Bite-Sized Training™

Improving Productivity
Improving Productivity
Bite-Sized Training

This e-book is published by Mind Tools Ltd.

Copyright © Mind Tools Ltd 2007-2013. All rights reserved.

Version 2.0.

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Cover image © iStockphoto/ermingut.

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Productivity and Pressure 2

3. Productivity and Strategic Priorities 6

4. Productivity and Flow 9

5. Key Learning Points 13

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1.  Introduction

T
hink about the last time you felt highly productive.
What were you doing? Why did you work go so well? What expectations
did you, and others, have of your performance?
Chances are, you were most productive when:
• You were clear about your objectives.
• You were able to concentrate on the task in hand.
• You felt that the resources available, and the expectations placed upon
you, were in sync.
• You understood the significance of the task, and you worked hard to
deliver it.
This combination of factors often leads to optimal performance, and it can lead to
what psychologists call “flow.”
When you experience this, you’re calm, relaxed, and highly effective. What’s more,
it’s an incredibly enjoyable and satisfying state to be in. This motivates you to
continue to achieve and perform. Suddenly you’re in a positive work cycle, instead
of a negative one, and any stress, anxiety, confusion, and boredom starts to
slip away.
This might sound too good to be true, but it is achievable. In this Bite-Sized
Training™ session, we’ll look at how you can get into a positive and productive
mindset, and become more successful. In around one hour, we’ll show you how to:
• Manage your pressure levels to reach a state of best performance.
• Zero in on critical strategic tasks.
• Manage your mind and time, so that you work in a state of flow.
By the end of the session, you’ll have learned how a certain amount of pressure
can actually be a good thing, and how it helps you complete your work. You’ll also
know how to get into a state of flow, where distractions disappear, and where you
can work productively, effectively, and happily.

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2.  Productivity and Pressure

O
ne of the greatest influences on your performance and productivity
is the amount of pressure that you experience. For instance, your
performance can plummet when you experience too much pressure;
but, did you know that too little pressure also has a negative impact on
your performance?
The Inverted-U model, shown in figure 1, illustrates the relationship between
pressure and performance. Psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson
developed this model in the early 1900s, and it has helped people think about
pressure and performance ever since.

Figure 1 – The Inverted-U Model

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The model says that performance is poor when the pressure that we experience is
either too high or too low.
For instance, if no one is really counting on you to get your monthly report
finished, you may not be very motivated to do it, and you may lose focus or
become bored when you work on it.
While not enough pressure is bad for performance, too much pressure is
equally damaging. When you are under too much pressure to complete a task,
you get worried and distracted, and your mind can become clouded with
negative thoughts.
This takes up intellectual resources that you need to devote to the task at hand.
You lose focus, just as you lose the ability to handle a lot of different information,
and you can’t do a good job, because it’s so difficult to concentrate on the things
that matter.
The area of best performance is in the middle of the range, between low pressure
and high pressure. Here, you are motivated enough to do what you need to do,
but your attention is not stretched too thinly by competing demands.

Tip:
Be careful to distinguish between stress and pressure here.
Pressure can be good, if it motivates you to perform better. Stress, by
definition, is bad. It’s the feeling that you’re losing control, and it can be
very harmful.

Action:
To see how pressure has a positive impact on your performance, answer the
following questions.

Think of a time when you performed badly because you were under-motivated. How could you have
motivated yourself to perform better?

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 Now think of a time when you performed exceptionally well. What level of pressure did you feel?

Think of a time when, no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t hold things together. What could
have helped you in this situation?

To improve your productivity, the first step is to manage the amount of pressure
you work under. You can then concentrate on areas where you experience too
little, or too much, pressure.
If you’re a calm person who isn’t daunted by high-pressure situations, you may
need to place extra demands on yourself, or have others hold you accountable in
order to improve your productivity. If you are highly affected by pressure, or if you
have lots of stress on you already, then you may need to look at ways to reduce
those pressures in your life.

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 Action:
Think of a task that you recently struggled with, because you were under too
little, or too much, pressure. What could you have done to experience the
optimum amount of pressure in this situation?
Write your thoughts down in the box below.

Task:

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3.  Productivity and Strategic Priorities

T
o perform at your best, you need more than just the optimal amount
of pressure. You also need to work on the tasks that are truly the
most important.
It’s very easy to get sidetracked by activities that seem urgent, or those that
you perceive to be more interesting. However, your overall productivity declines
when you fritter your time away on non-strategic tasks.

What are Strategic Tasks?

Do you know what your strategic tasks and responsibilities are?
A task should further your personal, department, or company’s overall objectives
and mission for it to be considered strategic.
For instance, it’s very important that you give team members feedback and
direction on their work. It’s also important that you keep an orderly work space.
However, if everyone in an organization did only support tasks like these, how
likely is it that the company would grow, develop, and achieve its objectives?

Action:
Take some time to think about what you do on a daily basis. Think about what
is strategically focused, and what is not.
First, write down how you help your company achieve its strategy, in the box
below. What are you responsible for? What must you ensure gets done?

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 Action:
Next, complete the table below. To do this:
• List the tasks that you carry out regularly.
• Record the approximate percentage of your time that you allocate to
each duty or task.
• Decide whether each task is strategic or non-strategic, and check the
appropriate column.
• Tally the percentage of time you spend on strategic versus
non-strategic functions.

