When Pablo Casals, world renowned cellist and composer was asked why he continues to practice four to five hours a day, at age 81, he replied “Because I think I am making progress.”

A steady commitment to learning is what separates mediocrity from stellar performance. Research done by Peter Heslin and Lauren Keating at Australia Business School shows that people who embrace new challenges and learning opportunities develop stronger leadership skills.

Whenever you step into a new role, you face unknown territory that you need to master quickly. For example, by taking on a leadership position in your company, you will have to learn how to create and implement an effective department strategy or how to motivate and inspire your team members. As you progress in your role, time eventually becomes your biggest constraint.

How can you accelerate your learning for maximum impact?

As a manager, a lot of learning happens organically, by trial and error and emulating role models. But if you want to drive results and truly have an impact on your team’s performance and the bottom line, you need to become intentional in your learning efforts.

Moonstar’s Management Essentials program addresses the challenge of defining an effective learning plan for new managers. In our research, we looked in depth at Tim Ferriss’ accelerated learning method. Ferriss is the author of four best-sellers, including “The Four-Hour Work Week” and “Tools of Titans”. His podcast focuses on deconstructing the tools and habits of elite performers. Over the years, he has been searching for the holy grail of learning – a fast, highly effective and easily replicable process. He eventually refined an accelerated learning method called DSSS.

What is DSSS and how it can help you

DSSS is an acronym that stands for Deconstruction, Selection, Sequencing and Stakes. Ferriss claims he used this methodology to learn many diverse skills: from Spanish to cooking to ballroom dancing. Let’s delve deeper into each step.

1. Deconstruction

This is a stage of exploration and gathering information. You start with a broad and lofty goal (say “learn how to run productive meetings”) and break it into small, manageable pieces. Accelerated learning is all about having a very specific learning goal. By deconstructing, you strive to answer the question – What are the minimal learnable units? The building blocks I should start with? One of the best ways to discover that is by searching and asking questions. Here are a few examples of questions that you can use to deconstruct any skill:

• Which are the best instructional blogs, books or resources on the subject?
• If people had to teach themselves, what would they do?
• What are the most common mistakes beginners makes?

Let’s return to your big goal – learn how to run productive meetings. Following deconstruction, you may discover many building blocks. These could be: create an effective agenda, assign key roles, keep participants engaged, have each person state their point of view. Now it’s time to select your specific goal and understand what you should be focusing on to achieve it.

2. Selection

In this stage, you perform a 80/20 analysis, following the Pareto Principle, in order to answer the question – Which 20% of the blocks should I focus on to get 80% of the outcomes I want? For example, considering your experience and current challenges, you might select to learn about keeping participants engaged during meetings. Then, perform the same analysis to choose how you will learn this skill. Which 20% of learning activities will produce 80% of results? Those activities might include reading top blog articles and researching a book, or gathering best practices from top executives at your company. During selection, you first choose the most relevant learning goal. With that in mind, you then identify the few critical ways of learning that will help you achieve it.

3. Sequencing

Ferriss calls this stage “the most neglected secret sauce”. The goal is to answer the question – Which is the most effective learning sequence? The aim is to take those 20% activities that you’ve previously identified and put them in a logical progression. In accelerated learning, each material and learning activity builds on the one before, so you develop your skill exponentially. For the example above, consider what you need to know before starting to practice. Perhaps you should first read about engagement techniques, then shadow your manager, then learn best practices from top executives. Once you define your learning sequence, you can move on to mastering the topics through sustained practice.

4. Stakes

In this stage, you strive to answer the question – How do I create real consequences to guarantee that I follow through? Building incentives into your learning progress, whether rewards or punishments, is a highly effective technique. As Steven Levitt, economist and best-selling author notes: “An incentive is a bullet, a key – an often tiny object with astonishing power to change a situation.” Data from stickk.com, a commitment platform, proves this point. Their research shows that adding incentives and accountability improves goal achievement rates from 25% to over 70%. For the example above, ask your manager to be your accountability partner. Do weekly check-ins to talk about new techniques, include those you will practice each week in your meeting agenda and send it to her. Thus, you will have an extra incentive to follow through. But, as a bonus, you will also develop a stronger relationship with your manager.

