According to Michael Guttridge, a psychologist who focuses on workplace behaviour, “There is an idea we must always be available and work all the time.”
In order words, this is how people think we become more productive.
But the downside is obvious: We end up zoning out and spending more time on a task than required.
Worse still, we’re are missing out on mental and physical benefits of time we’d otherwise have spent on ourselves.
In the bid to be more productive, people don’t take time out for themselves, rather what we find today are people eating at the desk, deprived hours of sleep, and some of them ending up in a bad state of health- all due to wrong ideas on how to be more productive.
Paradoxically, most successful scientists knew when to work and when to rest.
Let’s look at the life of Charles Darwin whose balance schedule of work and rest made him one of the most famous scientists in the world. This is an excerpt from nautilus article on, “Darwin was a slacker and you should be too”
After his morning walk and breakfast, Darwin was in his study by 8 and worked a steady hour and a half. At 9:30 he would read the morning mail and write letters. At 10:30, Darwin returned to more serious work, sometimes moving to his aviary, greenhouse, or one of several other buildings where he conducted his experiments. By noon, he would declare, “I’ve done a good day’s work,” and set out on a long walk on the Sandwalk, a path he had laid out not long after buying Down House. (Part of the Sandwalk ran through land leased to Darwin by the Lubbock family.) When he returned after an hour or more, Darwin had lunch and answered more letters. At 3 he would retire for a nap; an hour later he would arise, take another walk around the Sandwalk, then return to his study until 5:30, when he would join his wife, Emma, and their family for dinner. On this schedule he wrote 19 books, including technical volumes on climbing plants, barnacles, and other subjects; the controversial Descent of Man; and The Origin of Species, probably the single most famous book in the history of science, and a book that still affects the way we think about nature and ourselves.
Looking at this piece critically, we cannot help, but observe his days don’t seem very busy as we count busy today- 80 or more hours of work a week. I’d not hesitate to say, “This is how a more productive schedule should be.”
In addition, anyone reviewing this will notice, he had time for dinner, he had time for his family, he had time to go for walks, he had time to nap…: and yet, he was in every way more productive than some of us are today. In fact, he was very successful!
Someone may be saying, “but Darwin does not have the mountain load of work I have to contend with every day.”
You may be right. But that notwithstanding, there is still a way to get around it.
That’s why I’m here to enlighten you on how to be more productive.
How to be more productive using these 7 strategies
Get support:
You need a supportive framework to be more productive. You are not a superman! Combining pursuing your goals, household chores and family issues could be overwhelming.
Let your family know you need their support. Ironically, they may not know this
if you don’t tell them. Don’t undermine your family support, they are your greatest source of strength in achieving your goals.
I’m fortunate to get a lot of understanding and help from my husband and my children. I’d probably have packed up this work by now, if not for the understanding they have concerning my work. On another note, you could get domestic staffs to manage your household chores.
2. Outsource your work.
Those of us in blogging know how tedious the work can be. We’re ever faced with mountain loads of work to do.
Blogging tasks include the following, but not limited to writing content, Seo, graphics creation, marketing, keyword research, product creation and social media.
If you’re the only one working on your blog, it can be extremely tough. My recommendation is to concentrate on your area of strength and outsource the other tasks if you can afford it.
The fact that you’re running your business alone should not limit its capability to grow. Ensure it’s a going concern by outsourcing.
Go on a social media fast by automating your tasks
Here is an interesting piece I found: In an interview with Vox’s Ezra Klein, journalist and author Ta-Nehisi Coates argued that serious thinkers and writers should get off Twitter.
Considering, every businessman wants to have a tremendous presence online, and the best way to do this seems to be through social media. One may wonder, how can we stay off social media?
Perhaps, Ta- Nehisi Coates argument stems from the fact that constant engagement with social media can leave us exhausted and disconnected from our own creativity.
This cost is nothing compared to the valuable time lost on social media.Time is a resource and it’s limited. And as such, we have to be able to appropriate it optimally: how we appropriate time determines how productive we become.
Nobody gets more than 24 hours in a day. The more we make wise use of our time, the more productive we become.
