Our brains are designed to work only on a single task at a time. More the distraction/switching of task, less will be the productivity. The ability to concentrate single-mindedly on your most important task, to do it well and to finish it completely is the key to great success, achievement, respect, status and happiness in life.

You will can’t complete everything and few things will always be left behind. 80% of the impact/success is achieved by just 20% of the work. Productivity is about finding the 20% work and prioritizing it above the rest of 80% items.

People who take a long term view of their lives and careers always seem to make much better decisions about their time and activities than people who give very little thought ot the future. Successful people always thing 5-10 years ahead in future.

Everyone procrastinates, difference here is choosing what to procrastinate on. Keep procrastination on something which is not very valuable till the time it can be delayed.

Say no to everything that is not vital at the moment - Warren Buffet

While prioritization mark each item with either A B C D or E

• A => Items that are most important.
• B => Items that I should do.
• C => Items that are nice to have.
• D => Items that can be delegated.
• E => Items that can be eliminated.

• Create goals for your year, month, week and day in advance.
• Goals should sorted in the order highest impact.
• Goals should be realistic, achievable and trackable.

Defining the goals is only 1% of the task but to achieve them we have to define a process which can be repeated again and again to achieve the target. For example:

If the process is correct and you keep on repeating the process everyday it will eventually get you to your goal.

1. Schedule blocks on your calendar for the items in the priority order on your calendar. Do remember to mark out items like meetings which can’t be deferred.
2. Schedule frequent breaks between 2 work sessions to give rest to your brain.
3. Schedule leisure time activities and errand on your calendar.
   For example this is how my day looks like:

It takes some time to get into the flow state and its harder to maintain the flow state for a long duration of time. I block the calendar in 90 mins blocks as it takes me 20-30 mins to get into the flow state, and I am able to maintain it for next 1 hour.

Place at which you work for should be neat, clean and a place you would love to sit for several hours in a day. So make sure that your work location is such a place and put an extra effort to clean your place before starting the work. Also ensure that the place of working is comfortable and you have all necessities to keep you working for next 90 minutes.

1. Find a quite place to work with no distractions.
2. Keep your cellphone away.
3. Go on do not disturb for the next working session in your laptop to avoid notification popups.

Before starting to work on an item, ensure all the dependencies are fullfilled so that you can work on it without waiting on someone/something else.

• Ensure you have the right skill set to do the task. If not schedule another task to upskill yourself.
• Ensure you have all the documents and information you might need.

Sticking to your calendar is productivity, the better your planning is the better you will be able to stick to it. Always keep realistic plan. If you need longer breaks or cant focus for long then let your calendar reflect the same while planning.

Sticking to schedule is not easy and requires will power for everyone. Though we are in 21st century our brain is still wired as that of a caveman, where it is trying to conserve energy at all cost. This is the reason why we need will power and overcome our ancestor’s neurological pathways.

Our mind is not made to focus on multiple items, it is designed to be focused only one on task at hand.