Our time isn’t just precious; it’s limited. On average, summed, we work for 13 years and 2 months in our lifetime - that’s 4821 days. How productive we are within the days we have left will be a determining factor as to how deftly we move towards our goals.

And don't stress, you have plenty of time, Rome might not have been built in a day, but the code behind Stripe was.

So, why not mix curiosity with a bit of little effort, to see if there are tools, tech and tactics that could expedite the process?

The below sets out macro and micro moves to up your productivity game. Broken into verticles that make up the key tools and areas that enable our day-to-day office work.

If we missed anything, do come back to us, we love all conversations around productivity or good looking desks!

Time Management

Micro - Time block your week. This is probably the most common "hack" I hear CEO's say when it comes to productivity.

Consider each hour block in your calendar a token you will never get back, allocate each of them to best serve your purpose. Helps with switching bandwidth.

Macro - Hire a virtual assistant.

Off shore VA's become accessible to anyone who wants to delegate the little things. Onlinejobs.ph.

Email

Micro - work your email using the “Inbox Zero” methodology.

I’ll set out the quick-look version of how to do this below, but this YouTube video, although a small bit annoying, does a good job explaining the technical steps.

1. Create neat well-named folders; “Sorted”, “Read Later”, “Consider then Reply,” etc.
2. Hit your email early morning, lunch and afternoon in blocks.
3. Open your email, hit “V”, search the folder and hit enter, so it files.
4. Keep your inbox at zero, and work from the folders. You decide when you give your attention to emails - and others.

Macro - sign up (and pay) for Super Human email.

Meetings

Micro - Ensure you have digitally shared To Be Discussed (TBD) lists prior to every meeting (Google Docs, Coda, Notes, and Hugo are all great for this).

This simple move reduces the cognitive load at the beginning of a meeting. If there is no TBD list, either someone isn’t respecting your time, or the meeting does not need to happen.

Macro - Use Dubber to automatically generate transcripts, action items and rich summaries.

Extra; we love Calendy at A+R for a quick, easy and free scheduling tool. “Find my availability here… etc”

Mobile 

Micro - Below is a mini round-up of TikTok iPhone tips (GenZ positive):

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNE3g4to/

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNE3wGKQ/

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNE3Tg8m/

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNETeAoa/

Macro - Download the Forest App, and focus your time where it should be > your blocks (GenZ negative).

This App came highly recommended from an A+R customer. If you like tree's and getting your time back, it's excellent.

Project Management

Micro - Use a tool such as Coda.io to manage projects and teams.

Inside note: The A+R business plan was first written in Coda.

Macro - Study Agile project management via Oxford Online. Fairly affordable and crosses over to all work verticles.

Desk Set Up

Micro - Aubyn and Rose notebook cover set.

Macro - Aubyn and Rose desk mat.

Here is Harvard University on why a tidy desk makes you more productive.

Thank you, have a good week, Caspar.

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