I agree with the majority of things discussed, rethinking timeslots, how you approach deadlines, and things that are really needed to be done, will no doubt make us more productive.

Also checkout the Rework Book, which these ideas come from.

1. Distractions, everywhere.
You can’t get anything done at work, you have to do work ‘before work’, or ‘after work’ when there are no people you can – but not ‘at work’ times.

Meetings, end up being the bain of your life, perhaps take the view that if not providing content of interest to you/your work, then most are a waste of time. How often in meetings do the people attending actually care about the subject?

A lot of work you need to do doesn’t fit in the small available timeslots that you have in your day.

The simple fact is that the work days ultimate enemy of productivity is interruptions and distractions.

2. You are working too hard

More hours do not equal more done, it just appears that you are getting more done (to other people, in their view).

Multitasking, if you can’t dedicate time to focus on one project then you won’t be doing your best.

Most organisations reward the wrong thing, a workaholic does not equal a hero. The culture of ‘look at X he pulled an all-nighter – isn’t he great’ should not exist)

Most deadlines are imaginary, don’t burnout, cool down

Productivity over time, is better than peaks just so you can hit goals

3. You are in over your head

Sometimes you put yourself in this position, you guessed a timeframe, but guess what your estimates suck.

You treat deadlines as a promise, not a best guess.

Things crop up in your schedule, like meetings. You are issuing time estmates based on ‘a perfect approach’. Sure you could do it in 3 full 8 hour days, but you don’t have any! (See Interruptions above)

It can be obvious why we give outselves bad dealines, people use ‘bad words’ ASAP, need, can’t, easy, fast – These corrupt the natural reasonable time it would take to do a job, we change our deadline due to the pressure in place.

The word easy, is something someone else uses to describe your job/task ‘Can you make a quick change, that’s easy right?’

There can be a sense of false emergency, neither true or required Is a Friday deadline really worth it, who’s going to look at it over the weeekend etc?

5. You have to take charge
There is a personal responibility for your own productivity, decisions are progress.  There is a choice if you see that you are not going to hit the deadline

Remember, that sometimes good enough is fine.

What ever happens, not making decisions = bad (for you, and everyone). Do not be tempted to put your head in the sand.

Do less, most things can be droppped and it won’t matter. Take a look at your list of priorities and start to remove out items that aren’t really required.

Deadlines, can helps focus your mind.

• What can you drop?
• What is really necessary?

Part of this is about setting up the right cultural environment

Always keep goals in mind, restate the problem, and maybe considering giving up. By being able to walk away from X, you might be able to allow Y to continue.

Your results show value, not the time you have spent at work.

Again, these aren’t my idea’s – all come from the Rework book, from 37 Signals.