OR

how to beat the three most

dangerous productivity
threats

Brought to you by

Look at your neighbors desk. Does your

colleague seem worry-free and always ends
his or her workday at five oclock on the dot?
Manage to avoid overworking

Then theres a big chance that your colleague is among

the lucky 13% of workers who manage to avoid overworking.
You, on the other hand, have an 87% chance of overworking
at least 1 hour per week.
Overwork

Our feelings about those extra hours vary. For some industries a strict 40 hour week is not an option. Even if your company typically sticks to` a 40 hour work week, there are situations when you might need to stay a couple of extra hours to
make sure everything is set and ready. But if overworking
leaves you stressed, it might hurt your productivity.

So, what if you and your teammates could work less and, at the
same time, get more done more during the day? To accomplish
this you just need to gure out a way to make ALL the time you
spend at work productive.

How
How can
can this
this simple
simple e-book
e-book help
help you
you with
with that?
that?
First, armed with the results of multiple research studies, including our own, well introduce you to the three most dangerous productivity killers. This introduction, however, would
be TBU (true-but-useless), unless backed up by some action
items. Thats why well also provide you with an arsenal of
weapons to get rid of these threats once and for all.

Meet Tim, an average manager who

has been recently assigned to run a
marketing team. Though he has their
best interests at heart, Tim doesnt
seem to use his team to their fullest
potential.

Now, lets imagine theres a better version of him who happens to know a
couple of useful tricks and scientically
proven techniques that help him transform the way his new team operates
and thinks. Lets call him Tom.

To get the knack of each productivity killer, youll see it

through two stories: Tims and Toms. By the end of each chapter, youll nd a useful tip box that will help you make the
Toms insights even more practical. So, without further ado, let
us introduce you to the rst of the three most notorious productivity killers.

Share this book:

Chapter 1

IT WILL ONLY TAKE A MINUTE!

Problem: Interruptions
Its half past one. Tim needs to nish a presentation for his client meeting by 3 p.m.
At this moment his colleague Rachel, a designer, comes to his desk to
show the brochure shes been working on and ask Tims opinion on the
general color scheme. Surely, it will only take a minute. Fifteen minutes
later, Tim is trying to get back to his presentation, when Josh, from the
business intelligence team, rushes in to him to share how frustrated he
is with the necessity to add the extra graphs to the monthly report.
Trying to continue working on the presentation in the background, Tim
ensures Josh that its a forced necessity and will pay off. After a while
Josh leaves, and just when Tim manages to get his focus back, the phone
rings and it takes Tim ten more minutes to give his telecommuting colleague some clarications on the latest assignment. Frustrated by the
call, Tim checks his e-mail inbox and nds himself answering a journalist who asks to send her a couple of promo pics from his latest ad campaign.
Some minutes later Tim looks at the clock. Its half past two, and he still
has at least half way to go with the presentation.

oc
t
k
c
ti

?
?

In Wrikes recent survey we asked almost 2,000 men and women

what they consider to be the biggest threat to their daily productivity. Interruptions were a clear winner with more than 80%
of the votes. Anyones groove can be easily ruined by another
task or even a non-working issue, and studies show that it takes
20 minutes on average to get your focus back!

Guess how often interruptions typically

happen?
Be it a disturbing noise, a phone call,
or a colleague's question, your
concentrations is under threat to be
broken every 8 minutes!

5 p.m.

9 a.m.

During the day you are distracted 60 times!

So, what can be done to deal with this sneaky productivity killer?

SOLUTION
SOLUTION
1

Filter interruptions as they arise

Tom knows that the ability to inhibit the possible distractions helps to
save focus and time. He is well familiar with Coveys time management
matrix and uses it to divide the potential interruptions into four boxes
based on their importance and urgency.

Urgent

Not urgent

Important

Last-minute xes for the feature

release, sending the statistics for
the presentation in progress

Professional training activities,

update list of potential clients,
draft marketing plan

Not important

Off topic phone calls and e-mails

Results of the yesterdays game,

reading through RSS feeds

Not important + not urgent

These are the easiest ones, so Tom saves them for lunch and scheduled watercooler
breaks. He also encourages his team mates to do the same.

