Get really fit and get a six pack of abs.
So that was my goal a couple of years back.
How to be more productive at work and stop wasting time.
Today I'm going to talk to you about productivity. You might have seen,
if you've been following me for awhile, you might've seen in a previous video
I talked about productivity from the stand point on the things that you could
stop doing to ensure your productivity.
Today I'm going to be giving you nine secrets on things that you can start doing
or continue doing or increase your efforts doing to be more productive at work.
Let's start by defining productivity. What does it mean to be productive at work?
Productivity means that all the activities that you're doing are moving you
closer to your worthwhile goals at work.
So everything that you're doing right now, if you are productive,
everything that you're doing at work is moving you closer to your career goals
and your dreams.
The first secret is to know the difference between being busy versus being
productive.
So for every task or every activity that you're doing at work,
it's a good idea to start to
practice a habit and building the habit of asking yourself, is this activity or
is this task moving me forward or is it moving me backward?
In relevance to your career goals and your dreams.
Every one of your career goals, every one of your goals at work,
when you want to achieve those goals,
it usually boils down to just two to four fundamental activities to reach your
goal. For example, let's say that your goal,
I'll give you a fitness example. So for example,
let's say your goal is to get really fit and you want to get a six pack of abs,
usually the activities that will move you towards those goals really boil down
to like three fundamental things.
First of all is that you want to have a lean and clean diet.
The second one is that you've got to exercise every day.
And the third one is that you want to make healthy lifestyle choices.
So think for yourself, what are all these activities that you're doing at work?
Are they moving you forward? Are they moving you backward?
If they're moving you backward,
most likely it is busy work and not productive work.
And boil it down to the two to four core activities
that you can do that really move that needle towards your career goals.
But it's so easy to get distracted by shiny object and popular things and all of
these
suggestions that people have and opinions that they feel that you should do,
the things things that you should be doing.
It's so easy to get distracted by all of this information.
And so what happens is you run off and you try to do all these things and it
just feels
like you don't have time to do the things that are important to you and it feels
like you don't have the time to do things that you need to do.
And then the things just keep piling up on your to-do list. And because of that,
your focus becomes how do I check off all these items on my to do list
and how do I make sure I accomplish all of these because it just keeps piling up
on you.
And what happens is that the focus becomes checking off items on your to do list
and that keeps you busy but not necessarily productive.
The problem with being busy is that it quite often leads to being overwhelmed.
Overwhelm happens when the number of tasks
that you have on your list far exceeds the amount of time that you have
available to check them off.
And so you feel overwhelmed.
Overwhelm happens when you don't have clarity for what you want in your career,
what you want in your path forward, and also what's the thing,
the things that are important for you in your career.
But the problem is not all of your tasks on your to-do lists are going to help
you to achieve your worthy goals or you're worthy career dreams and goals.
And that means that not all of the tasks on your to-do list will lead you to
being productive. You see, if you know what you really want in your career,
it's easy to say no to the things
that won't build you and won't bring you towards it.
Secret number two is to set goals and a timeline to complete them.
You cannot know whether or not you're accomplishing your goals
and how well you are progressing if you don't keep a scorecard or if you don't
know the timeline.
Because the timeline really gives you a scorecard on how you're doing and how
well you're progressing towards your goals. It's just like in a sports game.
If you attend, if you enjoy baseball or basketball,
and let's say that you bought tickets to the game and you arrive at the game and
they're not even keeping score, how excited would you be in that game? Games,
sports games are only exciting because they keep score and you have for yourself,
you bet on a winning team or you have your favorite team and you hope that they
win and that they win the grand prize and that's what makes sports interesting.
The same goes with your career and with your productivity.
If you're not keeping a scorecard for yourself, then how do you stay motivated?
How do you know that you are on the path, on the right path,
and doing the right things
to accomplish your goals and to be more productive? Comment below.
Are you currently setting goals for yourself in your work and your career,
and do you have a scorecard where you keep track of your own productivity and
your own progress?
If you want more guidance on that and you're kind of wondering how do I set
goals, what is the best way to do that?
I have a free tool that you can use to set your goals moving
forward to ensure that you keep that momentum going and you get to that next
level of your career. So if you want that free tool, I mean it's yours.
No strings attached. Just visit careerrevisionist.com/goal,
I'll put the link also in the description of the video description below and
it's yours. It's my gift to you. Secret number three is to have proper discipline.
Having proper discipline is nothing
more than being in control of your days and being conscious of all your actions
and your habits. The way to do that is to set time for yourself,
deliberately block off time in your calendar where
you know that that is going to be your dedicated uninterrupted work time to
accomplish the goals. And in that time when you do this,
when you block off the calendar, that activity,
that blocking of your calendar has to be real to you, your new calendar,
the time that you set forth for yourself for dedicated work time,
it has to mean something to you because if it doesn't mean anything to you,
it won't mean something to someone else.
And this is your way of saying it's my work and if you respect your time then
other people will.
If you don't respect your time then others won't either.
Because one of the biggest obstacles that
you will have in your productivity,
interruptions in your productivity is other people using or misusing
or maybe even abusing your time. If your schedule means something to you,
then that is one way to be productive with your time.
