Focus on Being Productive

“Focus in being productive instead of busy” – Tim Ferris.

What does this mean? More importantly why is this so important? Lets say you work a 40 hour week, and you spend your week working through tasks and projects. If it takes you until Friday to complete these tasks then you’ve had a productive week right? Maybe, maybe not. If you’ve been working on the same projects and tasks every week and it takes the same amount of time every week, then that is not necessarily the outcome you’re looking for.

The unfortunate truth is that as we complete the same tasks we work on every week, and complete the projects we have to complete in our work hours, we do eventually tend to get more efficient at them, meaning we can finish each task slightly quicker than before. For most people this isn’t noticed because they approach these projects knowing that they have to be done by a certain time, and as they get more efficient at these tasks, they allow themselves to become more distracted knowing still that they can have the task completed by the deadline. Most of us don’t even realize that this is happening, you’ll do the same job every day, every week, every month, and just know that you completed all of your tasks. In this modern age, we let ourselves look at our phone an extra time or two, spend an extra few minutes a day looking through social media each day, or spend a few extra minutes daydreaming while we drink our coffee. This actually does mean we are getting more efficient at these tasks, but it also means we are getting less efficient with our time.

If we take this extra time we spend on our phones each day, or on social media, or daydreaming, and cut it all out for 1 week, and just work as hard as you can on each job you’re tasked to complete, you might find that by the end of the week, you’re done your normal work a few hours early than normal. I tried this, and found that by working as efficiently as possible I could have extra time leftover to work on setting goals, or holding myself accountable to goals I had set prior.

The point of this is simple even though I’ve rambled on a bit. If you focus more on being productive and less on just getting the job done, you’ll be amazed by the extra time you have leftover to work on developing yourself further and continuing your own Climb to Success!

Until Next Time,

AM