Understandably, the need to belong and feel safe has created the addiction to social media, but there has to be a balance.
When we are constantly fixated on keeping up with what is happening on social media, our productivity gets hampered.
4. Automate your tasks
Social media does not have to be so time-consuming anymore, there are tools out there for its automation. For example, your Pinterest scheduling can be automated with tailwind app.
And your twitter and facebook can be automated using buffer. The time you save on social media can better be channel to other tasks.
You can also, automate some other tasks, such as sending out of bulk mail using autoresponder such as mailer lite, get response, or awebber.
5.Get beyond the noise
Frankly speaking, This is something very costly in our present-day world: quiet. So, when one is told, “how to be more productive is to get beyond the noise,” it sounds almost absurd.
However it sounds, it can’t be waived off. Success in business and all other aspects of life requires quietness to generate good ideas and come up with quality works.
Cultivating silence isn’t only about getting respite from the noise at home, or getting away from the distraction of social media.
Real silence is achieved when we are able to control the turmoil of our minds. This type of silence quiets inner and outer chatter and is a tremendous way to de-stress, be focused, reinvigorate, and be more productive.
I often take breaks from responsibilities to relax and get away from distractions. Often times, my perspective comes out clearer, and I’m able to come up with radically creative ideas.
In quietness lies your strength, ability to come up with creative ideas, and strategies to be more productive.
Being busy does not always translate to be being productive.
Cultivate silence to enhance your creative abilities.
Even if you are an incredibly busy person, you can still create quiet time for yourself.
It just takes commitment and self-determined effort to achieve it. Otherwise, your health, business and other areas of your life will be at risk.
How to cultivate periods of sustained silence in order to be more productive
In addition to going on a media fast, take a walk, or a short break: or better still, a holiday.
It does really good to recline your chair and stretch out your legs after a heavy work. The feeling is heavenly! If most of us will take time out for weekend and holidays, we’ll bounce back to work with greater vigour. Consequently, the result is increased productivity.
Another way to unplug is to try meditation. The quiet time you observe while meditating gives you time to come up with a solution to issues that present themselves. The result of mediating is greater awareness, less stress and higher productivity.
The practice of meditating has helped me quite a lot to be more productive.
I know a lot of people engage in yoga, however, I’m not into it. But I love to read my bible and observe my quiet time. The result of this has been quite profound.
My point here is, figure out what works for you and practice it.
6. Read, read and read more.
Everything you have is subject to constraint. It’s knowledge that will teach you how to apportion the resources you have at your disposal.
One of the things you can do to be more productive is to acquire knowledge. Like an article I read says, ‘surround yourself with more books than you’ll ever read.” Because the more knowledgeable a man is the more he is productive. And a man of knowledge, like the bible says, increases strength.
Knowledge is really important in productivity. Whatever you are into, master the skill it requires. This is how you can be more productive in your field of specialisation.
Be focused
I shouldn’t really be telling you this, but I don’t think it will cause any harm. Right now as I’m writing this post, I’m juggling answering my incessant phone calls and creating some graphics in photoshop.
And I use to think I knew how to be productive. What a laugh!!!!
Pardon me!!! This isn’t really my practice, this just came up because my laptop unfortunately crashed. And I’m struggling to keep to schedule using my husband’s lap, knowing he can come at any time now for his it.
Okay, let’s be serious here…
This is how many of us go about our work- multitasking. Pick one task at a time and concentrate on it, regardless of the pressure you are in.
As an online entrepreneur, the pressure to keep to schedule make us engage in many activities at the same time. However, this is a complete shift from being productive.
Let’s desist from the temptation to open many tabs on our laptops, and be flipping through the pages as we work.
Conclusion
I wrote this post on how to be more productive to enable you get massive amount of work done when you’re at it.
Remember, it’s counter productive when we refuse to take time off to sleep, read books, go for walks, take holidays… Take time away from the grind, and don’t let the looming guilt of not doing something weigh you down.
Your productivity is not the result of endless hours of toil, create a time to rest and enjoy life with your loved ones.
