- A recent episode of Harvard Business Review’s IdeaCast featured Laura Mare Martin.
- Martin is the Executive Productivity Advisor at Google.
- Martin said overcommitment and a lack of intention can harm a person’s productivity.
Even the most diligent workers can struggle to complete all their tasks. Luckily, Google’s Executive Productivity Advisor knows why.
Laura Mae Martin appeared on Tuesday’s IdeaCast episode of Harvard Business Review, where she discussed how people can optimize their workdays.
The first barrier is overcommitment, Martin said.
“So I think we all fall into that trap sometimes, and it’s important to realize that it’s not always going to get you the best outcome,” Martin told HBR. “And so being really intentional about having space in your life and having space in your schedule, and I always tell people not to commit because you end up committing to the good level.”
To overcome overcommitment, Martin told HBR it can be helpful to identify your top three priorities daily, weekly and monthly.
“It’s important to call these things a simple commitment to yourself, but it’s also beneficial to share them with a team, a colleague, a spouse, whatever, because it helps define why you do things. you do and why it’s okay to say no to things that don’t really align with those priorities,” she said.
Laura Mae Martin said that overcommitment and lack of intention over time leads to loss of effectiveness. COROIMAGE/Getty Images
The second barrier Martin points out is becoming involuntary over time.
“And that might mean, number one, just adjusting the work time to where it is. And so, ‘I have meetings all morning, so I’m going to work in the afternoon,'” Martin said. “Well, is this when you produce your best results? Are you more of a morning person? Is this the best time to work on this task?”
Martin told HBR that once people become more intentional with their time, they should use it wisely when tackling projects or tasks.
Martin first spoke with BI in October 2021 when she shared tips on how senior executives can maintain and increase their productivity while working from home. She then gave tips on how people can approach emails, meetings, and other daily office tasks while achieving maximum productivity.
His new book, “Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing,” was released April 2.
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