Productive or just busy?

Personal productivity in its basic form is the value or result you get from the effort you put into doing something. How much of your day would you say is productive? Not sure? Here are some tips on how to be more productive

PUT A VALUE ON YOUR TIME: We think of time as free but actually it’s the most expensive commodity and its perishable. So don’t just do task after task whether considering whether it’s worth your time, or needs doing at a particular time or can be postponed. Don’t be reactive, When you stop seeing time as free, you’ll invest it on the right things. So stop doing something!

TAKE A HELICOPTER VIEW: When you have a lot to do, don’t immediately put your head down and plough away. Take a few minutes first to assess the scope of work before you; what can you bundle together to save time; what you can delegate; what are the ‘must dos’ what will make the difference. Don’t just do, be purposeful, think and plan before you do. When you operate in a chaotic reactive mode, you waste a lot of time.

HAVE A 'PRIORITY' FILTER : I bet there are things you ‘routine’ things that you can shave off your schedule; You’ll be surprised how much that frees your mind to reflect on the things that are profitable. Ditch the ‘irrelevances’ or they will hamper your thinking. Don’t be tempted to stick with something because you’ve been doing it from time immemorial. Create systems and approaches so that you can work in more predictable ways. Be always finding ways to streamline your work.

THINK ABOUT THE END USER: Whatever work you do is not for your own use or benefit. Ask yourself; Who are the ‘consumers’ of each piece of work that I do? What are the specific needs of these people? Can you deliver what might be more useful or relevant to them? Is there a way to make your work more efficient? Own improving the outcomes of your work causes, not just delivering the work.

STOP SEEKING PERFECTION: Perfection is wanting everything to be 100% but that’s not effective use of time unless that’s the only thing you have on your plate. Even then you’re better off using the time to think. Rule of thumb is it is better to get 5 things done 80-90% well than 2 done 100%. However, Not needing to do 100% shouldn’t be excuse to do mediocre work. Perfection is worthy but getting more done of reasonable quality is even more impressive.

AVOID ‘INCOMPLETIONS’ There’s a cycle of completion for everything to get the required results. Sometimes we don’t complete things because we are not sure of the way forward, something else is more pressing or we just don’t feel we have the energy to deal with that difficult next phase. Do your best not to leave things hanging; if it’s important, make the time to complete it.

Now take action: If you had 10 hours a day (not 24) what would you prioritise?