The MONTHLY Motivator - July 2008

Fifty Ways to Boost Your Productivity

There is a hard and fast limit on the number of hours in each day. No matter who you are, what you’ve done, where you come from or where you’re going, you have exactly 24 hours to work with every day. This same limit is faced by even the wealthiest and most accomplished people in the world. So why are some people able to use those 24-hour days to reach great accomplishments, while others with the same amount of time end up achieving very little? Because even though there is a limit on the number of hours in each day, there is no limit to the amount of value that can be created in those 24 hours. The difference is largely in the level of productivity.

Productivity is a measure of how effectively you use the time and the resources available to you. By increasing your productivity, you can accomplish many wonderful things.  You can transform what seems like a hopeless situation into a life of fulfillment and accomplishment. You can go from always playing catch up to actually getting ahead of what must be done. You can spend less time working to pay the bills and more time moving in the direction of your most treasured dreams.

There’s no limit to the number of ways to become more productive, and over the course of your life you’ve no doubt discovered many of them. However, you may have also gotten into a bit of a rut, and might assume that you’ve reached your maximum level of productivity. Yet the truth is that there really is no maximum level of productivity. In fact, the more productive you become the more opportunities there are for further increasing your productivity. The rich truly do get richer, not because they’re taking unfair advantage of others, but because they become better and better at creating real, desirable value. In our modern world, with its free and open markets, productivity equals wealth. It pays over and over again when you take steps to become more productive. This list of productivity boosters is a mere hint of what’s possible. Put some of the suggestions to use to develop a mindset and a momentum of productivity enhancement in your own life. Increase your productivity a little bit, on a consistent basis, and as you do, even more ways of further increasing your productivity will open up to you.

1. Focus. If you’re going to work on something, give it your full attention. Attempting to save a little time by doing many things at once ends up diluting your attention to the point that you are hardly effective at all. Sure, you can have many projects underway at the same time. But you’ll be much more productive if you give your attention fully to one task at a time. Instead of worrying about what’s next or being resentful about what you’re missing, focus on what you’re doing. Even if what you’re doing seems trivial and insignificant, there must be a reason you’re doing it. So give it your full attention.

2. Make use of the best tools. In the last twenty years, the personal computer has enabled people all over the world, in countless different kinds of jobs, to become vastly more productive. That’s not exactly big news anymore, and you may think that most of the productivity gains from computer technology have already been delivered. In fact, the opposite is true. Because computer technology is being used to create and disperse even more productivity-enhancing tools, at a faster and faster rate. Whatever you’re doing, there are some well-designed tools that will help you to do it more productively. Useful tools come in many forms, including actual physical devices, software programs, and innovative services that you can purchase. A good shovel, as basic and simple as it may seem, can be extremely valuable if you are digging a hole in the ground. An overnight delivery service, though it may seem costly, can be worth many times the cost when it’s important to ship something quickly. Find the tools that will help you to get your work done, and learn to use them. They can add great leverage to your work.

3. Delegate. Spend your time doing what you do best, and tap into the productivity of others who

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--Ralph Marston

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