The Role of Time and Stress in Productivity

We need to learn to be productive NOT busy. Busyness can become our purpose. It is a status symbol in the society we live in. The busier we are the more impressive it looks. Busyness can betray us – it can hide confusion, fear, anxiety and lack of vision. Being busy, neither guarantees success nor equates to it. How we manage ourselves with the time we are given and the way in which we “hold” our stress determine how productive we are on any given day.Things to do:

Set SMART Goals
¬ Set 3 to 5 goals that will ensure that you productively meet your work purpose.
¬ The goals MUST be, Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Timeous.
¬ Each goal must be broken down into actionable tasks with specific deadline dates.
¬ Review your goals weekly and check that the deadlines for each task are being met.

Schedule proactive tasks
¬ At the end of every week schedule all your proactive tasks for the week ahead. These will be your priority tasks that can be planned for.

Identify time wasters
¬ Take an hour to get honest with yourself. Make a list of the things that you know waste your time. Then note ways that you are able to work around these to create new habits.

Create a measurement system
¬ Think about how you will measure your productivity. Make your measurement system visible and share it with someone.

Create a reward system
¬ Once you know how you are going to measure yourself, think about how you can reward
yourself when you achieve what you have planned to do.

Manage stress
¬ Re-wire/re-frame how you think about stress.
¬ Change the situation by avoiding for altering it.
¬ Change your reaction by adapting for accepting it.