How Productive Are You?

Productivity is essential for ambitious professionals. If you want to continue growing and expanding your business, you need to be able to work efficiently enough to accommodate that growth. Otherwise, it can start to backfire. Productivity isn’t just about working quickly though. First, the quality of our work can’t suffer at the expense of being productive. That isn’t true productivity. Second, productivity should make us feel less busy, not more. And finally, we can view productivity as a skill, something we can strengthen. So, if you’re looking to give your productivity a boost, here are a few areas to focus on:

Foundation

The first step to supporting productivity is creating a stable foundation. What do you need to work optimally? This may look a bit different from person to person, but generally, there are some key elements we all benefit from. Taking the time to identify these for yourself can help you fully see their value. For example, getting adequate rest is often a key to productivity. Highlighting this need can help you better stick to getting to bed at the right time every night. Other foundational elements? Think about what fuel you’re providing your body and mind. Are you hydrated? Nourished with the proper nutrition (no fast carbs if you want to concentrate)? Movement can also be a great tool to improve focus and increase energy. Perhaps that quick morning walk or short afternoon jog is a part of your productivity strategy.

Distraction

We can have the best intentions for a productive day and get thrown off course before lunch. So often, the culprit is distraction. In the modern workplace, we are surrounded by distractions. The challenging part is that many of these are disguised as work. Whether it’s the constant string of email notifications that continue to pull you from the task at hand or a desk covered in paperwork. Whatever the source, it’s important to recognize our most common distractions so we can better avoid them or navigate around them. For example, muting all notifications for a window of time can help you protect your focus, and the defined window of time can help ease the stress that you might be missing an important message.

Busyness

Many professionals confuse busyness and productivity. Sometimes when we’re busy, running from task to task, working on multiple things at once, and generally keeping up the balancing act, it can feel like we’re attending to it all. But this doesn’t mean we’re being productive. Often, when we’re in a state of busyness, we’re less productive. It decreases our ability to focus, divides our attention, and tends to leave us exhausted. Productivity usually feels much calmer than this. Productivity is about being organized, having a plan, and protecting your focus. If you start to feel that hectic energy of busyness flare up, it’s a red flag that you may not be being as productive as you need to be.

Strategy

It’s not enough to simply head into the office with the intention of productivity. This is a great start, but it’s certainly not going to guarantee you a productive day. Instead, we need clear strategies to support that goal. For example, dividing your time into clear windows, reorganizing your schedule, and identifying your priorities are all strategies you can use to support productivity. There are countless great productivity strategies worth delving into. Stay tuned for my post next week where we explore a few of the best ones in depth.

Productivity is one of the most powerful tools for ambitious professionals to drive growth. But that doesn’t mean that it’s an easy one to utilize. As I mentioned earlier, productivity is a skill. It takes practice, strengthening, and refining to hone your ability. As Aristotle is quoted: “Our lives are the sum of our habits.” How important is productivity in your day-to-day work? I’d love to hear your thoughts.