Let’s wrap it up

Josh Kaufman, the best-selling author of “The Personal MBA”, has always dreamed of learning to play the ukulele. When he finally decided to take on the challenge, he used Ferriss’ accelerated learning approach. He turned to the Internet to deconstruct the skill and discovered the best instructional material to study. When looking through songbooks, he noticed that most songs could be played using only 4 basic chords.

He also understood that before practicing, he needed to make sure he fixed and tuned his strings properly. Through selection, he decided to focus on the basic chord combinations and his learning sequence was comprised of tuning his strings and then practicing the chords. What about his incentive? Aside from fulfilling an old dream, he also wanted to sing for his newborn daughter, Lela.

DSSS is a powerful learning method, designed to help you master any skill faster and more effectively. So give it a try! Set a specific learning goal and identify the few learning activities that will yield the most results. Then arrange them in the right order and choose an accountability partner or add incentives to keep your motivation high.

Accelerated learning is one of your biggest allies, but if you are keen to further elevate your learning process, check out Moonstar’s Fundamentals of Management program. This learning journey is comprised of six micro-modular digital courses that will accelerate your leadership development.

What is the one skill that you will start with?

Employee experience is a top priority, more so during uncertain or fast-changing times. While leaders focus on ensuring the business’ continuity and rapid repositioning, employees at all levels of the organization are the ones turning those aspirations into reality. 

One simple way to take care of your employees’ experience and support them during this time is by starting conversations around their needs and challenges. When you give your teams an avenue to voice their opinion, they feel cared for and appreciated. Consequently, they work harder to push past roadblocks and move the company forward.

Starting such conversations has never been easier!

Here is how Moonstar’s new Pulse Check can help:

We have teamed up with industrial-organizational psychologists to create a survey that helps you take your team’s pulse. You can now gather timely, relevant feedback and understand your colleagues’ perception of six key factors: crisis response, communication, leadership, business continuity, role enablement and personal well-being. 

Check out this sample of questions from the template

Based on your colleagues’ answers, our team of psychologists will craft your personalized report, containing:

• An in-depth analysis of your team’s perception of the six key factors
• Actionable strategies to respond to their needs and empower them during this time

Download the template and start crucial conversations with your team! 

How do you empower your employees to thrive in this new context, keeping them productive and engaged?

We set out to answer these questions, drawing from our own experiences of working distributed. This guide covers everything you need to know in order to master leading, engaging and empowering from a distance.

In this guide you will find:

• A review of the crucial challenges to expect when moving your team remote
• Strategies to set clear expectations and boundaries
• Suggestions to help your team set up a productivity haven in their home (aka a designated workspace)
• A simple and effective meeting structure to keep your team aligned on goals and connected
• Questions to move your one-on-one discussions beyond the typical How are you doing? 
• Easy-to-implement ideas to engage your colleagues outside work-related meetings
• Real-life example of how successful companies approach remote leadership
• …and more!

Download the guide and learn the ins and outs of remote leadership and empowerment!

Be the leader your A-players need to move the company beyond this crisis and into the future! 

Download the guide and learn the ins and outs of remote leadership and empowerment!

Working from home used to be a luxury afforded to freelancers and those employed by companies in certain industries like technology. But the COVID-19 pandemic changed all that. With most companies forced to shut down their offices, we’ve become test subjects, Guinee pigs, in the “world’s largest work-from-home experiment”, as Time magazine put it. So how has this been working out for you until now? Have you discovered the haven you were imagining?

Whether it’s a pile of laundry or your child interrupting your Zoom meetings, staying productive (and sane) while working from home is quite a challenge. When you factor in the draining effects of social distancing, you start missing those noisy colleagues who were otherwise a distraction.

