Actions are the words of your Attitude! To increase productivity one may be required to reshape some of the attitudes that now dictate how you use time. Consider these time use practices that affect productivity and see how attitudes are involved:
Concentrate on high priority activities. The quickest and most effective route to increasing productivity is to spend time on tasks that advance important goals starting with the one that is the most important. Working with the team may create new problems as they will just not be your own; hours may be spent solving problems that can be solved by others. Respond to concerns expressed by various team members by empowering them with probable solutions to solve their own problems. This approach saves you valuable time and gives others the opportunity to develop commitment, skills and a sense of ownership.
Exercise self-discipline. Self-discipline enables people to stay focused on a task and work on it until it is complete. Establish your priorities and then refuse to let distractions, interruptions, or happenings of the moment destroy your concentration. Alternatives require thoughtful evaluation and consideration – and conscientious self-discipline.
Perfectionists, especially, must learn to exert the self-discipline to delegate selected job profile to someone who may very well execute his skill according to the requirements essentially meeting quality standards. This way one can effectively save time on up-skilling when resources are unavailable and also creating new opportunities by maintaining overall effectiveness and productivity.
Be persistent. Goal setting, Careful planning, determination and recognizing the benefits of reaching a goal are all vital to personal productivity. This combination of factors enables one to be persistent. Many people eagerly take on new jobs, new responsibilities and new assignments, starting with a great splash and making quick progress, but they soon lose momentum and never finish the work. In contrast, productive people set definite goals, plan carefully, and concentrate their attention on the action required to meet each goal.
Get started! The best way to guarantee completion of a project is to get started on it – now! Two reasons account for failure to accomplish important jobs – people either never start, or they never finish. Both of these unproductive time patterns fall under the debilitating umbrella of procrastination. Following these guidelines will enable you to avoid the pitfalls:
• Begin on required work and continue without relying on “feeling like it.” Getting started is often the most difficult part of a project; once begun, “inspiration” often follows. Thomas Edison, the famous American inventor, put it well when he said, “Genius 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”
• Face the fact that some jobs will never be “easy” –Break the job down into logical steps to make it more manageable at each stage. Get started on the job, working in a systematic method, and you will enjoy a sense of mastery that enables you to complete the job!
Strive for results – not perfection. Overemphasis on perfection always renders negative consequences – immobilizing fear of making mistakes, discouragement, and preoccupation with what others think rather than genuine productivity. Productive people distinguish between what is important and what is not. They set aside a reasonable amount of time to accomplish a specific task; then they stick to their deadline. They recognize some tasks simply are not important enough to lavish too much time or effort on them. Even on significant projects truly productive individuals simply strive for results – not perfection.