Whatsapp. Twitter. Snapchat. And the ever polluted and time snatching Facebook.
There are many tasks to achieve. Or at least start. Personal. Professional. Business.
The time is ticking fast. Deadline is fast approaching. Clients are calling. Boss is on your neck. Seems the world wants to crash on you.
That is the situation of things today.
Becoming productive becomes almost an impossible feat.
And what is productivity itself?
As a personal effectiveness strategist, it is simply doing what you had planned to do when you should do it and getting the right or expected results. It is as simple as that.
As simple as it looks, getting things done, at the right time is a herculean task for most. Sadly, that is what bosses, clients, employers, business partners crave for and pay for too.
How do you then have a productive day in a midst of distracting and low value activities?
First, there are many ways to achieve productivity but I am sharing what works for me. I believe strongly that if it works for me it will work for you; even though we are uniquely created, we are all human.
That said.
- Set Your Table Yourself.
At the beginning of a new term in my experience as a students of government school and then as a teacher of government owned school (God bless my hustle), everybody on the resumption day, mind their businesses by looking for a suitable chair and desk or bringing to the new class the former ones. What do they want to do? One thing: Set the table. If you miss to set your desk on the resumption day, you would most likely share with someone or sit on the floor till when salvation comes. Isn't that your experience too?
Set your table by preparing today what you want to do tomorrow. Write down what you want to do in, at worst, a paper and hang it somewhere you will see at your first opening of your eye lids.
I am not here to tell you what it does or how it helps you. Only to tell you what needs to be done. If you want to know what it does to productivity, apply it (that's actually what I want you to do).
So, set the table yourself a day before. Don't allow someone to set it for you. Else, you may be a loyal tenant in another man's table.
- Keep Fit.
I told a friend recently that I did road walk for 30 minutes for 12 consecutive days during the last term vacation. And after that time, I rarely feel the pain I usually feel in my right shoulder when writing for a long time or doing anything with the right hand for a long time, if I feel at all.
Quick one. I broke my right arm when in, now, Basic 4 and since then, I do feel pain whenever I used it for a long time. That happened more than 2 decades ago. But a 12 days road walk for 30 minutes was all I needed to have a pain-free arm. Even the intent of the road walk was never that.
Now imagine what a little exercise could do to your mental well being. There are times - and I cannot count them - that I had written a well crafted article immediately after a light exercise after I had postponed its writing many times.
Wait. I am not saying you should go on 30 minutes exercise on a Monday morning.
This is what I do every working day and that had worked for me and helped me to be productive: I do 40 push ups every morning. Immediately I stand up from bed, I walk to the sitting room, go up, down, up, down, 40. On a poor day, I do 35. The results? I don't know. Go do it and experience it yourself. That's when you will know
NB: I didn't start with 40. In fact, I did go 2 rounds to complete the 40 before I can now do 40 non-stop.
- Fasten Your Work To Yourself
I am always ashamed of myself seeing what I had written down to do but not doing it. Without anyone scolding me or to report to (if it is a personal thing, like this article), I feel ashamed.
If you keep to your eyes reach what you want to do, you will most likely do it. But if you keep it far from yourself, you will seldom do it.
This article for instance was on my table, half written before I finished it. If I had kept it away from my table or from my reach, I would probably finish its writing maybe in another 2 weeks. Yes, it had happened to me many times.
What again?
Keep your tasks list within your reach. Don't be like that man who went to a job interview and was told, "Let's have your credentials". He replied, "It's not here with me". My dear, if he was to be offered the job, on what basis would they?
Be proactive.
Kazeem, Abolore S is my name and I am an innovative teacher, creative writer and personal effectiveness strategist.