This article is written by Sandra Naranjo Bautista an independent consultant, founder of Better Govs and former minister and acting vice-president of Ecuador. A version of this article was first published by Better Govs

Congratulations! It’s 2021, and you’ve earned your professional juggler’s badge.

You’ve worked remotely full-time, home-schooled and taken care of your kids, done all the usual housework, all while staying calm and collected. Every step of the way has been urgent, and not a single step easy. Then again, you work in the public sector, so what’s new?

As civil servants, we are constantly putting out fires. Rarely is there time to plan or think before the next major event. Everything needs to be done yesterday. Current circumstances only amplify the conditions in which we already operate.

In this article, I share three tricks you can use to increase your productivity at work and regain your motivation. To complement this blog, I’ve created a step-by-step guide for actions you can start taking today.

Set your weekly and daily priorities

I know, I know. You may be thinking your problem isn’t a lack of clear priorities, but rather a lack of time. Trust me, I get it.

However, let’s consider that other scarce resource that very much relates to life’s priorities: money.

I have found that the more intentional you are about how you allocate your time, the more effective you will be at your work

Think of how national budgets work. The contents of a country’s purse often reflects a government’s priorities. The treasury decides which projects will receive resources over a certain period, based on a balanced budget. We do very much the same thing when we allocate our time based on a limited 24 hours period. The difference is that it is generally easier to keep track of dollars and cents than minutes and hours. Treasuries tend to be very specific about where money is going and for what purpose.

I have found that the more intentional you are about how you allocate your time, the more effective you will be at your work. Start by planning your week and writing down the things you need to get done. Record not just what you feel you need to get done, but what your intentions for getting them done are. Downloading this from your mind onto a piece of paper can be a very powerful motivator.

Once you have your weekly priorities laid out in this way, use that to guide your daily activities. I like to plan my next day the night before. It helps to reduce my anxieties about having too many things to do. My favorite part is crossing out what I’ve achieved. The feeling of accomplishment this gives only increases your motivation going forward into the next day, week, month and so on.

Replace your endless to-do list

One change I recently made to my planning routine — one that has worked out really well as it happens — came about after reading about CEO and blogger Michael Hyatt's concept of the “Big Three”. The idea is that a person structures their day around the three “big things” they wish to accomplish in a week or day in order to get the most satisfaction from their efforts. When I first heard of it, it sounded impossible to reduce my list to only three things. However, this strategy forces you to really focus and prioritise the most important tasks you didn’t realise you had. (You can download my notes from Hyatt’s book ‘Free to Focus').

Block-out space to work

We all need some time to work alone. No meetings, no interruptions, no distractions. Yes, this includes your phone and social media. The way to get things done is not just to have more time, but time in which to really focus.

Different things have worked for me at different stages in my career. When I worked at President Rafael Correa’s office between 2007 and 2012, I often worked late at night. As a minister, the best time for me to work was between 4-7am. This wasn’t ideal, but it allowed me to have some time to get things done before even getting into the office. Working this early also meant everyone in my team had my replies by the time they started their day. Find out what times of day work best for you to be your most productive, taking into account your family or personal situation.

Take care of yourself, five minutes at a time

I wasn’t very good at this, which is why I hope you can do it better. My average workday was 16 hours, and I could easily stretch it to up to 20 when needed. As you can imagine, this is neither great in the moment, nor sustainable in the long-run. I wish now that someone had warned me against pushing myself this hard earlier, but alas, “productivity tips” did not incorporate the same mental and physical health messages they do today.

To that end, I may have found something close to the “magic formula”, one I wish I knew about when I was in office.

‘Feel Better in Five’ by Dr. Rangan Chatterjee (If you haven’t read it already, I highly recommend it), is based on two main principles:

  1. That for positive change to happen, you have to plan to do it at your lowest level of motivation, not at your highest
  2. That a person needs to be well in their mind, body and heart.

Especially given the Covid-19 pandemic, talking about ourselves and our lives as unified “wholes” is more important than ever.

If you want to be productive, do more and make important things happen: find better ways to take care of yourself

The book gives you a series of five-minute “health snacks” to help you calm your mind, exercise your body, and strengthen your connections with others. For each of the three pillars — mind, body and spirit — there are five-minute exercises to choose from. You can start with one pillar and increase it gradually to three.

Think of these five minutes as a gift to yourself. The duration of the exercises make them easy to fit in our busy lives. To me it feels like pausing an action movie with the reassurance that you can press play again and it’ll still be there.

These are some examples for each pillar. For mind, you can do something you like or something that requires your focus, like playing music or coloring. For the body, you can simply dance for five minutes. For spirit, you could write down five things that you are grateful for. As you can see, the exercises are very simple and enjoyable (You can download my notes from the book with additional examples here).

Working as a public servant is very demanding, no question. That is why I often say to my team: “Your country needs the best version of you”. If you want to be productive, do more and make important things happen: find better ways to take care of yourself.

We need you for the long haul. – Sandra Naranjo Bautista

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