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Want to learn more about improving your focus, teamwork, and digital wellness? 

Improving productivity, employee wellbeing and workday habits is a process that takes time and engagement. You can leverage the 'challenges' feature in Produce8 to run organization and team based  initiatives, or use it alongside your own private productivity hack.  

The Self-Awareness Challenge is rooted in the idea that simply gaining a better understanding of your own behaviors can drive meaningful change. The digital workplace is packed with distractions, and many of us are unaware of how often we’re interrupted or sidetracked.

This 14-day challenge helps participants track their behavior related to the most common causes of distraction and time loss, and use a really simple approach to start regaining control of their focus and productivity.

So how does self awareness improve the workday? If we can start by showing you how often you check your email, open your team messaging app, how long you spend in meetings and the length of your workday, you will naturally do less of the things that are stealing your time and focus. If you set targets, and receive daily reminders, that you can start repairing the bad habits like FOMO checking email.

Reduce the amount of time in unnecessary, or unscheduled online and offline meetings and calls.

Reduce the number of interactions with your email and messaging tools

Set goals for how long you want to spend working per day

At the start of this challenge, you will set specific goals to improve your workday by managing your time and interactions with collaboration and communication apps.

Over the next two weeks, you will focus on five simple metrics. Through daily reminders, we will help you become more mindful of your work habits.

At the end of the two weeks, we will show you how self-awareness can change your work outcomes. That’s your first win. But the journey does not end there. After that, you can start focusing on other Great Workday Challenges to configure email and messaging tools to make them less distracting.

A Precursor: Do the Great Workdays Kickoff for Individuals

Before you start the Self Awareness Challenge, complete the 

. Use the data you get from the kickoff to set goals in this challenge.

Everyone has different work habits and responsibilities, so the Self Awareness Challenge will be unique to each individual. However, we can break this challenge down into three core steps:

 and click "Start This Challenge" to follow the instructions.

This primary purpose of this challenge is about being more mindful about how long you spend doing the most common causes of distraction and outright time loss for knowledge workers. There are two ways to accomplish this. If you just want to use targets for the duration of this experiment, you can set them in the challenge. Or, if you want to always keep these numbers front and center in your daily report, you can also set them in our Goals feature and they will remain in place after the challenge is over. We recommend starting simple, and just use the challenge targets, and then once it’s over you can add them to your goals.

3. Measuring Impact of Self Awareness After Two Weeks

The objective of the Self Awareness Challenge is to see if setting goals can help increase mindfulness and reduce time lost to collaboration. This involves comparing the initial data from the first week with data from the second week. The challenge concludes with a review of your progress and results followed by making informed adjustments that lead to continued improvement.

Key Metrics in Produce8 Associated with This Challenge

1. # of Daily (or Weekly) Interactions With Messaging Apps (Slack/Microsoft Teams)

 Reduce the number of times you view the app per day.

 Set your in-challenge target to 10-50% below your normal number (we show you the current number).

 Reducing unnecessary interactions can reduce context switching and improve focus on primary tasks.

2. # of Daily Interactions With Email App

 As with messaging, set a target for how many times you interact with your email app daily.

 Set your target 10-25% below your normal number.

 Limiting email interactions helps maintain continuous productivity and reduces context switching.

3. Time Spent in Meetings (or Internal Meetings) per Day

 Spend less time in meetings that run too long, are unplanned, or unnecessary.

 Set a target 10-25% below your current number, you may find ‘internal meetings’ are the primary problem, and you can focus on those if you like.

 Reducing time in meetings ensures more time is available for deep work and task completion.

 Online video meetings and impromptu calls can take a toll on energy and time. What’s the right amount for you?

 Set a target based on your historical average.

 Reducing unnecessary calls frees up more time for essential tasks.

 Combat overworking by setting targets for workday length.

 Set a target that is a reasonable daily number for daily average working hours.

 Managing workday length supports work-life balance and can help prevent burnout.

 In order to understand how mindfulness is reshaping your day, you need something to track over the duration of the challenge. Does you average focus increase from your baseline?

 Set a target at your current baseline and see if you can improve on it.

 Less distraction from email and messaging should translate into a greater degree of focus.

