Once the planning phase is done, it’s execution time. This is where we spend most of our productive time. 

To make the most of this large chunk of our lives, I’d like to introduce you to the five E’s:

Effectiveness

Effectiveness (doing the right things) is the main reason for planning.

If you spend your time doing the wrong tasks (or just surrender to randomness), our next four E’s are powerless to help you.  

Engagement

Engagement is another vital reason for planning, particularly for the long term. 

If you manage to arrange your life so that your work is genuinely engaging, you’ll soon find that productivity becomes second nature. 

“Engagifying” your work takes time. You’ll need to be patient. But luckily, life is long 🙂 

Environment

Working should be as comfortable, convenient and natural as possible. 

For example, those doing most of their work on a PC should do everything in their power to optimize their workspace.  

Efficiency

Effectiveness is doing the right things. Efficiency is doing things right. 

There are five key elements to efficiency:

1. Focus. Constant task switching is terrible for efficiency, particularly distractions from your phone or social media. 
2. Tools. The right tool for the job can easily boost progress 10x. 
3. Expertise. If you don’t have it, get it. And if you don’t have time to get it, collaborate with someone who already has it. 
4. Order. Patiently build projects from the foundation up, resisting the urge to randomly start somewhere in the middle. 
5. Organization. Make sure you can easily find the right information whenever you need it. 

Energy

Our last E is rather enigmatic, perhaps even a bit esoteric. 

Learning to manage your energy is one of the most important objectives for anyone with some ambition in life.

Success in this area will allow you to not only make rapid progress, but sustain that rate of progress indefinitely. Such sustained productivity is a prerequisite for pursuing any worthwhile purpose in life. 

Respecting your limits and learning how to effectively recharge your batteries are two essential productivity hacks.

They’re so important, in fact, that they’ll get Thursday’s post all to themselves. 

Take stock

So, how do you fare with respect to the five E’s? Do they explain any difficulties you may have with getting things done?

Be sure to make the necessary adjustments. Having all five E’s firmly in place is genuinely awesome 🙂