The secrets of true productivity

14/03/2018

It’s no secret that busy professionals are inundated day-in, day-out with too many fruitless activities. Emails, meetings, reports, and all the other tasks designed to make us more productive, can often get out of control and become a hindrance.So how do you stop this from happening and get to a point where most of your day is spent on activities that have a positive impactCegos was delighted to host Juliet Funt, CEO of WhiteSpace at Work, on our recent webinar – The Secrets of True Productivity. Throughout the session, Juliet shared inspiring insights into how to achieve a more productive working day.

Watch a recording of the webinar here.

“We professionals are getting more uncomfortable with ‘the pause’,” says Juliet. “Our minds are overflowing and buzzing, and the pause is simply becoming a distant memory. The secret is that the pause is a formidable and necessary source of professional power."Juliet defines ‘the pause’ as a moment of reflective silence between activities which “provides the oxygen that allows everything else to catch fire.”It’s the very essence of the ‘WhiteSpace’ concept – a tool in the busy professional’s armoury used to fight against what Juliet calls the ‘tyranny of the urgent.’And it’s not just another frivolous business concept. As well as leading to burnout and drudgery, failing to allow for this WhiteSpace has real financial consequences.In a survey of professionals working for an international healthcare company, 32% of meetings were considered unnecessary, while 29% of cc’d and FYI emails were viewed as a waste of time. Work out the costs of that time to the company, and you are talking several thousand dollars per week. Add this to the loss of potentially great ideas that come with a relaxed state of mind, along with high turnover rates due to burnout, and you can see why this is no trivial issue.Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to fix this and help us professionals lead more productive and stress-free lives. One is to give yourself the freedom to follow your mind and think. Another is to ‘De-Crapify’ your workload by asking yourself the following questions

Is there anything I can let go of?
Where is ‘good enough’, good enough?
What do I truly need to know?
What deserves my attention?

Apply these questions to your email inbox, meeting schedule or report writing project and you’ll soon identify what can stay and, more importantly, what can go.Having a reductive mindset also gives you the space to think, pause and take stock. In turn, this leads to more innovation, creativity and productivity.Watch the webinar to discover more tools that help you discard pointless activities in favour of the rich work that really makes a difference. Juliet also answers some pertinent questions, such as:

How do we move away from the ‘work-per-hour’ culture towards a ‘results only’ work environment?
How do you get management sponsorship and buy-in for the WhiteSpace concept?
How do you re-educate a demanding client, so their demands don’t get in the way of you doing good work?

The webinar is packed full of useful advice, and we’re sure you’ll come away inspired to rethink the way you work. Changing to a ‘WhiteSpace’ mindset is difficult to do alone, so you may want to share the webinar with your colleagues. That way, you can all figure out a way to declutter your working day to become a more powerful and creative team.This webinar is part of an exciting run up to the live Cegos event, Brave New Ways of Working, which takes place in Singapore on 23rd March. Find out more and reserve your place here.