Productivity is a state of being active and, at the same time, efficient. It is no news that every human on earth has the same 24 hours, which is left to use at their discretion. However, how one chooses to use one’s time — whether personal or business-wise — will determine how productive one gets.
Many people struggle to be productive while putting in long hours, reading recommended personal development books, attending seminars which rather sadly have all proved abortive. Even more irksome is that the thought of it might get one demoralized and distracted from being productive.
In this article, several time-proven strategies have been put together to achieve personal goals in good time.
9. Dedicate Ample Time For Exercise And General Well-being
Briston University conducted a survey and recorded that participants who dedicated time to exercise scores were 21% higher for concentration on work.
It is easy to get carried away and neglect one’s health in the quest for productivity. Of all the strategies to adopt, do not forget to invest in your health as all forms of productivity in achieving personal goals will be forced to come to an abrupt end without it.
8. Keep Interruption At Bay
Research conducted at Udemy says that 69% of people struggle to cope with distractions at work. Further studies show that distraction can be curbed by frequent training. A conscious effort has to be made to disallow interruption and distraction to ensure unhindered personal productivity.
For instance, while you are working on your mobile device, the “do not disturb” feature could be turned on for a time until the task at hand is done. If possible, you might lock yourself in a place where you are sure interruption of any kind will not reach you.
7. Know When You Are Most Effective
Editors’ choice survey says only 21% of employees in the UK believe that they are truly productive for an entire workday.
For example, some people can only read to assimilate at night when everywhere is silent and can be saved from the daytime distraction. We are not all wired in the same way, and that is why it is of utmost significance to know oneself and the time that one gets to be more active and, ultimately, productive.
Here at Prdikt, we help you navigate your professional life and connect the dots between sleep, exercise, mindfulness, diet and their importance for your performance and productivity. Do the right things at the right for you time.
6. Always Ensure To Start With The Hardest Task
Bradley Staats of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Francesca Gino at Harvard Business School wrote about their tendency to delay hard tasks in favor of easy ones. For instance, they might prep to teach a routine class rather than write a paper.
“When we are overwhelmed and busy, we just go with easier tasks, and the difficult tasks tend to pile up,” Kouchaki says.
The import of this is that everybody knows their area of strength and imperfection. These are things that you find joy in doing and the ones that suck away enthusiasm. Indeed some jobs make one stall just at the thought of it. This strategy says that once the hardest of the tasks is tackled, it gets behind you, and you can now focus with much alacrity on the others.
5. Desist From Multitasking
According to research by Forbes, multitasking makes you less productive. 55% of the respondents reported feeling like they weren’t controlling their assignments.
True, multitasking is one of the abilities that is looked out for by employers. They want to know if one can juggle more than one thing at a time for maximum productivity in their business. However, it is more advisable to focus on a task before dabbling into the next one when it comes to personal productivity. This way, more quality ground is covered in less time.
4. Try Not To Over Commit
In every endeavour, commitment is critical. Nonetheless, a recent study shows that over-commitment can be as detrimental as the lack of it. 52% of people who overcommit are worried about letting themselves or others down, and 41% are unsure of where to start in their efforts to accomplish their tasks.
Once a goal has been set and the resources to birth them have been identified and put in place, balance is the next thing to gun for. Achieving balance in the journey of personal productivity can not be overemphasized. This is so because when one over-commits, chances are that one will not see the loopholes until later, and one might lose track of the set goals.
3. Ensure To Plan Ahead
A study conducted by DHM Research in Portland says 35% of those who plan say it helps them set goals and gauge progress; 31% report it keeps them on track and provides a roadmap; 15% say it’s a reminder of priorities; 13% say it has helped them plan for the future.
It is essential to plan in today’s world that is replete with distractions of varying degrees, lest one gets lost in it. After each day’s activity, one should strive to plan for the next day for personal productivity. This is effective in the sense that when a new assignment comes up the next day, except, of course, it’s an emergency, one can stick to the plans that had already been made.
2. Writing goals down
People are likely to achieve their goals when they write them down by 42% shows a study from Dominican University of California. While it is okay to note goals and tasks mentally, it is best to put them on paper. You should endeavour to put it in places where you can see them and be reminded of the tasks at hand.
This is a terrific way of achieving personal productivity as they keep one in action. Another beautiful side to this is that when a particular goal(s) on a list gets done, you can happily strike it out of the to-do list and focus on another one. This technique does not only make you committed to the task. It also gives a sense of fulfilment.
1. Adopting the “touch it once” code
Most often than not, people are charged up about a particular goal, but because of the insatiable human nature, other goals always seem to come, and without finishing up the first goal, they are caught up in the next one. And on and on it goes.
To accomplish recordable goals, there is a need to adopt the touch it once code enabling you to finish up a task before attempting another one. Once one makes it a point of duty to be disciplined in this area — not letting go until success is achieved — it won’t be long before one starts counting obvious productivity.
Conclusion
Personal goals might look far away, and the thought of not getting things done might further dampen the spirit, especially when one’s peers seem to have it all figured out. The good news is that productivity while gunning for one’s personal goals is attainable once one is ready and committed to following the above-listed strategies.
Here at Prdikt, we help you navigate your professional life and connect the dots between sleep, exercise, mindfulness, diet and their importance for your performance and productivity. Do the right things at the right time.
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References:
Collins, K. (n.d.). Council Post: Why You Shouldn’t Multitask And What You Can Do Instead. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/07/15/why-you-shouldnt-multitask-and-what-you-can-do-instead/ [Accessed 5 Mar. 2022].
Combs, M. (2017). Can You Believe This Goal-Setting Statistic? [online] Stitch & Shutter Leather Goods. Available at: https://www.stitchandshutter.com/reflect-blog/2017/10/12/can-you-believe-this-goal-setting-statistic.
DHM Research (2017). Survey Finds Two-Thirds of Americans Do Not Have a Plan for Their Life. [online] Prnewswire.com. Available at: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/survey-finds-two-thirds-of-americans-do-not-have-a-plan-for-their-life-300564102.html.
Dimovski, A. (2021). 21 Remarkable Productivity Statistics. [online] goremotely.net. Available at: https://goremotely.net/blog/productivity-statistics/.
Economy, P. (2018). This Is the Way You Need to Write Down Your Goals for Faster Success. [online] INC. Available at: https://incafrica.com/library/peter-economy-this-is-way-you-need-to-write-down-your-goals-for-faster-success [Accessed 5 Mar. 2022].
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Kellogg Insight. (2019). Why You Should Skip the Easy Wins and Tackle the Hard Task First. [online] Available at: https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/easy-or-hard-tasks-first.
Productivityist. (2017). How to Increase Your Productivity by 21% with Exercise. [online] Available at: https://productivityist.com/increase-productivity-21-exercise/.
Romina Ederle (2018). Majority of U.S. Workers Feel Distracted at Work, Blame Technology and Lack of Training for Lower Morale and Productivity, Udemy Report Finds | Udemy About. [online] Udemy About. Available at: https://about.udemy.com/press-releases/majority-of-u-s-workers-feel-distracted-at-work-blame-technology-and-lack-of-training-for-lower-morale-and-productivity-udemy-report-finds/ [Accessed 20 May 2019].
VitalSmarts (2019). Over-commitment Epidemic: 3 out of 5 People Say They Can’t Possibly Get Everything Done on Their To-do List. [online] www.prnewswire.com. Available at: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/over-commitment-epidemic-3-out-of-5-people-say-they-cant-possibly-get-everything-done-on-their-to-do-list-300782549.html.
