My Favourite Tip: Nicky Sparshott - Colour me productive! Why you should be colour-coding your calendar

It’s 3pm and Nicky Sparshott is ducking out of the office to go watch her kids perform at their school’s exhibition. Sweet, right? But shouldn’t it be impossible? 

Nicky’s the CEO of Unilever Australia & New Zealand, and at the time of recording, was also the global CEO of T2 - how can she possibly have time in the middle of the work day for a school show? 

Well, it’s the positive side she’s discovered in having an absolutely hectic work schedule. As a global CEO, she’s sometimes on virtual meetings in the middle of the night to talk to teams on the other side of the world. But, if she’s going to be working from seven to eleven at night, then she can definitely carve out some time in the arvo for her family. 

So, how does she keep it all from toppling over? How does she keep her schedule in order when she sometimes needs to work while everyone else is asleep? 

Colours. Yep. Nicky colour-codes her calendar so that she can see at a glance exactly what kind of work she’ll be doing for the next few days. Not only does it keep her organised, but it gives her a clear picture of how much deep versus shallow work she’s getting in. 

Nicky also teaches you why “deep work” doesn’t always have to be done alone. 

Connect with Nicky on Linkedin

You can find the full interview here: Analogue productivity in a digital age with Unilever CEO Nicky Sparshott

If you’re looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co

Visit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au

CREDITS

Produced by Inventium

Host: Amantha Imber

Sound Engineer: Martin Imber

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