How To Boost Your Productivity 20

1. (Re-) Set your goals. Prioritisation cannot be done in a vacuum, it needs to be done against a higher focus i.e. your goals. Ensure these are not solely work based.
2. Decide the tasks which need to be done to support these goals. Given your goals, some of these tasks will be work based  but some should clearly be personal/family/you/'Life' based.
3. Sort the goals i.e. prioritise them according to impact on achieving your goals. Consistently search for the vital few  (i.e. high return for least effort) tasks rather than the trivial many.
4. Find your work style. Morning person? Evening person? Short, sharp bursts? Steady, consistent? Once discovered, create a day and environment that supports that style as much as possible e.g. do your best to not be stuck on an over-crowded commuter train during your peak 'doing' time.
5. Each 'end of working day' before leaving for home, ask these questions: What's important about tomorrow? About next week? About next month? The answers will stretch your planning horizon, getting you anticipating, spreading the work-load and avoiding crises of work and unnecessary surprises.
6. Whatever your style, we all benefit hugely from the 'deep-dive' work period. Incredible concentration and high output. This needs to be totally distraction-free which is increasingly harder to do in times of beeping e-mail and accessible data. Switch it all off for a while.
7. Remember the mind-body connection. For us knowledge workers we consider our mind to be the producer of productivity. True. But the body must be at its best to support that mind. Stop to stretch, walk, get fresh air and drink some water. Take proper breaks.
8. Organise systems so that you can get what you need quickly whether it is a fresh seet of paper for the printer or the client's file. 
9. Remember efficiency vs. effectiveness. Efficiency is getting things done. Effectiveness is getting the right things done. Hence the reason for number 1 above.
10. Remember strategy vs. tactics. Ask the question: do I need to get more detailed here? Or in fact, am I so detailed that I am losing the wood for the trees?
11. Remember decision vs. action. It is easy to make a decision 'I will do more prospecting to find new business'. It is the action (picking up the phone) which causes increased productivity.
12. Remember meeting vs. indulgence. A meeting with little or no output is an indulgence. 'N' people for 'm' minutes at 'x' cost.  What's the RoI?
13. Remember bullet vs. narrative. The increasing tendency to brief by sending someone a slide-deck while easy, perhaps even efficient is not productive. People need a joined-up brief. Invest the time for a proper return.
14. Avoid fatigue at all costs. Its impact on efficiency may not be that dramatic initially but its harm to creativity is frightening.
    
15. Real breakthroughs in productivity come from being creative: seeing the fresh angle. That requires energy and reflection time. Protect them at all costs.
16. Allow regular re-focus time. And go back to 1,2 and 3.
17. Have a list but just one list. Of all you want to do and have to do.
18. Have a schedule.  Of when you plan to do things.
19. In essence productivity is what and when. Work at getting those two elements to be at their best.
20. Remember that ultimately productivity is a philosophy. It is knowing what is important to you and allowing your mind to work at its optimum to release the best version of you. It is unlikely to be (solely) a bit of software nor an additional bit of hardware.