Seems, that these days everybody is striving for productive life. We are looking for tools and methods to use our time most effectively. While this thinking is certainly better than my Monday laziness, it can lead to obsessive behavior, where you try be productive every second of the day. So, how can you be productive enough and still be able to catch a breath every once in a while?

Organize incoming communication (almost) on the fly

One of the common advices, when it comes to incoming communication, is to deal with it on the fly. While this can make you appear very responsive, it can make you interrupt your work almost every 3-4 minutes. On top of that, not all incoming communication is easy to deal with. Some things need investigation, tests or input from third side. Extra work needs extra time so schedule it accordingly. Don’t just jump out from what your are doing at the moment. Don’t be afraid to respond later.

Instead of replying to all communication the second it comes in, try to split it into two groups:
1) I can reply to this now
2) I need to think about it

But don’t do this on every beep. Do it periodically every n minutes depending of frequency of your incoming comm. Some may need to check email every 30 minutes (I wouldn’t go below that), others will be fine with every couple of hours.

Use blank time to (not to) work

Another popular advice is using blank times like when you are waiting for bus, on traffic lights, traveling or doing anything, that doesn’t fully utilize your brain power. I tried that, and it works well, but why should I do this? These moments could be your little spots of relax, when you open a good book or listen to music. You’ll be more refreshed and your have more energy to work when the time is right.

(Do not) Do everything yourself

I used to be the one-man-show guy. I built whole webpages including graphic design, html/css, javascript, php cause I wanted to enhance my skills in each field. Now I am done with it. Big projects taught me, that you should focus on tasks, that match your skill set or specialization. If you are a graphic designer and you struggle for hours to write 4 lines of php, you should get back to Photoshop and vice versa. Why? Lets say those 4 lines of code took you 2 hours and if you would hire and expert, it would take him 5 minutes (it usually does). This isn’t very productive, is it?

So unless you want to learn something new, you should work on you main skills. You’ll avoid wasting time (yours and others) and frustration. Important part of being productive is to know, when to step back and let others do what they are good at.