Urgent + not important

Theres time for collaboration and theres time for staying fully focused on your task.
Tom knows it. So instead of answering the ringing phone, he lets an administrative
assistant pick it up and ask the telecommuting teammate to call back in a couple of
hours. To keep his ow, Tom puts on his Beats and listens to his favorite music. He
knows that if something really important happens, his teammates would reach him
directly via his personal phone or drop by his desk.

Important + not urgent

Realizing that these matters affect his teams long-term goals and success, Tom leaves
sufcient time for their completion. He creates a task in the task management system
he uses so that it doesnt slip out of his sight. Then he sets time the next week to deal
with it.

Important + urgent
Yes, this deserves Toms attention. Armed with knowledge about dual-task interference, he knows that his brain can successfully deal with only one issue at a time, so
he tackles the arising issues one by one.

Before yelling, try telling

DO
NOT

DISTURB

His teammates are no psychics and Tom knows it. So he

makes sure they are aware of the pressing presentation hes
working on at the moment. Following the example of nurses
who wore special vests to let their colleagues and patients
know they are busy preparing medication and cant be distracted, Tom puts a do not disturb sign on his desk and in his
Skype status. He also lets his colleagues know in the groups
chat that hell be busy for the next couple of hours.

Compare Tim and Tom when the clock strikes three. Tim, who was constantly distracted, has only 20 out of 30 slides ready, keeps working on
the presentation until the very last moment and, as a result, is late to the
meeting and stressed. This becomes a mental distraction, and Tim
doesnt have his best to give during the presentation. As you can imagine, the client isnt very impressed.
Tom, on the contrary, nishes the presentation 15 minutes early and has
time to drink a cup of coffee and get in the right mood for the meeting.
Condent and ready, his verbal and body language communicate condence, presence and charisma. As a result of the meeting, Tom gets a
fruitful contract for his company.

http://www.wrike.com/

How Wrike can help you

1
Use the timer in the task to
let your colleagues know
about the important/urgent
matter you are currently
working on. Once you click
play, the task you are working on is automatically broadcasted to the Activity Stream
(real-time project news feed).

2
Mention your colleagues
name in the tasks comments to draw their attention to your question without interrupting them. Your
colleague will later notice
the mention and will answer
as soon as they have time.

3
Mark the important but not
urgent tasks as backlogged
without the need to set a
strict due date. Youll be able
to prioritize them and set
time to deal with them.

Chapter 2

DUE TOMORROW? DO TOMORROW!

Problem: Procrastination
Tim has two tasks he cant make himself start working on.
First is a global nancial conference he has to plan.
Its been hanging over his head for the last two
weeks. But every time he opens the document
to start planning, he just stares at the
blank page and then switches to
another less pressing task. He also
needs to sort through all the business cards he brought home
from the recent conference.
The task seems simple but
Tim keeps postponing it, and
now it has become almost
awkward to act on them.

The productivity killer Tim is facing in this chapter came as the second most
dangerous one in our survey. No wonder. Statistics show that as much as 95%
of people admit that they procrastinate at least occasionally. And for 20% of us
its a chronic problem.

95%

of people admit
that they procrastinate
at least occasionally

20%

of us are chronic
procrastinators.

The rst question you need to answer is Why?

Why do we keep postponing a task till the very last minute and create
for ourselves a whole bunch of extra problems. To say nothing of
stress and panic. Once you gure out why you are procrastinating, you
can decide how to deal with it.

The reason why Tim keeps postponing planning the conference is that the task is too big and complex. When we are
faced with such a task we just dont know where to start, so
we never do. So, how would Tom handle it?

Split it into several small actionable items

Tom knows that it will be easier to manage a task if he splits it
into several small actionable items that he can handle right
away. So he starts with making a guest list and then assigns his
assistant to look for the conference venue. He also creates a task
Send out the invites in his task management software. He now
feels that the conference monster is not that scary any more.

