Got the Productivity Blues? It All Starts With One Habit
April 19th, 2009 | Author: Jan Ferrante
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Having the edge, or being on top of what you should be doing, when you should be doing it can be a lot like weight loss or keeping a clean house.
You have to develop good habits. One day you wake up and find that all of your habits have come together to bring you success in what ever it is you are applying them to.
IT ALL STARTS WITH ONE HABIT
As that habit becomes part of your routine and lifestyle, you can add another. As you become able to add each new one, your success climbs, but it’s important not to rush it.
Trying to make too many new changes at one time will probably spell disaster long term.
A GREAT HABIT TO START WITH
One of the best habits to work on developing and expanding is working with focus on a preplanned task.
It’s hard to maintain this all day, especially for those of us with no boss except for ourselves. It’s easy to get distracted or sidetracked since we are accountable to ourselves and the nature of working at home includes plenty of distractions!
An easy way to develop focus and preplanning skills is to start with your first work period of the day.
JUMP RIGHT IN
You can save a lot of time and set yourself up for the day by jumping right in.
Try starting out without checking your email or browsing your favourite social networks first.
Use your first time pocket for output while your are fresh. Sometimes the act of opening the programs you will be working with and getting started is all that it takes to turn you into a productivity machine.
That is what you will eventually be aiming for throughout the day.
I like to use my first time pocket for content. Since I started doing this, my productivity in this area has probably tripled, maybe quadrupled.
IT GETS DONE
Part of the reason for this is that it becomes a non negotiable. So it gets done.
You can either use the time to do the same task to stack and grow your results in one area, the progress you see will help to keep you going, or you can rotate various areas that you would like to work on if that works better for you.
The main thing is to develop the habit of doing a focused task that counts as soon as you start your working day.
After you find it becoming the natural thing to do, add another non negotiable time pocket to your day.
Work on developing that habit until it also becomes ‘what you do’.
Then work on the next.
Soon you will be amazing colleagues, friends and family!
And you will be getting things done.
Give it a try.
What’s the worst that can happen.
What’s the best?
Posted in 4 Responses to “Got the Productivity Blues? It All Starts With One Habit”
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This is a great post. I know when I focus on my task I do a better job. So I’m going to try to continue to make that a habit.
Some excellent advice Jan. I have days that my productivity is out of this world, and other days — not so much. For myself, I have found that if I write down in my planner the night before my “must do’s” for the next day and assign them an exact time (i.e. 9:30 check email) (10:00 start returning phone calls) etc … that I stay on task. But if I am too tired one night to write down the next days “to do list” it takes a toll on my productivity. I like to have my schedule written down so I can take in to account times I have to be out of the office (i.e. 8:30 – post office) (9:00 – bank) (10:15 – back at office, check email). I like to treat all my tasks as appointments.
Anyway, I like where you are coming from. Thanks for the advice.
I’ve stopped checking my email regularly because I do think it makes it tougher to stay focused. I used to check it 5-6 times a day, now I’m down to once a day – at the end of the day unless I’m expecting something very important. Getting into a schedule is tricky, but it does help
Twitter: queenofkaos
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I’m finding that much of it comes down to making it easier to focus – having a plan, reducing distractions and all that good stuff that you girls mentioned. The closer to making our work time plug and play we can get, the better it seems to work out.
And taking our business and work time seriously. I know for myself that I am much more focused and productive if I am in a work frame of mind, expecting results from my time. That really goes for anything. I think that sometimes we go wrong when we underestimate ourselves.