| What Is Productivity | What affects productivity? | What is toxic productivity? | Why you should be productive as a person | 7 Tips to successfully improve productivity? |
How do I become more productive? You need productivity to move things along in your life. Here are a few tips on how to be more productive.
Chances are, you’re like me; you feel unproductive especially because you procrastinate a lot. You know what you should do but you just don’t get around to doing it. And you secretly and openly hate that.
I absolutely hate when I plan my plans get sidetracked. Because I end up wasting my time on something ultimately unsatisfactory.
What does it mean to be productive?
The word “productivity” is usually associated with economics.
It discusses the efficiency of inputs in producing outputs, as a way of measuring growth.
In many ways, the productivity phenomenon in economics can be used to define productivity in individuals.
Simply put, the influence of our inputs on our output, which causes growth is “productivity”.
The input here can be;
- Your character and traits as a person,
- Your goals and your ambitions,
- The factors that affect you up close and personally
- Your immediate environment
- etc.
The output can be the results, goals, attainments, satisfaction, etc.
So when we jumble that together; we can say a person’s productivity is the effectiveness of inputs in bringing desired results(output).
Simplifying that further, we can define a person’s productivity as how much his/her immediate surroundings, and individual traits, influence him/her to achieve a goal. Also, the satisfaction one derives from achieving said goals.
Think of productivity as what happens once you cross the line between you and your goal and the satisfaction derived from such action.
Sometimes, your goals might be unrealistic…
What affects your productivity
The factors that impact our productivity are the inputs we talked about earlier.
These can range also from personal factors to external factors such as;
An unclear mind:
When your mind is unsettled, your whole being is equally unsettled.
An unclear mind is a cluttered mind. The most important thing about productivity is that it starts from the mind. When your mind is roaming free with unclear thoughts, it’s impossible to get work done.
Also with ideas floating and heaping around, it’s impossible for you to conceive a strategy. Much less thinking of executing a plan or carrying out a task.
Hyperactive and Multiple interests:
This is often the case with people who have many interests and want to solely dedicate their time equally to each of them.
Rationalizing that you can invest equal time in all your interest. Especially without regard for your mind and body.
This can inhibit you from exploring any of your hobbies completely.
Piling up your to-do list is one thing that can inhibit your productivity. An ever-increasing to-do list when you barely cleared the old ones but you just keep adding new ones.
Not knowing what you want:
When you have an unclear vision of what you want to accomplish. It can affect your productivity. Being productive is all about doing a thing and doing it well.
Hence, when you have no idea about yourself and what you want, it can hinder your chances of being productive. Know your true self.
Improper time management:
This is a skill that should be taught in schools from an elementary level.
Genuinely most of us lack this skill because we feel like time will wait for us. Although, subconsciously we know that’s a lie because “time and tides want for no one”.
Not allocating proper time to different items on your agenda, or realizing the time value a certain activity might hold is detrimental to productivity.
You may end up frustrated when you assign 1 hour to a job that ends up consuming more than 3 hours.
Content consumption and social media:
In this age of social and mass media, the saying: you are what you consume is really true. Whether we like it or not social media has a very huge undeniable impact on our lives.
Spending most of your, time-consuming content that doesn’t motivate you to be productive. Spending most of your time actively consuming and entertaining yourself via social media.
Sometimes I get so glued to my screen that it becomes frustrating. I literally want to drop my phone but I just keep swiping and swiping. It’s more annoying because I have something else I should be doing, it’s a messy circle.
Relationships with other people:
We know agents of socialization have an undeniably outstanding impact on our perception of life. You are who you surround yourself with.
Obviously, this statement is proven true. Because when you spend time with a people for a long time, you share similar interests, and ideologies.
It goes without saying that if you’re in good company, good things will come to you and vice versa.
Related: Signs of a toxic friend
Your interests:
The things you enjoy doing affect your productivity. You may not be productive towards something you don’t enjoy.
This reason is why people are encouraged to follow their passions. It’s easier to be productive when you like/ love what you do.
A lack of interest in a thing means you won’t get around to being productive in it.
Furthermore, forcibly doing things that do not interest you can feel very dragged and lackluster. There is no satisfaction to gain.
When being productive becomes Toxic
Productivity can become unhealthy. Too much of everything as we know can be evil.
In today’s world, social media pushes everyone to be it all. You are encouraged to do everything you can do, just because you can.
You work 9 to 5, you’re doing your skincare routine daily. Practicing self-love. doing your hair care and manicures frequently. While also running a successful business and having a healthy functioning social life amidst creating time for tour self.
The truth is, you may be able to do this thing but never all in a one-time frame.
All these activities can be tasking and draining and honestly, you need to rest.
