Are you productive (efficient and effective) enough or do you sometimes waste time or go off on a tangent (instead of focusing on what’s ahead of you)? If you answer the latter, then this post is for you. If you answer the former, are you being fully honest with yourself?
Consider Jeff Haden’s tips at Inc.com, “90 Smart Ways to Radically Boost Your Productivity:”
“Ninety days, 90 ways to be more productive in 2017. While some will only take a few minutes, they will still make a major impact on your productivity. Others might take a little longer, especially if creating a new habit is involved, but once that habit is formed, you reap productivity benefits forever. How you use them is up to you. You can cherry-pick your favorites. You can try one every day. You can add handfuls to your daily routine. Just don’t worry that you won’t have time — when you’re more productive, you actually create time.”
Here are Haden’s top 10 tips. Click the image below the list to see all 90 tips:
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“Commit to a process, not a goal. Don’t just set a goal of creating better customer relationships; commit to calling at least two customers a day to ask how to better serve them. Don’t just set a goal of landing new clients; commit to cold-calling at least two leads a day.”
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“Make temptations hard to reach. When something is hard to do, you’ll do less of it. Store sodas in the refrigerator and keep bottles of water on your desk. Put the TV remote in an upstairs closet. Shut down your browser so it’s harder to check out TMZ.”
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Maximize the most important tasks. What two or three things contribute most to your success? What two or three things generate the most revenue? Eliminate all the extra ‘stuff’ possible so you reap the benefits of spending time on key tasks.”
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“Say to yourself, ‘I will do what no one else is willing to do.’ Often the easiest way to be different is to do the things other people refuse to do.It can be simple. It can be small. Whatever it is, do it. You’ll instantly be a little different from the rest of the pack.”
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“Start reading Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport. It’s the perfect antidote to all the alerts, distractions, and multitasking that make you feel like you’re getting a lot done, but aren’t what you really need to get done. After all, busy is very different from productive.”
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“Allow yourself less time for key projects. Limit the amount of time you allow yourself to complete an important task. You’ll be more focused and motivated, your energy level will be higher, and you’ll actually get more done.” [Note: This NOT contradict 3. above!]
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“Chunk ‘housekeeping’ tasks. Instead of sprinkling those activities throughout the day, take care of them in a pre-planned block. And schedule that block for when you know you’ll be tired or in need of a mental break.”
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“Stop blaming others. People make mistakes. So you blame them for your problems. But you’re also to blame. Maybe you didn’t provide enough training. Maybe you asked too much, too soon. Take responsibility when things go wrong.”
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“Just say no. You’re polite. You’re courteous. You’re helpful. You want to be a team player. You’re overwhelmed. Say no at least as often as you say yes.”
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“Start listening to the podcast Extreme Productivity with Kevin Kruse. Kruse sought to uncover the secrets behind achieving productivity while also feeling a sense of balance. Each 15-minute show is based on insights gained from his interviews with more than 200 highly successful people.”
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