How wisely do you invest your time? Good investment of time comes down to prioritizing activities and choosing what we’re going to do next. In today’s fast-paced and technology driven world, top producers are simply great activity choosers. By mastering choice driven productivity, these top producers know when and where to invest their time for maximum output. In this article, I’ll share with you how you can master choice driven productivity to make the most of your day.

1. Learn When to Say No
An essential part of choosing activities is also knowing when to refuse activities. These are the activities that are fun to do but have low to no payoff. These are also the activities that come to us during the day from others in the form of chat messages, text messages, emails, phone calls, and drop-in visitors.
So if you often ask yourself, “where did my day go?”, then consider the following.
Learn to say no. Most people think saying no only means saying no to other people. The reality is that it begins with saying no to ourselves first. There is always the temptation to say yes to things that are fun, fast, and instantly rewarding. For me, it’s purging my email spam folder. This is a fun activity and one that is instantly gratifying, but it’s not something I should do first thing in the morning when I am most alert and focused.
2. Avoid the Temptation of Instant Reward
We also tend to welcome interruptions as an excuse for procrastinating on things that we just really don’t want to do. Examples might include the expense report you’ve been putting off, or responding to a customer complaint email. When we choose activities that tend to be instantly rewarding over those that have high-payoff, our productivity goes down.
What’s the best way to gain control of time and increase your productivity?
First, take some time to create clarity of purpose. Gain a clear understanding of your desired result before committing to the activity or task. Ask yourself, “Is this activity going to get me closer to the completion of a project or goal?” The skill of making effectual choices starts with this process.
Once clarity of your desired outcome has been established, it’s possible to choose and refuse daily activities to ensure the choices you make will drive productivity.
3. Prioritize Your Tasks with Color
Next, you must have a method to quickly prioritize your choices. In our book, Attack Your Day! Before it Attacks You, we suggest prioritizing your daily activities with the colors of a traffic light.
We assign the colors of the traffic light to three types of activities we deal with every day. Green, Yellow and Red.
Red = Urgent
Red means stop whatever you are doing and do the red activity as soon as possible. Activities that are classified as red are urgent and provide a high payoff, meaning they require some form of immediate action. Examples include; a project deadline, a customer complaint or a sudden demand from the boss.
Green = Go
A task classified as green means go. Green activities do not require an immediate response. In other words, they are not urgent but are value-adding activities and must be done to complete a project or achieve a desired goal. Greens are the majority of the activities you set out to accomplish when planning and arranging your day. Examples of green include; a customer call, creating proposals, building business relationships, exercise, research, team meeting, prospecting or other activities attached to a project or goal.
Yellow = Caution
Yellow means caution. They do not require immediate action like red. They may not be value-added activities like greens. But, yellow activities do need to be done at some point in the future, but not today, tomorrow, or maybe even this week.
Be aware: Sometimes yellow activities come to us wrapped in the context of counterfeit urgency, like when a co-worker drops in stating our help is needed right now! One of the challenges of technology today is that it can create false urgency. An email or instant message announced with a beep or an alarm can easily catch our attention and seem urgent, when often they are not urgent at all. When this occurs, remember that yellow means caution. They can and should be rescheduled for a later time that is more appropriate.
Think of yellow activities as your list of all future activities that need to be done.
Stay on track with your daily tasks, using MeisterTask.
4. Begin Each Day with a Prioritized Plan
Begin each day by color-coding your choices in both your work and personal life, asking yourself the following questions: What color is this activity and is this activity necessary for the completion of a project or goal?
Avoid the ricochet effect to stay on task. The ricochet effect is the human tendency to lose focus after an interruption. Interruptions break our continuity of thought. They can result in our failure to refocus on what we were doing before the distraction. This can minimize our effectiveness.
Making a prioritized list using red, green and yellow at the beginning of the day is a good way to correct this tendency. But be wary, this only helps if we keep the list visible at all times. When the list is constantly in our view, it serves as a tool to re-anchor our attention after an interruption. Sailing through the day without something to remind us to keep on task is like trying to navigate without a rudder.
So question all activities, interruptions, and distractions that come your way during the day and drive your productivity to new heights.
So there’s Mark Woods’ advice on how to manage your time and increase your productive output by color-coding your way to mastering choice driven productivity.
If you have any questions, comments or feedback, let us know in the comments below!
Discover productive task management
Sign up for MeisterTask
Great article, just what I was looking for.
Howdy! I could have sworn I’ve visited this blog before
but after browsing through some of the articles I realized it’s new to me.
Anyways, I’m definitely delighted I came across it and I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back frequently!
I blog quite often and I seriously thank you for your content.
This great article has really peaked my interest. I’m going to book mark your site
and keep checking for new information about once per week.
I subscribed to your Feed as well.
Pretty great post. I just stumbled upon your
blog and wished to say that I’ve truly loved surfing around your weblog posts.
After all I’ll be subscribing to your rss feed and I’m hoping you write
again soon!
Hi, I wish for to subscribe for this web site to obtain hottest updates,
so where can i do it please assist.
Theгe’s definately а lot to learn abоut thiѕ issue. I really likе aⅼl of
the points you’ve maɗe.
My blog … helathy
I’m truly enjoying the design and layout of your blog.
