How to Fine-Tune Your Productivity - Merit Educational Consultants

How to Fine-Tune Your Productivity

Productivity is the key to success. Period. I’ve always believed that a person with average intelligence who is organized will be more successful than a genius who is disorganized.  Why? Organized people simply get things done and reach their goals. Geniuses may have great ideas – and probably lots of them – but they often get swallowed up in distractions and miss opportunities to realize their dreams.

In the article “10 Uncommon Habits of Extraordinarily Productive People“, I like Jeff Haden’s recommendation to let go of things you do because of your ego or to stop striving to reach the extra 5% to be the best. Seem counterintuitive? The garden doesn’t have to be weed free; besides, when the weeds are bigger, they’re easier to pull! Doing things to stroke your ego or to be the extreme perfectionist will waste your valuable time for little ROI (return on investment).

He also suggests ways to say “no” to other time wasters like invitations to parties or social events that you don’t want to go to. You know the ones, your receptionist’s baby shower!  I’m guilty of that – I seem to get pulled into outings that take me away from things I enjoy doing – like planting herb gardens!

I like his suggestion of setting time limits on social media – what might seem like a few minutes often rolls into an hour, or more, several times per day, and you somehow end up on the Wikipedia page for a weird marsupial and who really has time to get caught up in all that? I’ve set my social media and news reading to just one hour every morning – it’s like my cup of coffee as I wake up and lie in bed.

And my favorite habit: delegate tasks to others!  Sometimes the old idiom: “If you want something done right, do it yourself” isn’t the best advice when you are trying to be productive.