At Moonstar, we’re constantly researching science-backed techniques to boost our productivity and unleash our best self, even when working from home. We’ve experimented quite a bit and want to share our tried-and-tested strategies for staying both productive and sane during this time. The three strategies below have helped us tremendously through the years and hopefully they will do the same for you. Be sure to align them with your own preferences and circumstances and you’ll eventually reframe time at home as more of an opportunity, rather than strict confinement.

Set up a designated workspace

The company office acts as a physical cue, nudging you to get into work mode every time you step in. Being productive while working from home starts with re-creating this cue. Choose a spot as your home office and go there every day to work. This will put you in the right mental state. Here are four tips for choosing the best place.

• Pick a separate room. Ideally, you want to be able to close the door, so you can concentrate fully and avoid distractions coming from family members. If a separate room isn’t an option, find a spot or area with low traffic.
• Ensure you have plenty of natural light. It will improve your mood and energy, keeping you alert throughout the day. According to research done by Future Workplace, an HR advisory firm, employees rate natural light as the number one office perk.
• Keep it clutter-free. While messy spaces can enhance creative work, having a desk stacked with papers will generally make you lose focus. Put away everything you’re not actively using for the task at hand and keep your workspace tidy.
• Have a plant close by. The color green is a reminder of nature, something we have less opportunity to connect with at this time. What’s more, a study from the University of Exeter found that having a few plants in the office amounts to a 15% increase in productivity.

Want one extra tip? Don’t spend time in this spot outside working hours. It’s much easier for your brain to switch from ‘focused’ to ‘relaxed’ when you associate these two mental states with different places in your home. In the words of Laura Mae Martin, Google’s in-house productivity expert: “As much as you can, try to create those boundaries for your brain – that will both help you relax and it’ll help you focus when you are in that space.”

Create a work routine

The scariest thing about this pandemic? Its unpredictability, which causes us a lot of anxiety. The antidote? Routine. While it sounds monotonous, a routine is very useful for curbing fear and anxiety because it acts as an anchor. You design it end-to-end, which helps you regain a sense of control and has a profoundly calming effect. It is also something you become really good at doing, since you do it consistently. According to Harvard psychologist Susan David, “Establishing a routine, keeping a schedule and striving for some form of consistency helps you focus, monitor your progress on goals and experience a greater sense of competence”.

Wondering how to create a grounding work routine? Here are five steps to guide you:

1. Keep your morning ritual

When you head to the office, you go through a predefined sequence of steps: wake up, have breakfast, shower, dress up. All those actions mentally prepare you for work, so stick with them every morning, instead of rolling out of bed and firing emails. This also includes changing out of your comfy pajamas, regardless of whether you have meetings or not.

2. Be creative around your commute

The commute to and from the office helps ease you into work mode. Re-create it with simple activities, such as: going for a short walk, reading a few pages, writing in your gratitude journal, meditating, or whatever works for you. Ideally, you would do the same thing in the morning and evening, but you can also choose different activities. For example, choose something energizing, like walking, to get your day started. Alternatively, to ease you out of work mode, choose something soothing, like meditation.

3. Set a clear working schedule

Ideally, you want to stick by your regular schedule, but the key is to start and end your workday at the same time. Let your family know when you are off limits. What’s more, avoid doing chores during these hours – reserve this time for work-related tasks only.

4. Take smart breaks

In the office, interactions with colleagues offer opportunities to recharge. But when working from home, you’ll need to be intentional about regularly stepping away. Don’t eat in front of the computer. When your energy is low, try taking a short walk outside (Charles Darwin did this frequently when writing On the origin of species). Don’t turn to news or social media during this time off.

5. Design a shutdown ritual

Computer scientist and author Cal Newport recommends creating this ritual to mark a clear ending to your workday. First, check your inbox for any pending requests or new tasks. Second, update your to do list by checking off completed items and adding those that emerged from your email. Third, track progress on your most important goals and celebrate the small wins of the day. And last, shut down your computer and embark on your ‘commute’ – close the circle using the same activity you did in the morning or choose something more calming. If you want more details, check our blog article on designing a shutdown ritual and the research behind it.