Try using the 3+2 rule

Tom follows the advice of developer Jakub Stastny and
com-pletes 3 big and 2 small tasks and calls it a day. Today,
world domination can wait.

The reason why Tim cant make himself sort through the business cards is that the task seems too boring and meaningless
to him. What can Tom do about it?

Reward yourself
Keying in business cards from the conference can be repetitive
and boring. But often tasks like that are necessary. So, to get
through this task Tom promises himself a hot cup of his favorite coffee in the nearby coffee shop. You just need to nd your
own trigger.

Create a competition
Spice the things up a little. A quick piece of advice from Tom:
why not compete with a colleague on who nishes the
monthly report rst? You can also compete with yourself and
do the same task 3x faster with no harm to quality.

Take short breaks

Sometimes taking a short break is more rewarding than making
yourself work through with gritted teeth, and Tom knows it.
Instead, he takes a 5 and recharges his productivity.

Toms choice:

Rock productivity with music!

Charge your brain with a quick snack

Music with an upbeat rhythm

can reduce stress by as much
as 41%

79% of workers believe coffee

breakes make them more
productive

Get away from your desk

Regular, short exercise helps
53% of employees to feel more
active throughout the day

http://www.wrike.com/

How Wrike can help you

1
Nothing motivates like the
actual look of the well-done
job. Break down your big and
complex project into actionable tasks and mark them
complete one by one. You can
then visualize your progress
on the Gantt chart and see
what else you have left to
accomplish.

2
Use time-tracking to see how
fast you can complete a
not-so-exciting but recurring
task next time (with no harm
to the quality, of course).

3
If you have several tasks to
complete, prioritize them in
your to-do list and avoid multitasking.

Share this book:

Chapter 3

It should be done byYESTERDAY!

Problem: Inaccurate planning
Its not the rst time when Tim encounters a task that
took him twice the amount of time to complete as he
had planned. This time it was a clients product
launch. He cant understand when Dont worry, we
still have time to deal with it! turned into How can
this task be two weeks overdue?

SOLUTION
SOLUTION
Take it one step at a time
Its impossible to foresee all the emergencies and
details from the very beginning.
So Tom starts with creating a framework for the
project. He opens the task management software
and sets the major goals and milestones. He knows
that a xed time frame is important for the teams
motivation, as it creates the needed level of positive stress. So he sets due dates for every milestone.
However, Tom understands that along the way, hell
be able to adjust the schedule and add more specic due dates based on the project details he gets.

Replace micromanagement with self-organizing

Tom believes his team members are competent and responsible enough to take care of their own tasks, so he doesnt mind
sharing some planning power with them ;-) After all, a little
trust can pay off and bring great results.
During the planning phase, he lets his team members set
their own action items based on the dened goals. Their expertise will help them establish the possible roadblocks, opportunities, and develop a realistic schedule. And, as a bonus,
this will increase their sense of responsibility and will let
them know Tom trusts and believes in them; and thats priceless.

http://www.wrike.com/

How Wrike can help you

1

Add your projects milestones to the Gantt chart

and make sure to plan the rst one in detail.
Once your project progresses, youll be able to
add new tasks to the chart. And if there're any
changes along the way, you can easily adjust the
schedule with a simple drag-and-drop.

Encourage your team members to pick and

assign tasks to themselves. Meanwhile, youll be
able to keep an eye on the tasks progress in the
Activity Stream and be ready to step in if needed.

CONCLUSION
Tim and Tom have gone a long way to ght the most notorious productivity killers. Its up to you to decide whos done better ;-) However, staying productive throughout the day is easier than it may
seem. With these proven techniques and a little help from the right
task management software your team can nish more work in less
time, and easily become productivity superheroes.
Be victorious in your battle over productivity killers and have the
most productive day!
With love, your Wrike Team.

Task management software

that makes your life easier!
Start free trial