How to Avoid 3 Personal Productivity Assassins and Get More Done

 
 
 

 
 
 

It’s hard to enjoy your work or your chores if you always feel like you’re behind. This is the primary reason that people decide to become better organized, to create more inner peace and serenity.

If you sometimes feel overwhelmed — or find yourself wishing that you could clone yourself or magically add more hours to each day in order to get more done and improve your productivity — then there are three “assassins” that you must remain ever-vigilant to avoid.

The 3 Assassins to Your Personal Productivity

Improving personal productivity can be challenging. The good news is, that if you can consistently avoid these three pesky demons, then you will be well on your way to living more efficiently, so that when you have free time, you can really enjoy it!

“…sometimes you just have to
let something “burn” and get to it later,
so that you can remain focused on the larger objective”

Beware of these three, for they are killers to your self-efficiency!

#1   Beware of Drift

Drift is what occurs when each morning you don’t take a moment to re-focus on what your next main goal is in life. Each day that you don’t reconnect with, and affirm, what your big intention is, then you silently move away from it, often without even realizing what’s happening.

Imagine yourself in a row boat on the ocean, and you see an island of paradise in the distance. Every now and then you have to steer the boat, using one of the oars as a rudder — because the current of everyday life takes you off course.

 

#2   Beware of AutoPilot

Auto-pilot is what occurs when we act unconsciously, following the same mental and physical routine that we’ve been doing, essentially for years. This is great if you don’t want to change anything. But what if you have ambitions?

It’s a sort of muscle-memory. Have you ever arrived home from work, and then realized that you don’t even remember driving there? What’s more, you were supposed to stop by the store on the way home! That’s auto-pilot. If you have a new destination in life, then the way you’re going to arrive there is if you remember to periodically turn off the autopilot and pay attention to the drive.

Our Longevity e-Newsletter provides you with the accountability and motivation you need to make improvements in how you manage your time and energy. Every two weeks, subscribers receive a new strategy. And, it’s free. If the idea of optimizing your life intrigues you, sign-up below this article.

#3   Beware of Firefighting

Firefighting is what happens when you “react” to your day. Your day becomes a series of “responding to little fires,” instead of being proactive with your agenda.

When your daughter yells, “Mom, where’s my sneakers?” (and she will), then hopefully you have already modeled for her the self-soothing skills to pause, breathe, relax, concentrate… and find the sneakers herself. Don’t get sucked into other people’s little fires and urgencies. Sometimes you just have to let something “burn” and get to it later, so that you can remain focused on the larger objective or project.

Which of these three assassins has been the biggest culprit in your own life recently?

How would you structure your ideal day?

Sometimes it’s important to reconnect with the intention for your life, or set a new intention altogether!