Secret number four is to create a system and the system is going to
help you to carry out your goals and to ensure that you maintain that momentum
all the way through. Now here are some characteristics of a good system.
If you set up a good system, you want to
make sure that it focuses you on what's important.
You also want to make sure that in your system that it plays with your strengths,
right? It highlights your strengths and allows you to do
the things that you're good at.
And another part is that it provides you with some structure and organization of
your days.
And the fourth characteristics of a good system is that it is replicable.
So it is easy for you to replicate that system every day into your daily routine
and into your schedule that you worked out for yourself.
So a system is really important, this step is really important.
Don't neglect creating system because it really does focus you
on those core two to four things that will help you to be more productive at
work. So let me give you an example. That example I gave you earlier,
let's say your goal was to get really fit and get a six pack of abs.
What I did was I created the system to help me reach that goal.
And the way I did it was I take one week, I structure one week.
And for me Wednesday was the day that I did meal planning,
and then Sunday morning was a day that I went grocery shopping.
Check what was on my lists and then Sunday afternoon was the meal preparation
and my system
was that I would only prepare on Sunday, meals from Monday to Wednesday.
That way the fresh food, you know the fruits and vegetables would stay fresh.
And then on Wednesday it will be the meal prep from that day on towards the end
until I buy groceries again on Sunday.
That was a system that helped me to maintain those
three core things that I needed to do,
which was to have a clean and lean diet, right? To exercise every day.
It gives me time, it buys me time because I'm systematizing
and it also plays to my strengths and my strengths is that I'm very organized in
the kitchen. I enjoy cooking,
I'm good at it and it is just a favorite past time that I have. So my system
helped me to play to my strengths. If for example,
cooking and organizing and being in the kitchen was not my strength,
then I would incorporate a system where I'm not preparing that.
I might hire someone or I might incorporate in my planning things that already
prepared for me.
Right? So your system has to work for you.
So write down what are your strengths and
how can you make these systems and processes in place to ensure your
productivity on those key two to four
activities that will bring you towards your goal.
If you find this helpful in your productivity, hit the like button,
give me a thumbs up and also remember to subscribe to my channel,
ring that bell as well
so you can receive notifications each time I upload a video and remember to get
your free tool in the links below in the description,
get your free goal setting tool so that you can be on your way
to maintaining that productivity. Secret number five is proactive planning.
When I start my day everyday I like to first thing in the morning plan for
myself, what I call the big three.
And what this means is that I look at my career goals, my ultimate career goals,
my goals in my
business and my life. And I ask myself,
what are three things that I can do today that if I
check off all three of them that it will move me closer towards my goal,
it will move me forward and it'll give me that productivity.
So make that list for yourself every morning because when you write
out your big three,
then you are being proactive rather than reactive every time something comes up
and life throws you curve balls in your daily routine.
Secret number six is to eliminate distractions. Yes,
I'm talking about your cell phones. Yes, I'm talking about Facebook, Internet,
browsing on the Internet.
I'm talking about all those things because being selfish with your time right
now means that you will be incredibly unselfish in other areas.
So be selfish when you have blocked out your schedule for your dedicated
uninterrupted work time,
it has to mean something for you and that means you're closing the door and you
are shutting off
and turning off all your distractions so that your time and your attention is
completely dedicated to your big three.
Your big three action steps for each day.
Secret number seven is to replicate success.
Look at how others who have achieved high performance,
and achieved phenomenal productivity.
Look at what worked for them and when you study the masters and you look at the
things that
they've done and you replicate that success or replicate their actions,
replicate their attitudes and their approaches,
then there's no reason why you cannot achieve that too. If others have done it,
it is evidence that it works.
It is evidence that peak productivity can be achieved. So study the great,
adopt those traits, take ownership of their traits and replicate that success.
Secret number eight is to put in the time if you are feeling less productive,
if you know that you could be
doing more and you want to be accomplishing more in less time,
chances are that what you're doing right
now is taking you more time than you expected.
So if you put in the time and hone your skills, you get better at it.
And when you get better at it, you take less time to do that particular activity.
So take the time, put in that time to not only get better at it,
but to look for shortcuts, to look for
ways that you can improve the process of what you're doing.
And in that sense, you will be more
productive and you'll be able to accomplish more in less time than you ever did
before. Secret number nine is to make a checklist.
Now that you have your system in place, you will have processes.
And things that you need to do along the way to get to the productivity level
that you want.
And a checklist will help you to deal with the increasing complexities of the
responsibilities that you will have.
So make a simple checklist that will ensure that you're not missing a step,
that you're not missing any important decisions that you have to make.
Checklists are extremely important and helpful in the most
complex of tasks. Say for example, surgeons, you know,
surgeons in the operating room,
they have simple checklists to ensure that they're not missing things,
to ensure that they're
not leaving any tools or any materials inside a patient's body and to make sure
that they have accomplished
everything you need to do in that operating room to ensure a smooth procedure.
So checklists are adopted by people,
high performing individuals who have complex responsibilities,
who have multiple steps in the processes.
And the same is true for you in your career.
So make sure that you have a checklist and decide for yourself what are the
procedures you
need to do in your system to ensure that you accomplished everything,
every step along the way.