Hidden In Plain Sight: Why We Have Unproductive Days
Even though many believe that circumstance has a large role to play in “making” you unproductive, people who have reached a certain level of success have always known that there’s much more to it than that.
The basic idea here is that your own attitude and mindset can be your greatest friend and your worst enemy; this means that most people end up wasting their time with subconsciously chosen thoughts and habits that reduce their daily productivity.
In order to counter this, a positive decision towards change, consciously reinforced over and over again, is the key, the solution to make your time increasingly more productive and pleasant with each passing day.
A Few Straightforward Steps for Becoming More Productive
In many cases, becoming more productive simply requires a shift in your perception towards being more decisive and taking charge of your daily routine. In order to achieve this, you can follow these simple steps:
- Make a simple list of all the major things that occupy your time during a typical day;
- Ask yourself “which of these actually helps me be more productive?”, then make a small sign next to the ones that aren’t of any help.
- As you look at all the things that are diminishing your productivity, some of them will be necessary – such as eating – while others are simply a reaction to outside stimuli – such as spending an hour changing TV channels before finally deciding to go to bed.
- Try to find the true reason for these activities no matter how “bad” they look. You might find, for example, that the reason why you arrive at work late is because you’re worried about an upcoming meeting.
- Consciously replace thoughts such as these with their opposites. For instance, if you spend a lot of time thinking about others’ opinions regarding your work, consciously reinforce an idea such as: “I am constantly learning and doing the best work that I can under these specific circumstances.”
What Will All This Accomplish?
As you continue to discover the ideas and habits that stand in your way, you will easily be able to lessen their hold on you. This way, not only can you let go of past activities that seemed to keep you tied up almost all day, but you will also find a lot of extra energy to dedicate to your work and projects.
The key here is to become aware of the way you are influenced to react to outside suggestions and tendencies. You can then consciously shift your perception to exclude those past reactions and deliberately fashion a more active, engaging and productive approach.
Regardless of whether you choose these methods or any others you might find in books, on the internet or on a life coach’s website, it is always crucial to remember that, when taking charge of your own productivity, you are no longer bound to react to the seemingly negative things around you. Instead, you will slowly begin shaping them into the successful life you have always dreamed of.