Right now is a great time to do some adjustments to your approach on how you get things done. With the year coming to a close, it’s time to do an assessment on how you are approaching your day and look for ways that you can be more productive. There is not a one size fits all approach that is best when it come to getting things done. The important thing is to systematize your productivity so that you are approaching each day in a consistent manner.
The only way that you can improve your current productivity is to make some changes in your approach. Maybe I have been watching too much Wayne Dyer on PBS but the process of being intentional is definitely a learned practice and something that I have been working on over the years. Intention is the key to being more productive. If you want to get more out of your day and your life, you must make specific and, in most cases, uncomfortable changes.
Putting a system in place for productivity is one such change that can really make us feel uncomfortable and you can get more intentional by adopting a whole new system with which to run your day.
The system you choose is totally up to you. There are plenty great systems for you to use. A few months ago, I outlined 3 systems to maximize your productivity. The system is just the first step. How we use the system is what’s important. If you don’t like one particular system, use a hybrid of a couple of different systems if that’s what works best for you.
I considered myself a fairly organized person but one mistake I always seemed to make was forgetting things that people said to me in passing. I would talk with my wife on the phone or have an employee make a request and if I didn’t handle the request right away, I would completely forget it. The worst thing I could do, however, is handle every request right that instant as they came at me. There is no way I would get anything meaningful done if I did that.
Forgetting things started getting me into trouble at home with my wife as I would forget to drop by the store etc and hurt my credibility at work as I forgot to do important tasks that were requested of me by employees. The other things that was killing me was interruptions and how I would allow them to happen frequently.
I decided to attend a 3 day productivity course that helped me solve both issues. I now carry around a small notebook virtually everywhere I go so that I can write down every request that comes my way. The other thing that I learned was to close my e-mail out and only check it at specific times during the day. I also stopped taking phone calls whenever my phone rang and stopped allowing people to walk into my office whenever they wanted to. My productivity, as a result, greatly improved.
You may have completely different productivity issues than I have but regardless, systematizing how you handle your day will allow you to cut out the waste and get more done. Putting a system in place is also a great way to measure how you are doing and allows you to better assess what really works.
What issues are hurting your productivity? What are you going to do in 2010 to overcome these issues? What systems have you learned to help you with your productivity?