To be productive is to complete essential actions that move you closer to accomplishing your goals in a manner that brings stability and ease to your life.  

How You Can Boost Your Productivity?

Have you ever had a very productive week? How did you feel?

The satisfaction that comes from completing tasks that you gave your very best is pure bliss. If you are looking at how to blow up your productivity in the coming year, I have a few things to share with you.

• Set clear goals

The more specific or explicit the goal, the more precisely performance is monitored for progress.

• Plan your day and build better habits

Start each day with the most important task. Sit with daily routines, feed your focus and starve distractions. The only way to identify the most important task is by sitting with your thoughts. Dedicate 30 – 60minutes to planning your day. Don’t plan to do too much as well. Save for routines, three (3) important stuff a day is enough.

• Avoid multi – tasking like a plague

There is always an exception to a rule. Desperate days might require you doing two – four things at a time so you can meet up with deadlines. However, it is important that you avoid it. Carefully plan to focus on tasks per time. I know it’s not easy but you can do it.

• Capture your ideas and thoughts through note taking
• Periodically self-reflect
• Put an accountability system in place

If you want to do that task well, commit to reporting back to one or two persons you don’t want to tell you’ve failed. You can leverage the internet as well and do it in public. Do what works for you provided it’s working.

• Automation

With Hyperfury or TweetDeck, I can schedule my tweets and go to bed. With Otter, I can record conversations and be sure of having the transcripts ready instead of putting in more time to write it out. Identify processes you can automate with an app and fix it up.

However, an app alone isn’t going to make you more productive. How you use it makes the difference. Ensure you build better work routines and do not rely on apps.

The most integral part of your plan is your mindset and here are some tips just for you.

Break out of fear:

Fear takes on many forms: anxiety, timidity, worry, hesitancy, doubts, procrastination, indecision, withdrawal, low self – esteem, inferiority complex, over – aggression, nervousness, suspicion, social shyness, and even depression. The list doesn’t even end here because some persons respond to fear with anger.

We grew up mastering how well to respond to certain narratives that anything contrary will trigger some of these vibes. What if your fear is just a habit?

What would happen if you could kick – start a journey of installing better habits or a new operating system that actually empowers you to do all you want? How will your life look if you unlearn your habitual patterns of fear or anxiety?

Let me say this: To take risk and fail is not a failure. Real failure is to fear taking any risk.

Curiosity:

Your ability to innovate relies on curiosity: willingness to seek out novel information.

The first step to being more productive is being curious. Seek to know how you can repeat a task better. Be at alert to ask questions.

Curiosity propels profundity.

Clarity:

When you gain clarity, you are one step away from taking the right decision. Clarity will give you insight and let you make your own opinion about situations or things.

Clarity is a much-undervalued virtue that is fuelled by curiosity. It is of utmost importance that you are never scared to question any narrative. When you are faced with ambiguity, ask questions until you are clear.

In some cases, clarity is never attained. Those are the most fascinating rabbit holes. I guess it depends a lot on your taste. Mine tend to be very philosophical or science related. I love questions regarding cosmology, consciousness and reality.

The posture of your mindset is to aim for clarity with simple but not common actions. Iteration leads to clarity.

Remove inefficiencies:

If you want to maximize your productivity, it’s the amount of work you put in that matters the most. It’s not just by working 20hours a day, 7 times a week, 52 weeks a year.

To boost your personal productivity, do away with complexity. Focus on the essentials and keep your system simple.

Simplicity should be a key goal in your plan and unnecessary complexity should be avoided.

It’ll make you less stressed, much happier, and more productive.

Consistency:

It’s okay if you think consistency and hard work is over – rated. Once you show me someone who procrastinated their way to success and I’d switch strategy as soon as 1940.

If you want to get ahead and stand out, you will have to consistently do good work and always be on the lookout for opportunities to do more.

Consistency wins every time and it’s interesting to note that the return on consistency is a compounding one. Even though results appear to be the same initially, it becomes insignificantly better every day. Focus on intensifying efforts in current trajectory and be sure of growth.

Read the Fatal Misconception About Consistency

Discipline:

To be disciplined is to allow consistency compound. It prepares you for the benefit of your consistent, daily action towards the achievement of your goals. 

The moment you hack self – discipline, you can have whatsoever you set your mind on. To stay true to your commitment and be disciplined is one sure way to move towards your goals and aspiration.

While it’s hard to put up with it initially, you stand a chance to make positive decisions more easily and tend to feel more satisfied with your lives: living life on your own terms.

If you really want to live the life you want and do what makes you smile, embrace discipline. It’s the easiest way to protect your interest and future self. It’s a debt you owe yourself and you must pay.

The future is yours!