Being Highly Productive

Do you want to be a highly productive person? I do. The picture to the left is my office, I can't seem to clean it up until I finish my WIP. Oh well, I'm halfway through book three of the Yellow Creek novels. 

To celebrate the hot summer months, my Yellow Creek novels, Secret Past and Ghost Thunder are .99 cents for a limited time on Amazon. 

The other day, I read Eric Barker’s blog on 6 Subtle Thing Highly Productive People Do Every Day. Eric’s blog, Barking Up The Wrong Tree provides “science based insights on how to be awesome at life” and he’s been in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Wired Magazine and Time Magazine. 

Check him out at http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/06/most-productive-people/

Eric’s blog refers to Tim Ferriss, an international bestseller author, The 4-Hour Workweek. I’m listing the six things he writes about productive people doing who are successful. There’s so much more to Eric's blog, so I’ll let you go there and read for yourself. 

Okay, my thoughts on the 6 subtle things that highly productive people do – every day. 

1      Manage your mood.

I agree. I spend the first hour of my morning in prayer and meditation. I find that calms me and I’m able to focus on what I need to accomplish for the day. Life’s not perfect, we all have bad moods causing reactions that unravel the entire day from the beginning. This is when I feel overwhelmed and not in control. Tim explains more about how happiness increases productivity, making you more successful.

2.      Don’t check emails in the morning

Oops! I’m bad. After I head to my office, the first thing I do is read my emails. Before I know it, I’ve been too long on emails. I’ll try something new and read my emails later in the day. Tim said, frequently checking emails can cause reactions, and before we know it we’ve spent too long giving our hours to others, forgetting our priorities.

3.      Before you try to do it faster ask whether it should be done at all

I'll quote Tim Ferriss here, “Doing something well does not make it important.” I took a second look at my To Do List and realized I had listed a couple of things that I really didn’t need to do on this particular day. We’ve all heard that planning smarter is the key to time-management. I just need to plan smarter.

4.      Focus is nothing more than eliminating distractions

It’s hard to focus when you have so many interruptions. I have good days and bad days. I found that if I shut myself up in my office with a time limit to accomplish what needs to get done, I focus better than when I leave my door open.

5.      Have a personal system

I have a routine that works for me, but wouldn’t work for someone else. It took me a while to figure it out. My routine now is different from my routine when I had a day job. Now that I’m retired, I planned out a routine that fits me, and so far it’s working, except for days that I have family visiting from out of town, putting everything on hold for a week…life happens. I’m getting better about being flexible and accepting the unexpected.

6.      Define your goals the night before

I do my goal list the morning of – works better for me. As some of you know, I even write My Yearly Goals on a sheet of paper and hid it away until the end of the year. It’s been proven that you more than likely will accomplish your goals if you write them down. It amazes me to see what I’ve completed from my list at the end of the year. It works for daily goals too.  

Don’t forget to visit Barking Up The Wrong Tree to read Eric Barker’s blog on living an awesome life, and what Tim Farriss has to say on the 6 subtle things that highly productive people do every day. 

Thanks for stopping by and please leave your comments.

Judy