Productivity. The mere mention of the word can send chills down some people’s back. In a world of buyers and sellers, the anxiety of not producing can be an all-consuming fear.
No matter what your job or position, productivity is a universal goal that is not easy to achieve. And despite what many lists will tell you, there’s no easy “trick” to becoming uber-productive. There’s a reason most of these articles will typically tell you to look inward, rather than outward, for truly life-changing productivity.
So, rather than prattle on about how important it is to make a list or how to delegate properly, we’re going to remind you of the true secret to productivity – yourself.
Know yourself
The problem with universal declarations on productivity is that every individual works in a different way. For some, setting up systems of rewards for yourself can be wildly beneficial. For others, this can be self-patronizing.
The truth is, if you ever want to be successful, you need to objectively examine what makes you tick and hedge your bets on that. If you’re a hard right-brainer, a straight list may be useless to you. If you’re the more calculating type, brainstorm sessions may be a waste of time. Find your work-style and build a system based on you. It may be necessary to re-evaluate your approach, or even your profession. It’s just not possible to be productive if you aren’t happy with your life, or at least the direction it’s going.
Distance yourself
If you’re struggling to be productive in one particular element in your life, it’s quite possible that you’re letting a “writer’s block” of sorts consume you. Productivity should never engross your life, it should compliment it, so if you’ve been stuck on a problem for a while, let it go for a while.
The concept of “productive procrastination” is particularly relevant. This is when you, for example, put off writing your term paper to clean your room or do your dishes. You’re procrastinating on a single task, but you are being productive, because you’re doing something that needed to be done. Productivity is not selective; your life’s work includes all elements of what you need to do.
Improve yourself
Your body knows best. If you’re obsessing over being productive, that’s unhealthy. And health, as it turns out, is pretty key to being productive.
It goes beyond just being physically healthy – although regular diet and exercise does make for a far easier time being productive. But your productivity should just be a part of who you are, and when one element of your life improves, the rest follow.
Make efforts to improve your entire life. Think of your goal as being productive not just in work, but in all aspects of your life. Your time in this world is limited, so you should spend as much of your time enriching your life as you can.
Seriously. It may sound irrelevant, but sitting down in front of a computer screen to finish (or start) a project is much harder when the rest of your life isn’t in its right place. Live your life totally and whole.
Use Task Tracking Software
Using a task management software such as KissIQ can greatly increase your productivity and throughput. These kinds of software also help you see where you spend your most time, so you can optimize your tasks accordingly.