Productivity becomes toxic when you feel the need to always do and fulfill roles and tasks. You don’t know how to rest or be bored or spend time by yourself. You just keep running on fumes till you burn out and combust.
You need to acknowledge your humanity before everything else. You’re human with a system that can break down when overworked. Maintain a healthy balance of what you can and cannot do and only do what you genuinely can.
How is productivity important?
There are a lot of personal benefits to gain from being productive. Your mind, body as well as surroundings will thank you for getting things done to the best of your capacity.
- Productivity yields personal satisfaction. It’s a sign of growth when you overcome your natural state of laziness. Just being able to do the simplest of tasks that make your life better, like cleaning your room, is a very satisfactory victory.
- Productivity makes you love yourself, and your environment. Clearing up your space is a way to help clean up your thoughts as well.
- Productivity helps you organize and reorganize things and always helps you see the clearer picture better.
- Productivity keeps your mind and body active at all times. You overcome laziness and procrastinate every time you get up and do something you should do.
- Productivity helps you attain your big dreams faster. The more you work towards your dream the clearer it becomes. You make corrections, adjust, and eliminate whatever you need to, on your road to achieving a big goal. Productivity brings success eventually.
How do I become more productive?
There are a few steps I’ve had to apply to help myself be more productive. Primarily as someone who has so many things I think I need to do. I hope they help you too. These steps include;
Knowledge of myself:
In my humble opinion, the first step to being productive is the knowledge you have of yourself. You need to know what your capacities are as a person.
Therefore define what you enjoy and what you don’t enjoy so it’s easier for you to make the choice to be productive.
As I stated earlier you might not be as productive in doing something you don’t enjoy but you absolutely can crush doing the things you enjoy.
You know how much you’re willing to out and you may even decide to test your limits.
Related: How to succeed as a late bloomer
Being conscious of my decision-making process:
Being active in your life is a very healthy trait. Don’t be passive in your own life, take it slowly Understand the choices you’re making, and think before making them.
Before you make a decision to do something, you should ask yourself if it’s really something you can do. Or You’re just trying out something new.
Were you influenced to make this decision by your immediate community, or social media? Can your body take it?
Can your mind take it What?
What purpose will this task serve you?
Will it add value to yourself, and your life?
Do you have a choice?
These are the important questions you should ask yourself before taking that jump to focus your energy on something.
Journaling:
I find that journaling helps me boost my productivity. Because my mind is cluttered and filled with memes, scenes from shows, ideas, music, and others.
Because of this, I always have a book and pen with me. There is a phone notes app, but for some reason, I enjoy the feel and smell of paper and books. Moreover, my phone also distracts me.
When I’m in the middle of something and a new idea pops up or I remember a new task, I make a conscious effort to write it down so I won’t forget. Then deal with it at an allotted time.
In addition, with journals, you can always look back and see how much progress you’ve made on the tasks you set. Journaling gives a written frame or structure to your thoughts or tasks.
Setting goals:
Be realistic when setting goals. Understand the nature of your goals and work with them accordingly. Practice the system of ranking your goals from the least to the most pressing and actually write it out. Don’t just do the maths in your head. Some goals are long-term, which means you have to practice long-term productivity.
These long-term goals can be divided into medium-term and short-term goals.
An example of a long-term goal can be: starting up a business. You have to embrace many elements in your journey, such as acquiring an education. This may be considered a medium-term goal.
The short team goals can be going to classes, reading, doing projects and assignments, and other sacrifices. Define the goal of your action and work towards achieving it.
Time management:
The concept of time management is simply the skill of judiciously allotting time towards different activities. This is a concept necessary for productivity. Learn to manage your time, and apply the skill to yourself.
Allocate time to each task and actually fulfill the task. Don’t do too much at once, do one at a time. And always include time for a break especially. Also, doing this creates a time frame pictogram of your day.
Spending time with Yourself:
You are indeed a good company. Enjoy spending time with yourself. This way it’s easy for you to define yourself and define your goals On a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Self-love is being comfortable with yourself.
Enjoying boredom:
Not every time is activity and productive time. Sometimes just enjoy the boredom. You never know where Inspirations might develop.
Altogether, you can just enjoy the boredom and the lack of activities.
Reducing social media consumption:
Social media is undeniably a propelling force in our lives. It affects even our attitudes toward life. Limit your social media time except your job is inside the world of social media.
Despite this, you should spend some time even just an hour away from social media to just declutter. Adjust your social media to suit your interests only, not just mindless consumption of social content.
Besides the more time you spend on social media, the more distracted you get and the more time you waste.
Just do it
Nike
Productivity should be beneficial to your living. Success is the result of productivity and success isn’t always a one-way thing. It can just be satisfaction from doing something.
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