The Simple Formula for Boosting Your Productivity

The Simple Formula for Boosting Your Productivity

The reason that boosting productivity is so important is over the last few years, productivity has fallen. Generally, many employees are disengaged, and this leads to lower productivity. Furthermore, even the most diligent of workers tend to get distracted. Our attention span has fallen to a record low of around eight seconds. Moreover, I have read this is less than a goldfish!  However, I have created a simple formula for boosting productivity.

The idea came from an article I was reading at the weekend where Dan Andrews, an economist said, ‘productivity is about inspiration as opposed to perspiration.’ A definition of the word inspiration is a feeling of enthusiasm you get from someone or something, that gives you new and creative ideas. And I thought that was a really critical point. It is a feeling and fundamentally we are driven by how we feel. Moreover, everything in life is energy, and when you feel inspired your energy is coming from within, your heart.

Finding a reason for doing what you are doing is super important

So the first thing is productivity means that you need to have a reason for why you want to do the thing, the task or the project that you’re working on. And a lot of people go to jobs and work that they don’t really enjoy and they’re not engaged with. And then it’s even harder to feel inspired or motivated to do what is necessary. This impacts productivity.

As I said earlier, poor productivity growth, despite advances in technologies, has been diminishing since the 2000’s. Moreover. a recent report by Forbes said 70 percent of employees are disengaged in their work. Disengagement in the workforce is also at an all-time low. The key is when you’re productive, you’re usually in flow and when you’re in flow, you having a life with more meaning and purpose and enjoyment. And leaders have to be inspired and therefore lead by example and engage other people. So a lot of the discussion around productivity is actually all about leadership.

‘Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.’ Peter Drucker

So I created a little formula for productivity.

Productivity = E + D x T

E is for Energy

If inspiration drives productivity, then the starting point is to manage your energy. How you feel is a critical element tin what you do. WHen you don’t feel motivated or inspired it’s hard to be productive. Humans are energy beings, so managing your energy is probably more important than managing your time. Which is why it comes first. Discovering your mission, your purpose will help you see the way forward. The question to ask yourself is why are you doing what you’re doing? And what do you need to do to feel good about it?

D is Duration

Specifically, how much time will or can you allocate to the task?  When you consider how long you have or need for the task you are consciously taking charge of your time. You know, how many days have you just sat down at your office and got on with your work. You have no idea what you’re doing with your time, you’re not tracking it. So tracking your time and knowing how long you’re going to spend on a task is another key way to help you keep motivated.

And when you track your tasks, you will be more conscious and aware and you’ll be able to measure

your productivity.

The last part is T for Task

This is the task that you are wanting to accomplish. Now, sometimes you might only have a small amount of time available and it’s therefore sometimes necessary to actually look at the tasks to determine which one fits into the time block that you have and your energy levels. What are you actually doing? Is it interesting but not important, or is it important even though it’s not interesting?

When you consider all three you have a much better chance of getting more done. Two added suggestions are to time your task and tick off when completed. Moreover celebrate each win along the way as it will help you feel more inspired, build momentum and ultimately gain more of a sense of satisfaction and achievement. Make sure you time your task. By timing it, you’re putting the energy of the mind, which is attention into a container and you’re more likely to stay focused and be on track and get it done. Because we get distracted very, very easily. In fact, we have the potential to be distracted every eight seconds. So that’s why measuring the time that you’re going to spend on a task, the duration is so important.

because as humans, we don’t always feel like we’re pumping on six cylinders.

We occasionally have to take that into account as well. So when you track those three parameters

and you’re looking after your mission, which is your why your mindset by making sure that you’re focused on what’s

important and then timing yourself as well, which will help you build momentum.

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