The Secret To Being Your Most Productive Self

Have you ever caught yourself saying, "I'm just not productive enough"? The fact is, if you're a human being with a job and a life, your productivity level is most likely solid. If the tasks that you need to complete aren't getting done by the time they should be, there are two possibilities: Either you don't know how to get it done or there's another reason keeping you from doing so.

Introduction

Most people live in a state of perpetual busyness and hardly ever accomplish what they set out to do. They are so stressed out by the endless list of tasks that they've created for themselves that they never get anything done.

In the book "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience", Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, PhD defines flow as "the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity".

The first step in being productive is to define what it means to you

There may be some people who are naturally productive, but for most of us, productivity is a skill. Like any other skill, it can be learned, and once you learn how to do it, it becomes easy.

Productivity is a measure of your ability to complete tasks in the time allowed. It’s a measure of your ability to accomplish more in less time. For that reason, it’s important to understand what being productive means to you personally.

What steps do you need to take in order to be productive?

The most important thing you need to do to be productive is to schedule your time. We all know that if we were more organized and disciplined, we’d get more done. But how many of us really spend the time to set up a schedule or make a plan?

I personally think it’s a good idea to start with a plan. I’m not saying you have to follow it like the Ten Commandments, but if you want to be productive, give yourself a framework or structure for what you’re going to do.

What are your productivity tools?

I’ve tried a lot of productivity tools over the years. Some of them were really helpful and others not so much. I’ve narrowed my favorite down to three.

For task management, I use Trello. It’s free, collaborative, and easy to use. If you’re looking for something simple with a lot of out-of-the-box functionality that works seamlessly on your desktop computer or phone, give Trello a try.

How do you get rid of distractions and interruptions?

There are three things that will help you get rid of distractions and interruptions:

• Find a quiet place where no one can bother you.
• Get into a work routine where you complete certain tasks in a certain order, every day. This will help you cut down on the time it takes to get started each day, freeing up more time for the tasks that matter most.
• Decide what’s more important than what you’re doing, and then focus on completing that task first.

How do you organize yourself?

Organizing yourself and keeping the chaos of your life in check is one of the most difficult things to do. If you are a super organized person, then you must be tired of all these people asking you for tips, right?

I’m sure you have some tricks up your sleeve that would make an article about how to organize yourself highly popular. The key is to not only explain how to be more organized, but to also let readers know why they need it, and how it will benefit them.

Don’t forget to sprinkle in stories and examples from your own life.

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Thank you for reading. I hope that you’ve learned some new things. If you have a question or comment, please don’t hesitate to leave a reply below.