can help you win your day at work.
We love our work more when we know we’re good at it. The more productive we can be, the more accomplished and satisfied we feel. Perhaps we can’t all enjoy every moment of our work each day, but attitude plays a key role in the quality and quantity of our productivity.
Whether it’s creating a financial spreadsheet at the office, or mopping the kitchen floor at home, if we approach our job with a sense of dread, it is not only unproductive, but counterproductive.
The truth is, that sometimes in life, we resist what we most need, and this is especially true when it comes to improving our own personal productivity.
Work and the The Productivity Paradox
The paradox of productivity is that if you spend some time working on how you work (not just on the work itself) you’ll actually end up getting more done. It’s counter-intuitive, yet completely true.
There are two things you need to do in order to love your job:
- create a productivity system that helps you to win each day
- each morning, decide what your intention and mindset are for that day
Coming to a project with a heavy feeling of drudgery only makes the project take longer.
If we approach a task with a sense of play, it can help us to better focus and increase our speed.
“…approach your own productivity systems
with a light heart and a sense of humor”
In this short video, I explore this “productivity paradox,” and how we can leverage it to our benefit.
I have a special checklist-system that I’ve developed and fine-tuned over the years that helps me to stay out in front of my week. When friends ask me about it, the first thing I share with them is this energy secret of productivity:
- ▸ your to-do list is your best friend, and if you treat it like it’s your enemy — as if it wants to oppress you instead of help you — or if you think of it with shame, resentment or dread, then your productivity goals were over before they even began!
It’s so important to approach your own productivity systems with a light heart and a sense of humor. Choose to see your checklists as living, organic, breathing entities that you’re always nourishing and improving. Imagining this process as a sort of game makes it a lot more fun and, ultimately, more effective.
Even when I approach serious or important subjects, such as in this video below on how to get more done during the day by identifying your next action step, I try to be relaxed and enjoy myself.
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I’m thinking of a quote from another Disney character, Scrooge McDuck “Work Smarter, Not Harder”
One of the traits I find most common in successful people is an “excited” attitude or energy. Makes sense excited people do well. Excitement is infectious and attracts good stuff. I know I want to do business with people who are happy and inviting!
David Allen, the insightful productivity expert, calls the process of spending time planning our systems and habits “radical common sense,” because success means periodically working on our business, and not just in our business.
Two of the most important Disney songs, in my opinion, are “Whistle While You Work” from Snow White, and “A Spoonful of Sugar” from Mary Poppins, because they teach children the enormous power of approaching a task with a light heart and a positive attitude.
Ha! Just made a Mary Poppins comment in Facebook!