It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjogable for me to
come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme?
Fantastic work!
Take a look at my blog 3d architectural interior rendering services
For my thesis, I consulted a lot of information, read your article made me feel a lot, benefited me a lot from it, thank you for your help. Thanks!
I have read your article carefully and I agree with you very much. So, do you allow me to do this? I want to share your article link to my website: Log in
Ekonomik ve Kaliteli Kompresör
bi susar misin yaşam blog
Günümüzde termal kameraların gelişmesiyle birlikte drone termografisi özellikle endüstriyel alanlarda popülerlik kazanmıştır.
Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.
Thank you for great article. Hello Administ . Hacklink Panel Hacklink
Thank you for great content. Hello Administ. Hacklink Panel Hacklink
Nice article inspiring thanks. Hello Administ . Hacklink Panel Hacklink
After all, what a great site and informative posts, I will upload inbound link – bookmark this web site? Regards, Reader. Hacklink Panel Hacklink
Thank you great post. Hello Administ . Hacklink Panel Hacklink
Thank you for great content. Hello Administ.Click on the Keyword to Enter the Website. Canlı Casino Siteleri
Hi, just required you to know I he added your site to my Google bookmarks due to your layout. But seriously, I believe your internet site has 1 in the freshest theme I??ve came across. Click on the Keyword to Enter the Website. Bahsegel
Good info. Lucky me I reach on your website by accident, I bookmarked it. Click on the Keyword to Enter the Website. Onwin
Everything is very open and very clear explanation of issues. was truly information. Click on the Keyword to Enter the Website. Wonodd
Thank you great posting about essential oil. Hello Administ .Click on the Keyword to Enter the Website. tipobet
Hi, just required you to know I he added your site to my Google bookmarks due to your layout. But seriously, I believe your internet site has 1 in the freshest theme I??ve came across. Hacklink Panel Hacklink
I am sorting out relevant information about gate io recently, and I saw your article, and your creative ideas are of great help to me. However, I have doubts about some creative issues, can you answer them for me? I will continue to pay attention to your reply. Thanks.
Nice article inspiring thanks. Hello Administ . Hacklink Panel Hacklink
Everything is very open and very clear explanation of issues. was truly information. Hacklink Panel Hacklink
Thank you for great article. Hello Administ . Casibom Resmi Adresimiz için Tıklayin. ! casibom
Great post thank you. Hello Administ . Casibom Resmi Adresimiz için Tıklayin. ! casibom
Everything is very open and very clear explanation of issues. was truly information. Casibom Resmi Adresimiz için Tıklayin. ! casibom
Good info. Lucky me I reach on your website by accident, I bookmarked it. Casibom Resmi Adresimiz için Tıklayin. ! casibom
Nice article inspiring thanks. Hello Administ . deneme bonusu
Thank you for great content. Hello Administ. Casibom Resmi Adresimiz için Tıklayin. ! casibom
Thank you great post. Hello Administ . Casibom Resmi Adresimiz için Tıklayin. ! casibom
Good info. Lucky me I reach on your website by accident, I bookmarked it. Casibom Resmi Adresimiz için Tıklayin. ! Deneme Bonusu Veren Siteler
Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good. https://www.binance.com/pt-BR/register?ref=B4EPR6J0
Thank you for great article. Hello Administ .Onwin , Onwin Giriş , Onwin Güncel Giriş , Tiklayin. Onwin
Thank you for great information. Hello Administ . Onwin , Onwin Giriş , Onwin Güncel Giriş , Tiklayin. Onwin
Everything is very open and very clear explanation of issues. was truly information. Onwin , Onwin Giriş , Onwin Güncel Giriş , Tiklayin. Onwin
Everything is very open and very clear explanation of issues. was truly information. Onwin , Onwin Giriş , Onwin Güncel Giriş , Tiklayin. Onwin
Thank you for content. Area rugs and online home decor store. Hello Administ . Onwin , Onwin Giriş , Onwin Güncel Giriş , Tiklayin. Onwin
Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Onwin , Onwin Giriş , Onwin Güncel Giriş , Tiklayin. Onwin
Hi, just required you to know I he added your site to my Google bookmarks due to your layout. But seriously, I believe your internet site has 1 in the freshest theme I??ve came across. Onwin , Onwin Giriş , Onwin Güncel Giriş , Tiklayin. Onwin
I may need your help. I’ve been doing research on gate io recently, and I’ve tried a lot of different things. Later, I read your article, and I think your way of writing has given me some innovative ideas, thank you very much.
Thank you for great content. Hello Administ. Onwin , Onwin Giriş , Onwin Güncel Giriş , Tiklayin. Onwin
Everything is very open and very clear explanation of issues. was truly information. Onwin , Onwin Giriş , Onwin Güncel Giriş , Tiklayin. Onwin
Good info. Lucky me I reach on your website by accident, I bookmarked it. Onwin , Onwin Giriş , Onwin Güncel Giriş , Tiklayin. Onwin
Hi, just required you to know I he added your site to my Google bookmarks due to your layout. But seriously, I believe your internet site has 1 in the freshest theme I??ve came across. Onwin , Onwin Giriş , Onwin Güncel Giriş , Tiklayin. Onwin