 Did your workday start well? Did it go the way you want it to?

 Check in with produce8 at the start and end of day and recorde your workday sentiment.

 If you are making progress, and if the challenge is helping you, you should see your responses improve over time.

The challenge ends with a review of your results. Did you make progress through self awareness? Start working on the next challenge. If you are not satisfied with the progress you have made with messaging tools, follow this up with other challenges on those subjects.

The Self-Awareness Challenge is rooted in the idea that simply gaining a better understanding of your own behaviors can drive meaningful change. The digital workplace is packed with distractions, and many of us are unaware of how often we’re interrupted or sidetracked.

This 14-day challenge helps participants track their behavior related to the most common causes of distraction and time loss, and use a really simple approach to start regaining control of their focus and productivity.

So how does self awareness improve the workday? If we can start by showing you how often you check your email, open your team messaging app, how long you spend in meetings and the length of your workday, you will naturally do less of the things that are stealing your time and focus. If you set targets, and receive daily reminders, that you can start repairing the bad habits like FOMO checking email.

We’ll specifically aim to:

Reduce the amount of time in unnecessary, or unscheduled online and offline meetings and calls.

Reduce the number of interactions with your email and messaging tools

Set goals for how long you want to spend working per day

Track your end of day sentiment

At the start of this challenge, you will set specific goals to improve your workday by managing your time and interactions with collaboration and communication apps.

Over the next two weeks, you will focus on five simple metrics. Through daily reminders, we will help you become more mindful of your work habits.

At the end of the two weeks, we will show you how self-awareness can change your work outcomes. That’s your first win. But the journey does not end there. After that, you can start focusing on other Great Workday Challenges to configure email and messaging tools to make them less distracting.

A Precursor: Do the Great Workdays Kickoff for Individuals

Before you start the Self Awareness Challenge, complete the Great Workdays Kickoff for Individuals. Use the data you get from the kickoff to set goals in this challenge.

How the Self Awareness Challenge Works:

Everyone has different work habits and responsibilities, so the Self Awareness Challenge will be unique to each individual. However, we can break this challenge down into three core steps:

1. Start the Challenge

Select the Self-Awareness Challenge and click "Start This Challenge" to follow the instructions.

2. Create Goals in Produce8

This primary purpose of this challenge is about being more mindful about how long you spend doing the most common causes of distraction and outright time loss for knowledge workers. There are two ways to accomplish this. If you just want to use targets for the duration of this experiment, you can set them in the challenge. Or, if you want to always keep these numbers front and center in your daily report, you can also set them in our Goals feature and they will remain in place after the challenge is over. We recommend starting simple, and just use the challenge targets, and then once it’s over you can add them to your goals.

3. Measuring Impact of Self Awareness After Two Weeks

The objective of the Self Awareness Challenge is to see if setting goals can help increase mindfulness and reduce time lost to collaboration. This involves comparing the initial data from the first week with data from the second week. The challenge concludes with a review of your progress and results followed by making informed adjustments that lead to continued improvement.

Key Metrics in Produce8 Associated with This Challenge

This primary purpose of this challenge is about being more mindful about how long you spend doing the most common causes of distraction and outright time loss for knowledge workers. There are two ways to accomplish this. If you just want to use targets for the duration of this experiment, you can set them in the challenge. Or, if you want to always keep these numbers front and center in your daily report, you can also set them in our Goals feature and they will remain in place after the challenge is over. We recommend starting simple, and just use the challenge targets, and then once it’s over you can add them to your goals.

1. # of Daily (or Weekly) Interactions With Messaging Apps (Slack/Microsoft Teams)

Objective: Reduce the number of times you view the app per day.

Action: Set your in-challenge target to 10-50% below your normal number (we show you the current number).

Benefit: Reducing unnecessary interactions can reduce context switching and improve focus on primary tasks.

2. # of Daily Interactions With Email App

Objective: As with messaging, set a target for how many times you interact with your email app daily.

Action: Set your target 10-25% below your normal number.

Benefit: Limiting email interactions helps maintain continuous productivity and reduces context switching.

