How to keep yourself Productive

Introduction

Every day more and more people are seeking answers on how to become better in what they do, how they do the things they do and the results they are getting. You may have gotten to this article because you typed the “how to” question on Google. And here you are, to find out how to keep yourself productive.

Let’s face it, remaining productive is not a walk in the park. It is not easy. As individuals, we have several reasons not to be productively engaged in anything. “Who doesn’t like sleeping from 8 pm till 8 am?”  We all do, at least for the many that could be honest with themselves.

But, along the line, as we continue to live in life, we realize that when we sleep that long, at the end of the month, we would have practically spent half of the month sleeping. And in order to avoid this, we must find ways to productively keep ourselves engaged.

So, in this article, I will be helping you in determining how to keep yourself productively engaged. First, I will try to define my concept of productivity as used in this article. Second, I will try to show you why it is important for you to be productively engaged, providing examples where necessary. Third, I will move on to show you how to keep yourself productive for a very long time.

What is productivity?

The word ‘Productivity’ is gotten from two words, Product+ Activity. So, productivity in simple terms could be said to you being able to get a product out of any activity. It refers to your ability to achieve the desired result in a particular way within a certain period of time. So, as an individual, you could only say you are productive when you can efficiently achieve the result you desire in whatever activity you are engaged in, within the period of time you have allotted for that activity.

The importance of productivity to you as an individual in all you do can never be overemphasized. Productivity offers a yardstick to measure whether or not you are growing as an individual. It is also important in your leadership journey as it gives you the room to assess yourself on the various approaches you are engaging in your leadership. Having stated that, let’s get started already on how you could keep yourself productive.

How to keep yourself Productive

1. Start by telling yourself “why”

The first step towards keeping yourself productive is to first tell yourself why you need to be productive in the first place. In the introduction, I made a poser, “who don’t like sleeping from 8 pm till 8 am?”  The truth of the matter is that, if being productive requires waking up earlier and going to bed late, you must be able to tell yourself why it is important to you to do that.

Your ‘why’ is what gets you started on the journey and your ‘why’ is what will keep you going when challenges start arising along the way. So, you want to be productive, tell yourself why you need to be productive. Here are a few questions you could answer for yourself in helping you arrive at your why:

• What do I stand to gain by becoming productive?
• Will I be happy with myself when I have gained these?
• What do I stand to lose if I do not become productive?
• Will I be happy with myself when I lose these?
• Who else needs me to be productive?

The last question there is very important because as I have come to discover, many individuals left to themselves have no reason why they should be productive. But, when they realize that there are others who need them to be productive or that there are others who are counting on them being productive in order to live or succeed, they will readjust themselves.

So, if you are the type of person that depends on external motivation to engage in any activity, then, that last question definitely is the most important question to answer for yourself.

2. Define what matters

In my discussions on Personal Growth, I always emphasize the importance of focusing on the areas of your life which matter to your desired destination. In getting started with becoming Productive, it is important to realize and keep in mind that productivity is not measured wholly but on a particular task or project and how that particular task or project affects you generally.

So, you need to be able to define the tasks and projects that matter to you per time. When at work, your parenting skills may not matter so much as your ability to get done with your workload. And as a student, your productivity will be checked more on your ability to make good grades than they will be checked on your ability to play good football.

In order to be able to define the areas effectively, you should be able to do answer the following questions:

• Where am I at the moment?
• What are the things I need to achieve for myself at the moment?
• Which one of these things is most important to me at the moment and why?
• Will doing these now move me closer to my bigger plans?

3. Determine the other not-so-important-at-the-moment things and keep them away

Now, when you choose to become more productive, you find out there are so many things begging for your attention. After you have defined the important task or tasks you should be focused on, you need to also define the ones which are not so important for your attention within the time you are on the task.

For instance, checking your Facebook feeds over Company wifi may not be important unless checking Facebook is part of your job descriptions. Then, attending to emails when you are breastfeeding your four-month-old baby may not be all that important unless it contains your doctor’s directions on how to feed your baby.

So, what are those other things that are not important for the duration of time you have allocated to the particular task you are working on? Keep those things away and don’t let them interfere with your important tasks.

4. Define how to measure your productivity

Now that you have been able to tell yourself the reason why you need to be Productive and you have also defined for yourself the areas of your life to focus on at the moment, you have to define how you will determine at the end of the day whether you are productive or not.

At the end of the project or at the completion of the tasks, what will count or what will matter to you?

• Will it be the amount of time you spent on the project?
• Will it be the quality of the result gotten?
• Will it be the manner you arrived at the result?
• Will it be the energy and resources used or saved in order to achieve the results?
• Or will it be all of the above?

Defining from the onset what to measure your productivity with will ensure you are able to stay focused on the tasks. When you have finally achieved the tasks, it will determine whether or not you are fulfilled or happy with yourself at the result obtained.

See our list of 10 Books on Productivity you should read!

5. Define how to get them done from start to finish

This may require you carrying out researches to understand the various steps involved in getting you to achieve the desired results you wish for effectively.

6. Define how long to focus on the tasks before taking up other things

When you are done setting out what the tasks or projects will require in order to get them done, you need to define how long you are willing to give on the tasks or projects. Remember, in our definition of productivity we said it is you achieving your desired result within a certain period of time.

Who even have all the whole time to work on a particular task?

7.  Get started with them and keep on at them till you are done

No one will do the work for you. So, when you have been able to define for yourself the things that important to you and you have also defined how to achieve them and how long they will take, you need to get started with them.

And when you do, you have to ensure you keep on at it until you are done or until you have achieved the results you need. That is why it is important to define before you get started what the parameters for measuring your productivity will be.

8. Only take breaks if necessary

Even the computer system aches from our long usage of it. Imagine what happens to your brain when you become engrossed in that activity or task. It is okay to take a break while on a task. But, ensure they are necessary and that they are not often.

Again, ensure the break you take are ones that will relax you and help you continue on the task when you are ready to. This is why I recommend taking a walk as a means of taking a break from any task and I strictly advise against using social media to take a break. Because it has the propensity to keep you away for longer than you are ready to stay away.

 

My 30-seconds Tip to help you remain Productive

 

Develop a system around things that work best for you and follow through with them always. Just as we are all different as individuals, so we may find out that our ability to do things are all different. You may need to experiment doing a particular task in different ways in order to finally arrive at what works best for you.

So, determine what works best for you and find a way to build a system out of it that it almost becomes automatic for you when you get started with any activity. What more? Building a system out of things saves you time and you know time is very much important in the measurement of Productivity.

Conclusion

As already pointed out, Productivity is not easy to come by. It takes a conscious approach in order to arrive at it. It is important however to always keep in mind these most important things when it comes to productivity:

• Result
• Manner or Pattern
• Time

Your ability to find a way to ensure you get the best result in a particular pattern or manner while utilizing effectively the time available to you for such activity determines how productive you are.