‘Momentum trumps motivation’: Donna McGeorge on valuing your time

Donna McGeorge doesn’t waste a minute. She is a best-selling author, business owner and global authority on productivity. Her words of wisdom and time-managing tricks have been helping CEOs, business owners, and everyday Aussies boost their productivity for years. Donna joined Cec Busby on the Flying Solo podcast to share some of her valuable insights.

Over the last few decades, Australians have been getting busier. Recent stats around unpaid overtime, dormant annual leave and professional burnout paint an alarming picture of a nation of workaholics. According to Donna, this shift in prioritisation has left most Aussies struggling to keep up with the demand on their time.

“We’ve just kept downsizing and expecting people to do the same stuff with the same resources they did with two or three people,” she says. “We don’t sleep very well, skip lunches, and so we’ve somehow prioritised work.”

Zooming through meetings

Longer meetings don’t necessarily lead to higher levels of productivity. Referencing Bartleby’s Law, Donna suggests that 80 per cent of meetings are a waste of time for 80 per cent of the participants.

“All our meetings should be about 25 minutes,” she says, calling for workplaces to rethink the necessity of back-to-back meetings to avoid productivity fatigue amongst teams.

Thanks to the pandemic, most people have had the opportunity to adjust their working hours.

“There was so much flexibility about work,” says the productivity whiz. Still, with great flexibility comes great responsibility, and Donna emphasises the importance of prioritising your tasks to align with your most productive hours.

“I encourage people to not look at their email in the first two hours of their day,” she says. “We all have good intentions of having a productive day, and the moment we open our email, we’re at the mercy of whatever’s coming in.”

Donna McGeorge, best-selling author on productivity

Night owls vs. early birds

A lot of Donna’s tips involve knowing our productivity patterns. But how do we recognise our most productive time of the day? According to Donna, it’s simple.

“Listen to the clock in your body rather than paying attention to the one on the wall,” she says. “Start paying attention to some of the little triggers and signs in your body.”

Donna believes the secret to success lies in preparation, so much so that she urges listeners to set themselves up the night before. Whether it’s packing your bag, making your lunch or planning your outfit, she recommends ticking off small tasks before bed, freeing up some time – and brain space – for the morning.

“Even though I wrote a book called The First 2 Hours, I think the last two hours of the previous day is where your success setup comes from,” says Donna. “It’s where you kind of wrap up and plan”.

While she’s a strong advocate for preparing for each day the night before, Donna says it’s equally as important to identify what your best two hours are within the working day.

“That’s your most valuable real estate from a time perspective,” says Donna. “Use it wisely and protect it from others.”

“For many of us, sometime in the morning is our most mentally alert, when we’re a bit more switched on – we’ve got our smarts, and we can do the stuff that requires a bit of mental intensity. And then in the afternoon, do more routine things,” she says. “But that’s not true for everyone”.

Listen to Donna McGeorge on the Flying Solo podcast:

Swapping no for not now

Donna disagrees entirely with the long-held idea that you must get the worst part of your day done to kickstart your productivity.

“I don’t subscribe to that. I subscribe to the idea that from a neuroscience perspective, when we get a few easy things done, it creates momentum,” she says.

“I think momentum trumps motivation. Start with some of the small things and just get into a rhythm or momentum of completion,” Donna explains.

Her not now philosophy also extends to organising your calendar. Utilising adaptive capacity, she urges listeners to consider the opportunities wasted due to a lack of free time. Ultimately, she wants people to understand the value of their personal time; to stop and think about who, what, when, where and why they’re spending their time.

“I suggest we try and protect about 15 per cent of our time in a day,” Donna says. “So if change comes your way, you tend to feel less overwhelmed because you’ve got some breathing space.”

Donna also notes how important it is to acknowledge the power of outsourcing, especially for small business owners. While it certainly is possible to multitask, in reality it usually means you manage several tasks poorly.

“I’m a fan of recognising your skills and strengths and staying with them,” Donna says. “And getting experts to do your stuff – you’ll be surprised, it’s more economically sound than you think.”

From experience, Donna says the game-changer for her and her business has been consciously creating thinking, breathing and dreaming space.

“I’m actually able to plan ahead and create something sustainable rather than feel like I’m constantly playing catch-ups.”

Donna shared productivity secrets for small and solo businesses in this Flying Solo ep – listen now.

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