3. Time Spent in Meetings (or Internal Meetings) per Day

Objective: Spend less time in meetings that run too long, are unplanned, or unnecessary.

Action: Set a target 10-25% below your current number, you may find ‘internal meetings’ are the primary problem, and you can focus on those if you like.

Benefit: Reducing time in meetings ensures more time is available for deep work and task completion.

4. Time in Calls

Objective: Online video meetings and impromptu calls can take a toll on energy and time. What’s the right amount for you?

Action: Set a target based on your historical average.

Benefit: Reducing unnecessary calls frees up more time for essential tasks.

5. Workday Length (Maximum or Minimum)

Objective: Combat overworking by setting targets for workday length.

Action: Set a target that is a reasonable daily number for daily average working hours.

Benefit: Managing workday length supports work-life balance and can help prevent burnout.

6. Focus

Objective: In order to understand how mindfulness is reshaping your day, you need something to track over the duration of the challenge. Does you average focus increase from your baseline?

Action: Set a target at your current baseline and see if you can improve on it.

Benefit: Less distraction from email and messaging should translate into a greater degree of focus.

7. Daily Sentiment

Objective: Did your workday start well? Did it go the way you want it to?

Action: Check in with produce8 at the start and end of day and recorde your workday sentiment.

Outcome: If you are making progress, and if the challenge is helping you, you should see your responses improve over time.

Outcome 

The challenge ends with a review of your results. Did you make progress through self awareness? Start working on the next challenge. If you are not satisfied with the progress you have made with messaging tools, follow this up with other challenges on those subjects.

Want to have better workdays? We can help! 

Self Awareness Challenge

Are you constantly checking your email inbox? Do you want more focused work sessions? Then the Batching Email Challenge is perfect for you.

This challenge is all about using data to understand your workday and minimize your email distractions so you can focus on the important things.

Batching emails is a time management technique where you allocate specific time slots throughout the day exclusively for checking and responding to emails, instead of constantly monitoring and reacting to each new message as it arrives. This approach is designed to reduce the frequent interruptions and distractions caused by email, allowing you to focus more effectively on other tasks and maintain a higher level of productivity.

 Choose specific times during your day for checking emails. For example, you might decide to check emails for 30 minutes at the beginning of your workday, after lunch, and before you finish for the day.

Disable real-time email notifications. This prevents the constant ping of new emails from interrupting your focus on other tasks.

During your designated email times, focus solely on your inbox. Process emails systematically, responding, deleting, archiving, or deferring as necessary.

If necessary, inform your colleagues or clients about your email checking schedule, especially if they're accustomed to immediate responses.

 Sign into Produce8 and sync it with your email and other work tools. This step is critical for monitoring your email habits and gaining insights into how they affect your productivity.

 If you're new to Produce8, let it track your email activities for a week. This observation is crucial to understand your current email checking and responding patterns, establishing a benchmark for the Batching Email Challenge.

Commit to checking and responding to emails only during designated time slots throughout the day, rather than continuously. This strategy aims to enhance your productivity by reducing the frequency of email interruptions and allowing for more focused work periods.

Utilize Produce8's Sentiment feature to document your daily experiences and productivity levels as you adapt to batching your emails. Aim to consistently follow your scheduled email slots over a 30-day period, tracking your progress and noting any changes in your productivity and focus.

At the two-week mark, assess your progress using Produce8. Review your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to evaluate how the Batching Email technique is affecting your work efficiency and concentration, comparing these results to your baseline data.

Continue, Iterate, or Adjust if Necessary:

 Based on your mid-period evaluation, refine your batching strategy. This may involve adjusting the frequency or timing of your email slots to maximize productivity benefits.

At the end of the 30 days, perform a thorough review in Produce8. Analyze your KPIs to gauge the impact of the Batching Email Challenge on your productivity and email management habits. Determine if this approach has led to significant improvements and consider adopting it as a long-term email management strategy.

Challenge Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to assess the effectiveness of a specific challenge, such as the Batching Emails Challenge. These KPIs help track progress, measure success, and identify areas for improvement. You can find all these metrics in Produce8. 

Expect a decrease in the number of times you open the email app.

 The time spent per session in the email app should increase, reflecting more focused engagement.

