8 Steps to Productivity

We asked and you answered. Many of you responded to the question regarding your biggest struggle when it comes to being productive. The majority of you shared that staying on top of documentation, interruptions, and lack of computer access affects your time management and productivity.

Productivity is defined as “the effectiveness of productive effort, especially in industry, as measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input.” Essentially, it is a measurement of efficiency.
For some people, it’s simpler to view productivity in the currency of time. There are only 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, and 60 seconds in a minute. If you live for 60 years, you will have lived 525,600 minutes.

While you can lose and gain money, esteem, friends, possessions and more, the one commodity you can never get back is time. Improving productivity in your profession helps you get more accomplished in less time, allowing you more time to go about enjoying the 525,600 minutes you have.

Productivity at work and home is not simply doing something for the sake of getting it done. It’s about doing the right things at the right time to achieve maximum efficiency for your effort. Believe it or not, efficiency is sometimes about doing nothing at all: taking a break, recharging your batteries or mentally preparing for what comes next.

The real key to remember is that everyone has unique needs when it comes to maximizing efficiency for optimal productivity. If your goal is to accomplish more in less time, then you need to complete the following eight steps to productivity.

1. Know your productivity type to help you prioritize your work.
2. Discover your peak energy time.
3. Get yourself a simple kitchen timer.
4. Make friends with your calendar.
5. Batch your tasks and plan your weeks.
6. Schedule your downtime.
7. Set goals and monitor.
8. Review, reconsider and rework your goals if necessary.

Each step is essential for helping you learn to manage your time rather than being managed by the lengthy list of items on your to-do list. You know, those never-ending lists that just grow overnight. Doesn’t it seem like you cross off one item at a time but you add 3 more items in its place? This kind
of chaos makes it seem like you will never catch up and never have time to relax. But as you learn more about your personal productivity needs, you will find that you are not only able to improve the quantity of work you accomplish in your day, but also the quality of work you accomplish.

How does this happen? You can learn how to make small tweaks to your work habits to improve your mood and your productivity. You need to focus on learning to do certain tasks during the hours when you are most productive, focusing your attention in short bursts of time and scheduling vital downtime on your calendar so you have an opportunity to enhance creativity, boost energy, and get a greatly improved return on investment for your time.

Ready to get started? Take the time to learn the ins and outs of each of the eight steps in the Productivity and Time Management Planner so you can take your professional and personal life further than you’ve previously dared to dream possible.

Therapists, teachers, students, and parents can potentially reach their goals faster by using the Productivity and Time Management Planner because it teaches how to improve the quantity and quality of work you complete each day.