Productivity is a measure of one’s accomplishments during a limited period. So being productive simply means achieving more of the desired outcomes by doing your work efficiently in less time.
Which Factors Contribute to Productivity?
We can see that we all are not equally productive. Some of us can perform our tasks better than others, thus enjoying greater achievement and success. So let’s find out which factors contribute to productivity:
- Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations play their role as a driving force leading to success. So whether you’re intrinsically motivated looking to reach your potential or extrinsically motivated to gain worldly success, your motivation will keep you on the right track.
- Being Goal-Oriented: Those with a goal-oriented approach are always focused on finding ways of achieving their goals one way or the other. So with this type of mindset, they can learn new skills faster and easily tweak their strategies with the changing circumstance.
- Discipline and Time Management: Disciple and time management are two learned characteristics or habits of highly productive individuals. Some people luckily develop these habits from their childhood due to their upbringing and family environment, while others sometimes struggle to learn these at a later time in their lives. Still, you’re never too late to develop good habits and enjoy being more productive.
- Healthy Lifestyle: Mental and physical health plays a vital role in productivity. We can imagine we cannot perform our duties properly if we’re not feeling well even a little bit. Similarly, being upset, sad, or emotionally disturbed also makes us less productive at work. So having a healthy lifestyle and maintaining good health surely contributes greatly to one’s productivity.
- Being Mindful: Being mindful and focused at all times helps us in performing better in every aspect of our life, whether it’s our work, relationships, or personal care routine.
- Talent, Qualification, and Training: Those who are more talented than others at performing a specific task are certainly more productive and can achieve similar goals in less time. Other than that, better qualifications and training also contribute to our productivity, making a few better than others at achieving certain outcomes.
How to Be More Productive?
All of us can’t be equally productive in every aspect. We differ in personality traits, aptitudes, work styles, and motivation levels due to different factors. Still, you can become more productive just by adapting these few good habits:
- Stay organized: Being organized and disciplined helps us in focusing our goals in an easy-going manner. Those who are not well-organized mostly struggle to achieve the desired outcomes or meet deadlines. Consequently, such people cannot create a balance between their work and personal life and end up feeling distressed more often.
So to be more productive and enjoy your success in a true sense, you must stay well-organized. Now you can even take help from different Apps to create your To-Do lists and keep track of your goals efficiently.
- Prioritize your tasks: Apply the first things first rule in your life to see the magical effect on your productivity. Most of the time, we’re giving time to things that seem urgent but are less important, like responding to a less important email. So you should clearly know what comes first to make quick and correct decisions on which tasks to pay attention to as a priority. in this way, you’ll be able to get the important tasks done on time and will be able to enjoy your success in leisure time later on
- Limit distractions: These days, we’re also facing the challenge of limiting distractions due to smartphones and social media. Most of us are spending a lot of time on screen unnecessarily. Moreover, looking at the popping notifications now and then distracts us from our on-hand tasks. So we all should learn to control such distracting habits by knowing when to pause unnecessary notifications and when to avoid looking at certain messages.
- Learn to give quality time:: We should also learn to give quality time to our priorities by being more mindful and focused. You can do plenty of exercises to develop mindfulness and increase your concentration span.
- Give time to yourself: To be at your best, you should always feel at your best mentally and physically. So don’t forget to give time to yourself. Proper diet, sleep, exercise, recreation, etc., help improve your work performance.
- Do what you like and keep improving your skills: Someone who feels forced to do certain tasks just to make a living without genuine interest can never perform well enough. This lack of motivation makes such individuals less productive. So always choose the field of your choice according to your aptitude and then keep improving yourself in the required skills to meet the new challenges and to stay highly productive.
Productivity varies from person to person, and being a bit less productive doesn’t harm much. Still, we all must try our best to reach our potential and do our best in every aspect. We can surely increase our productivity and enjoy our successes more with conscious effort.
