[This is part 4 in the RPG Productivity Player’s Guide series.]
Min-maxing is a well-known strategy in RPG’s. It means creating the most effective character for the particular game you’re playing by minimizing unwanted traits or characteristics and maximizing the wanted skills.
The interesting thing is that little changes can have a big impact on the game—which is why min-maxing requires a perfect understanding of how the game works. A small increase in physical strength may make a world of difference for instance, whereas a lower IQ doesn’t negatively influence the character’s chances at all.
Small changes can have a big impact. That’s the key point I want to focus on in this installment of our RPG’s Productivity Player’s Guide. There are small changes you can make that will increase your productivity.
Too often we think that our lives will only be impacted by big, dramatic changes. And they are of course. In the last five years, I’ve moved internationally twice. Once from the Netherlands to Germany and then three years later from Germany to the US. You can bet these radical changes have impacted me and my family.
But the biggest impact on my productivity has resulted from the small tweaks I’ve made over the years:
- I’ve started working in time increments varying between 30 and 55 minutes with short breaks in between (I’ll explain this concept in more detail in another post). As a result, I’ve become way more focused and productive—and I take more rest in between, which stimulates productivity and creativity.
- My to do list has moved from paper (I used the 7 habits system) to Evernote (which was okay, but not perfect), to Any.do (which I didn’t like) to Wunderlist (which I love). Having a foolproof to do system is crucial to productivity. Don’t waste time trying to figure out what you need to do, or energy trying to remember. Write it down, prioritize it plan it, and do it.
- I used to start my day with answering emails and emptying my inbox. I now start with at least two hours of writing. This makes a world of difference. Not only do I now use my best time (I’m a morning person) to do my most productive and creative work, I prevent myself from getting bored by starting with routine stuff. I do what adds value first, then tackle the rest.
- I put a yoga mat close to my home office so I can do stretching exercises in between work. This has really improved my back pain.
- I’ve experimented with the set up of my desk until I loved it. Don’t underestimate the power of a clutter-free, creativity-inspiring work environment.
- Until recently, I had an ‘inbox’ on my desk where I dumped everything I has to process. But it distracted me and tempted me to empty it instead of doing more important matters. So I transferred it to a hanging file—out of sight. I still work through it every three days or so, but it’s no longer distracting me.
- I’ve started to do a daily and a weekly review where I look at what I’ve accomplished and ‘rate’ that against the goals I’ve set for myself. This has helped me to focus more on important tasks and to reward myself for a job well done.
- By nature, I’m a competitive person, I always make a deadline, and I’m someone who likes feeling productive. Over the years, I’ve constantly made small changes to utilize these three traits to make myself more productive, eg keeping track of a daily writing word count when writing a book, entered (informal) contests to give myself a deadline, challenged others to hit a target, etc.
When you want to become more productive, don’t go for dramatic changes. Analyze how you work and what hinders your productivity and tackle the detailed problems with small changes.
Maybe the simple fact that your phone is lying on your desk, makes you reflectively grab it every couple of minutes. A small change you could make is to mute it and put it in a different room.
Or you feel compelled to read each email as it comes in. The solution is to either close your email program during your most productive hours or to turn off notifications.
Another one I’ve come across was someone who always got sidetracked while doing research on the Internet, because he had browsers with social media open as well. His solution was to use a different browser for research than for the other stuff, so he wouldn’t see it.
Min-maxing your life means making small changes that will impact your productivity in a big way. And don’t forget: much of this has to do with breaking old routines and forming new ones, which takes a while!
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