I hear so often that productivity is about time management, or motivation, or how to get things done. Productivity is the output of your actions. If you have a result after doing something, you’re being productive, it’s actually as simple as that. If you’re spending a lot of time organising your time and still not getting a result, you’re not actually being productive. We have a lot of exciting things happening at the moment, work I am really proud of. Productivity is hugely important to me, as I am determined to always have time for my meditation and spiritual practice, time to exercise, read, relax, spend time with friends and family. So I thought I would share a few tips if you’re flailing a little at the moment…
– get clear on what you REALLY want to spend your time on (eg, family/friends/meditation/cooking great food/with kids/creative projects) as this will give you far more clarity as a marker on where you should be investing your time from there
– ask yourself before every task; do I need to do this myself or can someone else (delegate), and if I need to, how would I do it if given half the time? Ask yourself before every task; how could I also increase the quality of my work. Combined, this will challenge your pre-existing patterns of working and provide you with insights on how to do it better on every level
– MEDITATE. I cannot express this enough. One of my students Georgia re-sat the Integrated Meditation course in August and shared with the new students that if she has an hour only to get things done at work in the afternoon before picking up her son, she will meditate for 20 minutes and then gets the work done in 30 minutes. It’s that effective in burning off fatigue and bringing clarity – which equals boosted productivity. I swear by this meditation practice!
– get very clear on what needs to be done in a single day. Your to do list is not going ANYWHERE as you keep adding to it. So creating wild unreasonable to do lists will create more stress and friction you don’t need. Get under-realistic. Have less there each day.
– get clarity on what’s important. Always do the TWO most important tasks first. Imagine that something disastrous happens, and you only managed to get two things completed – what would they be that day? Then everything else is a bonus from then on in.
– find your flow time of day. Mine is VERY early in the morning. Arran’s is mid afternoon as long as he’s not in charge of any family tasks that afternoon and has an evening ahead of him. We both facilitate this for the other person when they are under pressure. Can you ask for help so you can work in your best flow time of day when certain projects call for it?
Godspeed!
Jac x