5 Things You Already Knew, But Don’t Do [HD BizBlog- The Blog: Productivity in Context]
This is a guest post from Heather Johnson, a contributor at Bootstrapper. She has some good tips for basic practices, something that we could all use a reminder about once in a while.
Everyone knows different ways to be productive. You ask someone what one ought to do to be more productive and they’ll rattle off a long-winded list. They’ll be simple things you should be doing to increase your productivity, but chances are you’re not doing them. It’s one thing to know what to do and a completely different thing to actually follow through and execute. Here are five things you should be doing to be more productive because you already know what they are:
1. Get up early. If you consistently wake up early you’ll be more productive than if you are a late riser. If you can have a productive morning you’ll be ahead of the game compared to the person who wakes up late and takes longer to tackle his or her tasks. Stick to this schedule and you’ll be more apt to accomplish what each day holds for you.
2. Begin with your most important job. Once you are ready to tackle your tasks for the day start with the most important. This means that you start with the most important task not the most urgent. Many people will first try to finish what seems most urgent which is many times not actually what is most important.
3. Avoid the urge to multitask. Nowadays you hear people boast about all the different things they can do at once. This is not actually going to lead higher productivity. If you stick to finishing one task at a time you can be sure that you’re doing your task properly. The focus you can attach to a given task is heightened and makes accomplishing one job at a time a more fruitful way to tackle your day.
4. Don’t pardon the interruption. As we’ve already discussed, focus is the key to accomplishing what you need to do. Accordingly, do whatever you can to prevent interruptions. If it’s your cell phone or your e-mail or even your family pet, discover what the route of your most incessant interrupting is. Once you’ve identified the root of your interruptions take the proper steps to eliminate them.
5. Tend to your needs. Extraneous activities are a constant threat to your productivity. If you’re a photographer you need to be taking pictures. Whatever your job is you have to stay focused on that and not allow secondary activities get in the way of accomplishing your ultimate goals.
By-line:
Heather Johnson is a freelance business, finance and credit writer, as well as a regular contributor for Business Credit Cards, a site for comparing business credit cards. She welcomes questions, comments, and freelancing job inquiries at her email address heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com .
Original post here: Playground
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