Now that you've figured out how to beat procrastination, how has your productivity level changed?
Sometimes we can spend our entire day as busy bees and somehow still feel as if we didn't accomplish anything at all--with yet another giant to-do list for the days to come that seems to taunt you at the end of the day.
To effectively manage your time, distinguish the important work versus the urgent items on your list. Important work leads to long-term impact and achievement of your goals. Urgent items result in only short-term impact and usually results in the achievement of someone else's goals.
Urgent activities consistently deter you from productivity and effective time management. Things like checking social media, answering emails, incoming calls and texts take away from your time to be more productive towards your long-term goals.
Take more initiative to permeate your daily activities with purpose. "What is the purpose of this call or text? How is this serving me right now? Am I being effective with my time?"
Find an image that inspires you to be productive and make it your desktop background or cell-phone wallpaper to help you push through distractions and temptations to divert your attention to the un-important things.
The more we use our time to focus solely on the urgent things we need to do, the important goals on our list inevitably become urgent things, throwing our entire productivity cycle off (if there was even one to begin with).
Use the tips from our Beating Procrastination post to enable your focus towards important long-term goals.
This matrix will help you distinguish the Important Vs. Urgent items on your list and help you build a strategy for effective time management and productivity success.
Category 1 items are urgent and important items that we usually attend to first.
Category 2 are non-urgent important goals. These require time to develop and complete so they don't become urgent (category 1).
Category 3 are distractions. They are urgent or seemingly so, but they are not important and have no long-term impact on our lives. These should be limited to increase productivity.
Category 4 items are non-urgent and non-important. These are the time-wasters we indulge in when procrastination wins. They serve no immediate purpose and produce no long-term result. (Think YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, etc.)
Source: blog.gist.com via Carys on Pinterest
You will be surprised at the high level of productivity that results from the simple awareness of where your energy is continually focused on. When you feel out of balance and yearning for laziness or yearning for more hours in the day, think of a peer who is successful. (If you cannot think of a single person, I suggest a change in peers and/or environment until you find someone.) This person has the same amount of hours during the day that you do. There is no reason you cannot achieve the same success.
Commit yourself to action and organize your priorities today. And honestly, what could be more important than your long-term success?
Identify 2-3 MOST IMPORTANT tasks that need time and attention so that they don't become Category 1 tasks.
Get a clear vision of the results you wish to produce from completing said tasks. What kind of long-term impact will this have and how will this serve you? Use this as an incentive to concentrate on achieving your goals.
Conquer your "need" for technology. Computers and smart-phones intend to make our life easier, but mostly they distract and complicate our agendas. Evaluate the time you spend with technology and be honest with yourself. Does the constant accessibility to technology give you long-term success or short-term satisfaction? Is there any way you could diminish some of your use this next week and focus on the Most Important tasks you've outlined? Something to think about...
Eradicate the fear of failure. Our minds have the incredible capability of magnifying mole-hills into mountains. Did you know that the biochemistry of our bodies connects our thoughts to our physical selves? If you say, "I think I'm getting sick." Your brain will automatically come up with more ways to make this true. It sounds a little crazy, but there is truth to this.
"When you truly believe that you deserve success, your mind will generate ways to achieve it."
(Erin Falconer, Editor In Chief, PickTheBrain.com)
So take the time to reorganize yourself this coming week. Extract the important from the urgent and budget your time more effectively. Let us know how this matrix helps you (or doesn't help you).
Remember your LiveWell family is here to help make your experience at Berklee enriching and well-rounded. If you have any suggestions, we would love to hear from you. Drop us a comment below or on our Facebook page, or "tweet" us @BerkleeLiveWell.
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