Regain a sense of control and predictability by creating and sticking to a work routine. Ultimately, just like your designated workspace, this routine empowers you to set clear boundaries between work and downtime.

Don’t forget your productivity hacks

By now, you must have identified a theme in this article. Staying productive while working from home is all about re-creating your work environment in a specific place of the house and sticking to your regular work habits. This includes your usual productivity techniques. Let’s do a quick recap.

• Write a powerful to-do list. Ideally, you should do this the evening before, during your shutdown ritual. Avoid lengthy and overwhelming lists by asking yourself – Which are the most impactful three things I can do tomorrow in order to move my most important goals forward? Then focus solely on those.
• Do the hardest thing first. Identify the most important and complex task that you’re going to feel guilty for not having done and schedule time for it early in the day. As self-help author Brian Tracy is famous for saying, “Eat that frig!”.
• Schedule deep work sessions. Plan at least one 60-90-minute block of time and dedicate it to cognitively demanding tasks. Start by deciding on a specific time to begin and end your session. Ensure you have everything you need close by: water, sticky notes, relevant documents. After the session, be sure to take a break, to avoid over-exertion.
• Avoid offline and online distractions. Offline distractions might refer to your phone, chores or family members (including furry ones). For objects, leverage the principle Out of sight, out of mind. Best-selling author James Clear always leaves his phone outside his home office and finds he no longer feels compelled to check it. For people, let them know you’re unavailable by closing the door or sticking a post-it-note on the back of your chair. Noise-cancelling headphones are also great if you live with active children. Similarly, leverage technology to minimize online distractions. Apps or web extensions such as Freedom, RescueTime or Momentum allow you to block websites and keep you focused on your most important goals.

Staying productive while working from home ultimately comes down to the right mindset and habits. If you’re looking for an extra boost, check out Moonstar’s Personal Effectiveness program – a learning journey comprised of five micro-modular digital missions aimed to help you perform at your best.

One last tip?

Limit your news consumption. The often anxiety-inducing rhetoric you come across on social media or news outlets is of little help right now. Use verified sources to keep yourself informed, but set a specific amount of time, such as 10 minutes a day, for that. Outside this interval, block news apps. If you feel yourself overrun with anxiety, take 6-10 deep breaths and think of three things you’re grateful for.

While the implications of COVID-19 are still somewhat unclear, remote work is slowly becoming the new normal. What you learn about staying productive and sane during this time will surely become valuable practice in the future. The question worth asking is: With a great work-from-home routine in place, will you be excited to go back to the office? The jury is still out on that one.

We at Moonstar want to remind everyone transitioning to remote work (maybe for the first time): You’ve got this! Test out these three strategies and adapt them to fit your own preferences. Stay safe and positive!

Note: This article is part of the #BoostingProductivity series, which aims to provide best practices and actionable insights for professionals looking to become better at what they do.

In 2012, cartoonist Tim Kreider fled town.

Alarmed by his endless to-do list, he decided to escape the “busy trap” by retreating to an undisclosed location, with no TV or email access (checking his inbox required a drive to the local library). In a New York Times article, he explained why: “Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body…it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.”

What is the connection between idleness and work?

While it might sound counter-intuitive, idleness is essential for deep work pursuits – cognitively demanding tasks that require uninterrupted focus. You have a limited amount of mental energy to dedicate each day to the tasks and projects that advance your goals. When you consistently engage in deep work and then fail to rest and recharge, you soon find yourself exhausted and unable to perform at your best.

Cal Newport, author

Unfortunately, in a world where “busyness” has become a badge of honor, it’s getting increasingly difficult to make time for idleness and rest. Confronted with this epidemic, Tim Kreider decided to escape the city. But he recognized that his solution might seem extreme and unpractical, noting that “An ideal human life lies somewhere between my own defiant indolence and the rest of the world’s endless frenetic hustle.”

