If you ask Canadian Chris Bailey what he did during the past year, he would answer, everything possible and impossible to become as productive he can be. As we wrote in a recent article, he decided to devote a year after graduating from university to various experiments within his project called A Year of Productivity.

Bailey performed a series of experiments, including, for example, using his cell phone only an hour a day for three months or working 90 hours a week for a month. He also read many books and wrote nearly two hundred articles himself, including many interviews with interesting people. More than one million people visited his website. Finally, he summed up his findings on productivity in the ten following points.

10. Work on tasks with the highest added value

In every area of our life (body, emotions, relationships, career, finance, etc.), there are a few tasks which bring the greatest value, i.e. the greatest return on your time and energy. Identify these tasks and focus on them.

9. Unfortunately, the biggest clichés are true

To be productive, you must master three techniques which you may not like, but which really work best: eat properly, sleep long enough and exercise.

8. Do not believe all the rules

The above-mentioned recommendations work for everybody, but then there is still plenty of great advice you need to try and assess whether or not it will be good for you. Do you perform best when you get up at five o'clock in the morning? Then keep on doing it. Are you a person who cannot do the most important tasks in the morning? Never mind!

7. Productivity increases with good habits

Learn to turn new behavior patterns into habits, and productivity will come automatically. Chris Bailey, for example, got used to getting up at 5:30 after some time, and then he got up at this time automatically. It was the same with establishing a new eating regime and other things.

6. An everyday productivity recipe includes three ingredients

These are time, energy, and attention. The true key to everyday productivity is to learn to work equally with all these three assumptions.

5. There are hundreds of tactics to achieve greater productivity

None of them is the only secret to productivity, we must all look at them and try them. Chris Bailey summarized one hundred tactics that worked best for him in this article.

4. Working longer and harder does not help

On the contrary, it paralyzes our productivity. Chris Bailey reached the same productivity when he worked four consecutive weeks for 90 hours as when he spent a month working 90 hours for one week and 20 hours another week. Working too long and too hard depletes our two vital resources - time and energy.

3. You should know why you are doing what you are doing

The answer to the question "why" is the basis of motivation. You need to know your values and what motivates you. Then work on your assignments accordingly. Being busy all the time is not the same as being productive.

2. Be kind to yourself

Achieving productivity requires a lot of effort, but not at the cost of putting excessive pressure on yourself. If most of what you say to yourself in your mind is negative, it is wrong. Be grateful for every occasion to improve and every success.

1. Productivity is about what you accomplish, not about what you produce

It's not about how many hours you worked, how many pages you wrote or read. Performing the tasks with greater value and contribution is more important. You should try to learn how to manage your time, energy and attention, and secure the sufficient resources needed for you to accomplish more.

-Kk-