The importance of being productive in a highly competitive world

You’ve woken up in the morning and made breakfast for yourself and your family; you’ve taken the kids to school before heading to work. During your lunchtime, you manage to grab a bite whilst paying the bills because they’re piling up, and you don’t want to pay the late penalty fee. You finish work, and you come home. You grab a cup of tea, and you take the kids to their sports game. Once that’s done, you bring them home so they can get their homework done whilst you prepare dinner. You’ve got the laundry to do in the meantime and, since you’re a multi-tasker, you return your best friend’s call for a chat to see how his or her day is going. It’s time for dinner, which you enjoy as a family, followed by preparing to send the kids to bed. You have the privilege of bringing your work home, and you go through some files over a cup of hot chocolate. Pretty soon, you feel your eyelids getting heavy, and you fall asleep.

The cycle repeats the next day. Days go by, weeks go by and, before you know it, it’s another month. Then it’s another year. Soon, a whole lifetime has just gone by …

And you’ve been existing every day, just being busy.

Successful people and unsuccessful people have the same twenty-four hours in a day. Today, most people have equal opportunities to access and use resources. Why is it that most people seem to run around frustrated without achieving much, whilst others seem to fit in so much with ease?

Being productive means spending (in fact investing) hours every day working towards any chosen task or goal until you bring it to completion. Being productive means doing what it is truly needed to get from A to B. Being productive means you are doing the business.

Learn to spend some more productive hours throughout your day. Now you may relate to the story at the beginning of this chapter, and if you don’t chances are you do know people who fit this scenario. Their stories may be different, but their situations are the same. Their lives always seem to be busy, yet they aren’t achieving what they want.

Why? Because they aren’t being productive in the sense of achieving what they want in life So let me come back to you for a second. What are you doing?

Whenever anyone asks, “How are you doing?” what’s the very first thought that comes into your head? Most people’s immediate thought is, “I’m busy”. When you ask them a question, they tell you how busy they are; you see them stressing a lot because they don’t seem to have enough hours in a day, and so they rightfully say, “I am so busy.” But why is it that, with all the hours, people spend being busy, they don’t achieve much success in life? They are simply leading busy lives.

Does this scenario sound familiar?

James Ling, a businessman who collected companies like they were baseball cards once said, ‘Don’t tell me how hard you work. Tell me how much you get done’.

Most people keep telling themselves, “I am so busy; I am so busy.” But I always think to myself, “What are you busy doing?” People have busy lives. It only seems like they’re getting busier. Many people are faced with the same circumstances and yet live a much fuller life.

They are able to achieve higher grounds, business success, fruitful relationships, and so many of the other dreams and desires we all share. After all, don’t we all have the same twenty-four hours in our day?

The difference: Unsuccessful people are busy being busy. Successful people are busy being productive.

In a world where generation R (recession) are being challenged like never before, the importance of being productive is paramount. The individuals and teams who are more productive are the ones who will be able to obtain the desired results to keep or gain their competitive edge. The more productive you are, the sooner you will achieve the goals you set out to do.

And with that, I will share with you five things you can do right away that will help you double your productivity instantly (and that’s the minimum) on a personal and organisational level.

1. Plan for your day in advance. Successful people plan their days, weeks, months and years in advance. This gives them a mental preparation and tunes their action level to what is required.

2. Prioritize and itemise your tasks and stick to the order system you have created. On a list of 1 to 10, you do not do task 3, until you have completed 1 and 2.

3. Learn to say no. The moment you choose to do something, there will be a million and one distractions that will require your attention, help and time. Learn to say no to distractions or else you will be overwhelmed and end up doing nothing.

4. Focus on doing the task at hand. One task at a time might be boring, but you will achieve more in the long run.

5. Get into the habit of being aware of the need to be productive. The results in your life are the sum of your habits. Ensure that you are aware of how your time is being spent, every hour of everyday. The more you do this, the more you can be aware of how your time can be better utilised to achieve your goals.