Wabi-sabi and other secrets of productivity

My last appointment of the day was a new consultation. CFO of a tech start-up wanted to know if I can coach him to focus better. Sometimes, vague as it may sound, being focused and productive is a challenge and that too, a big one now, given the chaos of technology and pressure of constant multitasking around us.

Ninety minutes later, we were ready to implement his plan of becoming more productive and focused. You can start setting the course with a pen and paper and implement these hacks for yourself, too.

Prioritise: This one trait has been much talked about and overlooked as much. Despite you deciding not to multitask, that one phone call, a WhatsApp text and a bit of social media break is enough to derail your focus. At the workplace, it's difficult not to be distracted. The easy way to manage it is to put everything in a time-based schedule. Remember school days when we used to make routines and write them in columns? In the same way, make everything on your day time-bound. Even if you reach 50% of completion with undivided attention, it would be a great achievement.

How do columns of planning help? It clears the clutter from "urgent action" to "not so important right now" and sets your priorities right. Then you need to assign time-frame to each activity. Stick to the committed time as much as possible.

Early riser: The bird that starts early collects most worms. Depending on your workplace arrival time, get up a little early. Global leaders swear by the technique of waking up an hour earlier and they accomplish more work in 24 hours. Think of this hour as undisturbed, peaceful "me time". Use this precious hour every day differently; you can take walk for an hour or listen to a podcast for learning new skills. As long as you are up and agile, the focus will only sharpen. Fiction writers may make fun of this habit because for a few, everything is about publicity.

Wabi-sabi: The one valuable lesson I learned in Japan was Wabi-sabi. Take things as they are and find beauty in them. Sounds philosophical, doesn't it? How acceptance increases productivity and focus? The annoying habits of a colleague or an unappreciative yet a demanding boss is sure to send your blood pressure through the roof. Once the clarity is established that people built differently but they have a positive side as well, then the focus shifts on getting the best out of them despite the drawbacks. Productive people look at results versus efforts.

Begin with end: Scholars say that start everything with a focus in mind as to how will it end. Let us take it a notch up. Before starting anything, think about why are you doing this task. Focus on the outcome. Once that outcome is your motivation to continue, single-minded efforts will be easy and fast. Sometimes, when the task is allotted but without your wish, thinking of why and how will it end is a quicker way to get it done with. You may not be motivated but the speed will do the trick. Timely finishing of not-so-favourite work will actually take the load off the mind.

Being productive and focused is pure practice. We do have a choice between being a lazy couch potato or running our heart out. We could multitask and jeopardise two tasks out of three or focus on one at hand, put our priorities crystal clear and learn to block the disturbance for a while.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Even the biggest oceans are composed of trillions of single drops. By incorporating small, incremental steps for bringing in a new change, you will succeed much faster rather than implementing a sudden, big change that brings discomfort and is more likely to demotivate. Now we know why all those crash diets crash quickly.

Over time, small changes and a little extra effort to maintain consistency will build up shape a new you. Isn’t that exactly how a New Year resolution should look like?

The writer is strategic advisor and premium educator with Harvard Business Publishing