/Apps:  Using latest technology and Apps can save lot of time in planning and execution. Will cover more on this in a separate lesson

BLOCKERS: 

1. De-focus:  Any and all kind of distractions and de-focus would be biggest BLOCKER. We had covered more on this under MIND PRODUCTIVITY. There would be good amount of overlap between MIND & TASK productivity wrt focus, attention and deep work
2. Indecisiveness: All said and done no amount of automation or planning can do any thing without right decisioning. Lack of decisioning on time would BLOCK entire task productivity.

If we take care of LIFE, MIND & STRENGTHS PRODUCTIVITY, TASK PRODUCTIVITY can be managed easily.

Imagine if the ROI on individual strengths is 10x then when we build STRENGTH based teams/organisations the return will be what level. Power of this can only be seen when we scientifically assemble STRENGTH based teams. Huge benefit will come when you build strength based teams itself. What is strength based team?. It is simply when we build teams based on the their top strengths which maps with the required strength/skill of a role.

Let me give an example. To build a business – typically you need three kinds of brains & strengths.

1. Innovative/Creative Mind- Coming up with new business ideas/innovation and expertise etc
2. Profitability/Money Focused – This person brings the talent of spotting the business opportunities, negotiations, expansion, deals and partnerships
3. Execution Focused – Getting things done, operations, people management, etc

When you build such teams 50% of battle is won !. Then if each of the above people focus on their top most strengths then the power of it would be unstoppable. This is how strength based teams would bring phenomenal productivity.

Then if you take this and expand the strength based organisations beyond one unit then it will become powerful enterprise. This is how some of world’s most powerful (in all dimensions) organisations are built..by science or intuitively.

Main point – Start focusing on your individual strengths then you can build any thing.

Strength Based Individual -> Strengths Based  Teams -> Strength Based Organisations -> Strength Based States -> Strength based Nations.. This is how powerful nations are built !!. This is the power of strengths. Start with yourself !!.

Unlike LIFE & MIND productivity there are not many BLOCKERS for STRENGTHS productivity. There is only one BLOCKER. That is focusing mainly on WEAKNESS areas. Now the question you might get is – shouldn’t we focus on our weakness areas so that we can do better in that area. Let me clarify. Whole of of this concept comes down to ROI. When you focus on your strengths you will get multifold return vs investing in weakness areas. But the strategy should be focusing on strengths majorly and managing the weakness areas with your strengths. And if any weakness area is really blocking your progress then you may need to spend more time to clear the path but not trying to master it. What is the problem if we master our weakness areas? No problem. Just that you will get low ROI and at the same time your STRENGTHS may not be in full action or leverage. There are some people who might try to prove that they can become good at any thing. They can be also. Same thing..you get low ROI.

Problem with focusing on weakness areas is not just with self. It goes to team and organisation level also. Hence more care to be taken and build strengths based teams and organisations. More on this in next lesson.

Overall one good thing here is solution is very simple. Simply focus on the STRENGTHS.