Duties/Tasks/Projects/ Responsibilities % of Time Spent Strategic Non-Strategic

Doing

Total Percentage of Time Spent % %

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What is your result? Are you spending your time wisely on strategic tasks? Or are
you spending a worryingly large amount of time on non-strategic activities?
If you aren’t, you need to make a plan to redirect your efforts towards your
strategic priorities, and delegate as many of your non-strategic activities
as possible.

Tip:
There are many tools and techniques that you can use to redirect your efforts
towards your strategic priorities. Start with our article on prioritization, and
then explore other helpful tools in our Time Management section.

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4.  Productivity and Flow

T
he last thing that we’re going to look at in this session is the concept of
“flow.” Earlier, we saw that you perform best when you experience an
optimal level of pressure. When you’re in a state of “flow,” you maintain
this level.
Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi described flow as, “… being completely
involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action,
movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing
jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”
When you experience pressure at the right level, and when you work on high
priority tasks, you’re more likely to enter into a state of flow. You can then
concentrate on your most important tasks, and work without distraction. You put
all of your energy and resources to productive use – you don’t fight adverse stress,
you’re not torn between competing priorities, and you think clearly, without being
interrupted by “negative self-talk.”
To use the idea of flow to improve your productivity, you need to focus on the
highest priority tasks, and cut away the chaos, confusion, and distractions that
break your focus. But, in an office environment, with people all around you, with
regular interruptions, and with new projects and ideas thrown at you every day,
how can you be expected to get into flow?
First, you need to examine the factors that break concentration. What sorts of things
happen to you throughout the day that cause you to stop what you are doing and
focus on something else? Or, what causes you to be unable to concentrate at all?
Here are some common flow interrupters. As you read about them, think about
how these elements impact your ability to focus.
• Too much stress – you can’t concentrate properly on anything when your
stress levels are too high. One of the most common sources of stress at
work is feeling that you have too much to do.
• Interruptions and distractions – this happens all the time at work. You’re
busy working away and someone barges into your office; the phone rings;
or you see the notification that tells you that you have received another
email. It’s easy to be lured away from your work when you’re not totally
immersed in your task, and regaining concentration after a distraction can
take several minutes.
• Negative thoughts – negative thoughts can crowd your mind and cause
you to lose your concentration when you’re under a lot of stress. You start
to think about how you are going to fail, how you are inadequate, and all
the ways in which your skills fall short of other’s expectations; and you

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 get angry with the people who put you in this position. It’s like a negative
stream of noise that runs through your mind continuously.
• Uncomfortable work environment – an uncomfortable work
environment can affect your ability to focus. The position of your desk
might mean that you’re easily distracted by people passing; your chair or
desk height might be uncomfortable; the office might be too hot or too
cold; or the space might not be well lit.
• Poor nutrition – When you don’t eat breakfast, or drink enough water,
you may struggle to concentrate. Dehydration can make you feel tired,
irritable, slow, or even sick, and it’s much harder to concentrate when
you’re hungry. When your brain doesn’t have enough energy or enough
fluid, it can’t operate at peak performance.
Given this, flow is easiest to achieve when:
• You have enough pressure on you to stay engaged.
• You believe that your skills are good enough to perform well.
• You have distractions under control.
• You attend to your performance, rather than analyzing and critiquing it.
• You are relaxed and alert.
• You think positively, and have eliminated all negative thoughts.
• You make sure that your work environment is comfortable.
• You are well hydrated and have eaten a nutritious breakfast.

Action:
Take some time now to think about the things that break your flow at work.
Then review the links at the end of the table on page 12 to find out how you
can deal with these.

What sources of stress do you experience frequently?

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List some ways that you can deal with them.

What frequent sources of distraction and interruption do you experience?

What can you do to deal with these? (For instance, could you say “no” more often, delegate tasks,
prioritize better, or change your work environment?)

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 What negative thoughts and worries distract you?

What can you tell yourself to refute each one?

Helpful Resources
Here are some links that will help you concentrate better. You can also browse our
time management and stress management sections for other, relevant resources.
Stress:
• The Stress Busters Bite-Sized Training™ includes techniques that you can
use to develop action, acceptance, and emotion-oriented strategies to
cope with stress.
Distractions and interruptions:
• The Beating the Time Bandits Bite-Sized Training™ gives helpful tips on
how to deal with interruptions, how to prioritize your To-Do List, and how
to keep meetings on track.
• The Essential Time Management Bite-Sized Training™ helps you learn how
to delegate, prioritize, and change your work environment, so that you can
take control of your schedule.
Negative thinking:
•
Our article on Thought Awareness, Rational Thinking, and Positive
Thinking helps you deal with a negative mindset.
• The ABC Technique can help you be more optimistic.

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5.  Key Learning Points

T
o improve your productivity, you first need to understand how you can
manage the pressure you experience to boost your performance at work.
Then you must zero in on your most important tasks, so that you work as
much as you can towards long-term objectives.
Finally, you need to manage distractions, so that you can enter a state of “flow.”
Make sure that you use the strategies that we’ve highlighted in this session – you’ll
get more done, and you’ll feel great too!

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