3 Tips for Maximizing Productivity | Kathryn Minshew | Big Think

A couple tips I have for being the most productive version of yourself, since we all wish we could get more done. One is to really figure out when you do your best work. I think there's a classic expectation that we all start work at 9:00 and work at 5:00. That's the kind of way that it's always been done, but for many people that's not actually the case.

I know people who are incredibly productive in the morning and then have a slump in the afternoons. For me, I actually get really productive late at night. I can just sit on the couch with my laptop and just crank through things that would be challenging for me to do at other times. So my first tip is figure out when you personally are productive and then protect that time.

That actually leads really well into the second tip, which is to put up barriers. So for example, it's really hard when you're sitting at your desk or if you're somewhere where people have easy access to you to not get interrupted. Somebody has just one question or there's a fire that suddenly needs to be put out and you are the only one who can do it.

And so when I really need to be my most productive self, I will often physically put up barriers. So this can mean coming into work an hour late and just taking that time at home to really focus. It can mean actually booking a conference room, not for a call, but because I just need to be in the zone.

For one of my co-founders, she will actually sometimes have headphones that she'll put on whether or not she's listening to music because it actually lets her really zero in on time to just completely focus. And then my third tip for being your most productive self is to delegate like your job depends on it, which in effect it does.

I think that many of us suffer from what I might call superman syndrome, which is this idea that we have to do everything ourselves. But businesses are built up so that you can delegate, you can share work. Figure out what is it that's on your plate that potentially should be taken care of by somebody else on your team or another team.

Depending on your workplace, it can be a really useful opportunity to go to your boss and have a conversation about whether your priorities are the right ones or whether there's anything you can shift off your plate so that you can focus more deeply on something else.

At the end of the day, you've got to figure out what works for you, put up those barriers, and delegate so you can really get the absolute most important work done.