Are you looking for ways to inject idleness into your day, but can’t afford to make a grand gesture like Kreider? Computer scientist and author Cal Newport provides a reasonable alternative: create a shutdown ritual.

The science behind

A shutdown ritual allows you to completely put aside all work-related thoughts, from the moment you leave the office until the next day. This strategy is based on the Zeigarnik effect, a phenomenon first uncovered by Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik in 1927.

Zeigarnik was dining in a restaurant in Berlin when she noticed that waiters were more likely to remember unfinished tabs than fulfilled ones. Her subsequent experimental studies revealed that our brain is wired to focus on incomplete tasks, which dominate our attention until they are done. Simply put, if you leave the office at 6 pm, but still have unfinished work and unanswered emails, they will keep battling for your attention (and most likely win). With a shutdown ritual, you have a clear overview of when and how you will solve these tasks. This signals to your brain that it’s ok to disconnect. From then on, you are free to fully dedicate yourself to your personal projects and recharge your batteries.

How to create a shutdown ritual

In his book “Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World”, Newport outlines the four steps of a shutdown ritual.

1. Check your inbox

Most of us can’t resist the urge to check email well into the evening. Unfortunately, this prevents us from fully disconnecting from work. Avoid this by checking your inbox before leaving the office. Write down any tasks that emerge and move emails in the appropriate folders. Most importantly, make sure there’s nothing that requires an urgent response before the day ends.

2. Update your to-do list

New tasks and commitments overwhelm us throughout the day. If they haven’t been addressed by the end of the day, add them to your to-do list, along with those that emerged from your inbox. Check completed items off your list, then review remaining tasks and adjust your plan for the week accordingly. Write your to-do list for the next day, including deep work sessions and time slots for admin work. Having a plan already in place helps your mind disconnect for the evening. Moreover, it allows you to dive straight into work mode the following morning.

3. Track progress and celebrate milestones

By reviewing your to-do list and weekly plan, you can also track progress on your most important goals. Use Jerry Seinfeld’s “don’t break the chain” method or simply keep a scorecard with your daily accomplishments.  Go a step further and celebrate each milestone: treat yourself to a nice dinner with your partner or read for an extra 15 minutes in the evening. Regardless of how you choose to reward yourself, make sure you do, since it will boost your motivation and self-efficacy.

4. Include a completion phrase

A completion phrase sends a signal to your brain that it is now safe to fully disconnect from work. For example, at the end of his ritual, Newport says “Schedule shutdown, complete!”. Beyond this point, he doesn’t allow himself to dwell on work-related thoughts. The reason? By saying this phrase, he acknowledges that he has gone through all the steps above. He has made sure that everything is or will be taken care of, so there is no need to worry. He is now free to rest and seek idleness.

Two extra recommendations to follow

First, consider your shutdown ritual an algorithm – a sequence of steps that you perform every day. This gives your brain a sense of order and consistency that will eventually evolve into a habit. As such, when you’ll hear “Shutdown complete” your brain will automatically stop all work-related thinking.

Second, commit to not allowing any work-related worries to creep in afterwards. We’ve all been there before: one email is enough to ruin our evening with a request that can’t even be solved until the next day. For your ritual to be effective, you need to respect it and allow no intrusions into your downtime. Take Arianna Huffington’s example: the co-founder of Huffington Post is fully committed to her daily email detox. That means no emails before bed or while she’s with her children and no emails first thing in the morning.

Decades of scientific research prove that our ability to engage in deep work pursuits relies on regularly recharging our batteries. Although it adds 15-20 minutes to your workday, a shutdown ritual is an invaluable asset on your way to increased productivity. Enjoy the benefits of uninterrupted focus without fleeing town as Tim Kreider did.

In the words of Professor Newport: “When you work hard, work hard. When you’re done, be done.”

If you want to boost your productivity by developing the right mindset and skills, check out Moonstar’s Personal Effectiveness program. This learning journey is comprised of five micro-modular digital courses that will empower you and your team to perform to the highest standard.