 Look for darker colors during your scheduled email batching times, indicating concentrated activity.

You should notice reduced average interactions and increased average duration in the app, with overall time spent in the app remaining consistent. The heatmap will visually confirm concentrated use during your designated email batching periods.

Batching Emails Challenge Outcome

Define specific work goals for your Batching Email Challenge. Whether it's spending more time in your productive tools per day or decreasing your time context switching, Produce8 helps you set clear, achievable targets.

Measure how often and for how long you are working in your Email App and overall work trends effortlessly. Produce8 provides detailed insights into how you're spending your time and where you can make improvements.

Receive real-time feedback and encouragement as you progress through the challenge. Celebrate milestones, overcome obstacles, and stay motivated to reach your full potential.

Are you constantly checking your email inbox? Do you want more focused work sessions? Then the Batching Email Challenge is perfect for you.

This challenge is all about using data to understand your workday and minimize your email distractions so you can focus on the important things.

Overview

How batching emails works

Designated Times: Choose specific times during your day for checking emails. For example, you might decide to check emails for 30 minutes at the beginning of your workday, after lunch, and before you finish for the day.

Turning Off Notifications: Disable real-time email notifications. This prevents the constant ping of new emails from interrupting your focus on other tasks.

Focused Email Time: During your designated email times, focus solely on your inbox. Process emails systematically, responding, deleting, archiving, or deferring as necessary.

Communicate Your Schedule: If necessary, inform your colleagues or clients about your email checking schedule, especially if they're accustomed to immediate responses.

Challenge guidelines

Get Set Up: Sign into Produce8 and sync it with your email and other work tools. This step is critical for monitoring your email habits and gaining insights into how they affect your productivity.

Collect Baseline Data: If you're new to Produce8, let it track your email activities for a week. This observation is crucial to understand your current email checking and responding patterns, establishing a benchmark for the Batching Email Challenge.

Start the Batch Email Challenge: Commit to checking and responding to emails only during designated time slots throughout the day, rather than continuously. This strategy aims to enhance your productivity by reducing the frequency of email interruptions and allowing for more focused work periods.

Maintain Consistency: Utilize Produce8's Sentiment feature to document your daily experiences and productivity levels as you adapt to batching your emails. Aim to consistently follow your scheduled email slots over a 30-day period, tracking your progress and noting any changes in your productivity and focus.

Mid-Period Check-In: At the two-week mark, assess your progress using Produce8. Review your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to evaluate how the Batching Email technique is affecting your work efficiency and concentration, comparing these results to your baseline data.

Continue, Iterate, or Adjust if Necessary: Based on your mid-period evaluation, refine your batching strategy. This may involve adjusting the frequency or timing of your email slots to maximize productivity benefits.

Final Check-In: At the end of the 30 days, perform a thorough review in Produce8. Analyze your KPIs to gauge the impact of the Batching Email Challenge on your productivity and email management habits. Determine if this approach has led to significant improvements and consider adopting it as a long-term email management strategy.

Challenge KPIs 

Challenge Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to assess the effectiveness of a specific challenge, such as the Batching Emails Challenge. These KPIs help track progress, measure success, and identify areas for improvement. You can find all these metrics in Produce8. 

Average Interactions: Expect a decrease in the number of times you open the email app.

Average Duration in App: The time spent per session in the email app should increase, reflecting more focused engagement.

Heat Map: Look for darker colors during your scheduled email batching times, indicating concentrated activity.


With Produce8, you can:

Set Clear Goals: Define specific work goals for your Batching Email Challenge. Whether it's spending more time in your productive tools per day or decreasing your time context switching, Produce8 helps you set clear, achievable targets.

Track Progress: Measure how often and for how long you are working in your Email App and overall work trends effortlessly. Produce8 provides detailed insights into how you're spending your time and where you can make improvements.

Stay Motivated: Receive real-time feedback and encouragement as you progress through the challenge. Celebrate milestones, overcome obstacles, and stay motivated to reach your full potential.

Email Batching Challenge

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Use Produce8 Challenges to Unlock Great Workdays

Self Awareness Challenge

Email Batching Challenge

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