Productivity Hacks

Since “Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere” , here are a few productivity hacks to being more productive, which LinkedIn Influencers shared with their followers.

T. Boone Pickens recommends that a good, old-fashioned conversation can make you more productive. It’s important to know what people are hearing, reading, and thinking.

“Talking generates ideas, and it makes companies – and individuals – grow. People are not shy about expressing opinions. We enjoy being with each other. All of this reinforces our strengths. Although our goal is to reach an agreement among the group, I’m the decision-maker, if I have to be. More often than not, I don’t have to be.”

[source]                                  

Deepak Chopra suggests that you give the Law of Least Action a chance. Stop interfering with it. That is, if nature takes the shortest, most efficient route to accomplish things, then you should try to do the same with the decisions you make.  If you expand our awareness (through meditation, reflection, contemplation, and closely examining yourself) you will reach a level of the mind where least action can work much more efficiently.

“Your brain already operates by the Law of Least Action. Every electrical impulse traveling down a neuron, every chemical reaction leaping across a synapse, must obey this law. That implies that there is an efficient state of the brain as a whole. This, too, is a reality. If asked to add 2+2, your brain gives the answer instantly, unlike a computer, which must actually calculate any problem posed to it. The human mind works by a combination of insight, creativity, memory, quantum leaps of creativity, and other aspects unknown to computers. And much if not all of this is done according to the Law of Least Action.”

[source]

Gretchen Rubin says that the 1 Minute Rule, has changed her dynamic of life.

“Do, without delay, any task that can be finished in one minute. Hang up my coat, read a letter and toss it, fill in a form, answer an email, note down a citation, pick up my phone messages, file a paper, put the magazines away…and so on.

Because the tasks are so quick, it isn’t too hard to make myself follow the rule—but it has big results. Keeping all those small, nagging tasks under control makes me more serene, less overwhelmed.”

[source]

Michael F. dares you to go somewhere on the edge of familiar if you want a Big Idea. Whether it’s to satisfy a life ambition or just break through a thorny problem at work, inspiration is something you can’t bottle or buy. It comes or it doesn’t.

“Give inspiration the best chance to strike by going someplace you know enough about for some recognition but not so much that it’s wrapped up in your personal life or history. For me, that’s a coffee shop I frequent maybe six times a year or a restaurant I’ve been to once or twice. From a psychological perspective, these places don’t have the distracting properties of the shiny and new but neither do they carry the lulling qualities of my couch at home.”

[source]

Arne Sorenson advises you to use visuals. Even as a presenter, you are prepared and offering a great idea, make sure to share it in a way so that no one will miss your Next Big Thing.

“Meetings are not about a table and chairs. Envision presentations as a performance. Rethink the space as your stage. Instead of conference room 200B, have everyone meet in the showroom or at the fire pit or on the roof. Use a color palette, use music, uses a hands-on demonstration. Executives are people too. They’ll get more excited about your idea if they are excited by your presentation.”

[source]