Productivity Part II
APPLICATION
Get Started. This is the biggest obstacle to productivity. Do you find it difficult to start prospecting, following up, or creating the CMA you have been postponing for a while? You could just get started.
However, it is important to understand how the brain works before we begin an important project. In any task, the brain visualizes the hardest parts to come and, instead of encouraging us to tackle those difficult tasks right away, it tries to SIMULATE real work by prompting us to focus on simple, meaningless tasks like checking e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or the telephone.
Luckily, there is what is known as the Zeigarnik Effect. If we understand it and apply it to our work it can bring tremendous advantages to our productivity. The Zeigarnik Effect occurs in our mind, when we begin a project and don’t finish it. It has been scientifically proven that, if we don’t finish the project we started, we experience discomfort until we get it done. So use this principle, and get started now!
Focus. Elite performers, in every industry, don’t practice any more than others, but their practice is more deliberate. Be focused on work or focused on something else, but never focus in-between. Time without attention is worthless, so value attention over time.
Stop Multitasking. Studies have shown that people who multitask are actually less productive and spend about 18 minutes re-focusing on the task at hand. Multitasking makes us lose (on the low end of the scale) about 28% of the work day. This means that, despite working for five days, you are actually producing only four days worth of work a week. Multitasking also slows us down and makes us lose our effectiveness. It has also been proven, through IQ testing, that multitasking lowers your IQ by up to 10 points, which is even higher than marijuana use, which lowers your IQ by almost 6 points.
Manage your Energy. Studies have shown that the best musicians practice in sessions of about 90 minutes, with breaks of about 15-20 minutes. Break your work into sessions. Instead of working straight through the entire day, alternate periods of activity and rest.
Have a Deadline. Start early and have a finish time. In order to keep yourself disciplined, create a deadline for your project.
Parkinson’s Law dictates that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion. It is the magic of the imminent deadline. If I give you 24 hours to complete a project, the time pressure forces you to focus on execution, and you have no choice but to do only the bare essentials. The end product of the shorter deadline is, almost inevitably, one of equal or higher quality, due to greater focus. Use Parkinson’s Law to shorten the work time, thus limiting tasks to only the important.
Remember, busy does not mean productive and more customers is not the goal. Increased income is.
If you want to learn more about the subject or productivity read Part I and watch the following video.
You can also visit us at www.montielorganizatio.com or send me an e-mail at [email protected] for information about programs on how to become more valuable, identify your niche, expand in your market area, and become the expert of choice for those clients you are targeting.
REMEMBER THAT WISHFUL THINKING IS NOT A STRATEGY. TAKE ACTION TODAY!
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