How I’m Becoming More Productive: Stop Working 9-5

August 21, 2008 · Filed Under Productivity

I’m not productive yet, but everyday I’m becoming more productive. It’s something I’ve been working on for weeks with the help of different books, websites, and other simple experimentations.

I based my productivity on Pareto’s 80-20 Principle which was first brought to my attention by Tim Ferris in his book “The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join The New Rich.” Unfortunately applying many of Ferris’ ideas are impossible for a political operative, but I’ve taken his basic premises, experimented, and found a few things that’s worked for me. The result has been more productivity, more free time, and a happier me.

Tim Ferris talks about total lifestyle redesign. I haven’t reached that point yet, only made my daily life a little more productive. I plan on taking bigger steps over the next few weeks in both my personal and professional lives, which for a political operative, is so intertwined that there’s really no difference at all.

Let’s start with my daily work schedule.

Stop working 9-5. It just doesn’t work anymore for those who wish to be successful. We are operating in a 24-hour news cycle, a new global economy. The world is moving fast and if you work 9-5 you are going to miss it. My average workday starts around 6:30 am and ends around 11:00 pm, even during non-election years. I’ve been working like that for years, but now I am figuring out how exactly to use my time.

It all starts with the night before. I strongly suggest creating a to-do list before you quit working for the evening. That way you don’t have to spend your morning formulating your to-do list and you are able to immediately start working.

I wake up pretty early and start working around 6:30 am by going through my RSS reader (which I will explain in a minute) for about one hour to read all the day’s top stories. I tag those stories in delicious and post them to my blog for you to read every morning.

I try to get in the office around 7:45, giving me plenty of time to get some essential writing done before the 9:00 crowd starts blowing up my phone. Half of what I do requires writing and it’s very hard to do when the phone starts ringing and co-workers flood into your office.

Each day is different, but my most important bit of advice is not to stay at the office just because you feel like you have to. As I said, I work until around 11:00 pm Monday - Thursday, so I finish my to-do list as fast as possible and leave work, either running errands, reading a book, or spending time on strategic thinking. I do not under any circumstance stay at the office just to stay at the office. Doing so forces me to surf the Internet tirelessly, wasting valuable time that I could be spending on creative thinking.

Another big mistake is going home. Don’t do that unless you just have nothing to do, which shouldn’t be the case if you are truly attempting to be a successful person. I’ve found that successful people are always trying to find ways to better themselves. Sitting at home watching soaps doesn’t fit that characteristic.

I’ve also found that working from home and mixing the locations that you should be working and relaxing is very dangerous to your health. I’ve made that mistake and made my home my second office. I worked my self sick…seriously. I’ve worked around the clock for so long that I ended up in the bed for a week. That was just stupid. As Timothy Ferris writes “separate your environments – designate a single space for work and solely work – or you will never be able to escape it.”

If you leave the office during the day like I do, go to Starbucks, a park, or somewhere else that you can be productive. I for one like to go to Starbucks or the gym. I typically go to both every day. In the morning around 10:00 or 11:00 I like to get my blood flowing with some Starbucks. I usually get strategy memos and such done there. Again around 3:00 in the afternoon I find myself sluggish and unable to think creatively. That’s when I hit the gym. Going to the gym daily for one hour gives me alone time with my iPod and a natural energy high that fuels creativity.

The late afternoon and early evening is reserved for phone calls and doing any urgent task that arose during the day. The late evening is spent blogging, reading, and formulating the next day’s to-do list. I do not take calls in the late evening unless they are emergencies.

Obviously I do a lot that isn’t included in this post, but I’m just trying to give you an idea of why I don’t work 9-5. I say I work from 6:30 am – 11:00 pm every day, but the truth is that I just mix a lot of my personal and professional life so that I can continue to think creatively, stay up-to-date on all the latest news, and maximize the amount of productively at the office.

In my next post I will tell you how I use an RSS Reader, limit my email checking, turnoff my wireless internet, and manage my call time throughout the day to limit information flow and distractions.

Tags: Productivity