Ultimate Guide to Productivity: My Secret
Ben Yoskovitz over at the Instigator Blog has started a group writing project, The Ultimate Guide to Productivity and is asking people to share their secret to being productive. While trying to think of my secret I had to first ask myself, am I effectively productive in what I do? I find it depends on
the task.
Take this writing project for example. It’s been going on since April 24th so there are already people who have submitted their posts so I decided to read some what others had written to help me gain a better understanding of the “group” secret to being productive.
The first post I read was on plooptionary, Productivity -sorted where ploop put up this graph.
That makes a lot of sense to me. I work with two monitors in my office and depending on the task I might have my t.v. running on one while I work on the other, like I am doing now while writing this post. I have Ellen running in the background. Usually at this time in the morning I am reading through the feeds I subscribe to, catching up on email and catching up on the news of the day. I’m interested in the task I am doing, making my own decisions but I do have a distraction. Two out of three is o.k. for my morning routine of catching up with all of my reading. I will say my productivity is higher when American Idol isn’t running in the background.
Interest in the task + Power to make decisions + Lack of distractions = High productivity zone.
However when I am working for a client I use both monitors and I find that music helps me focus. Yes, noise in the background… a distraction of sorts but the beat in the background helps me type away on my keyboard. Like Deborah writes in the Ultimate Guide to Productivity for Adult ADD Sufferer, I always have to have some noise in the background, even if it is so low I can’t make out the words.
Listening to music helps me to be more productive.
A consensus among many of the participants in the project is that the secret is loving what you are doing. Derrick at Business Blogging Tips puts it simply, “find your passion and do it!” When I am learning something new or doing research for a client I am totally focused on the task at hand.
My passion is learning new things and sharing my knowledge with others.
But, what if the task I have to do does not inspire passion? Lorna at Something Good answers with Just Do Something, Already. I could have written Lorna’s post. I can get overwhelmed with looking at all that needs to get done in a day and become paralyzed with worry it won’t get done and then nothing gets done.
I need to put one foot in front of the other and get moving.
Adam over at Monk at Work looks at shifting away from “Can I do it” to “How will I do it,” in his post The Key to Dunking Your Doubts and Unclogging Your Optimism . This commits you to the task at hand. That’s a nice shift in attitude that I think I’ll give a try.
Ask myself the question, how will I handle this task?
Finally, what is my secret to productivity?
Do the least desirable task first.
My thinking is simple, if I do the least desirable task first then the rest of my day will be worry and anxious free. Like dessert I save the best for last.
Thanks Ben for putting this project together and keeping track of all the tips.
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