If you’re like me, you often look back on the week and think to yourself: what on earth did I actually get done this week? Did I actually do anything I needed to do? It’s really easy to feel productive without ever really being productive, and it’s even easier to forget if anything you did actually moved you towards your goals.
Read MoreIt’s that time of year once more where we’ve all set new years resolutions. And we FULLY intend to achieve them this time. For some, those goals may be weight related. For others it may be work related. One way or another the motivation and desire to achieve those goals is there. There’s only one problem that you know is there but you’re refusing to acknowledge it. The motivation will eventually wane, and you’ll be in the same place you were on December 31st.
Obviously, no one wants this to happen. So here are just a few tips to get you thinking about maintaining your motivation.
Read MoreOne habit that I’ve picked up recently and have really enjoyed doing is something I’m calling daily success factors. I’ve been researching a lot lately on what it means to be productive in a meaningful way — in other words, making progress that actually counts towards an important goal, as opposed to something that might not really matter all that much right now.
Read MoreProductivity means something different to everyone. Some people might find it really productive to spend time on certain tasks, while others would rather outsource those tasks and let someone else figure it out. It really just depends on what our goals are, and what we’re trying to accomplish.
What really helps in being productive is to find your personal why. Figure out why do you want to be productive? In other words, what is your major goal that you’re trying to achieve? What destination do you have in mind?
Read MoreLet me tell you a little about myself— I love starting new projects. It’s so much fun to come up with a new app idea or blog post idea and begin to work against it. New things are really fun for me, because there’s tons of possibilities and there’s no structure to it yet. The problem though is that I basically have what I call squirrel brain — I am drawn to something and then unfortunately two seconds later I’m distracted by something else new. Then it happens again and again. I end up bouncing around from project to project, much like a squirrel darting around in a busy park.
This is a real problem. It’s a problem because then nothing ever gets done, which means that I don’t make any meaningful progress. Instead I am left with the illusion of productivity. I can point to a bunch of projects and ideas, but I can’t really point to anything that I’ve actually shipped or finished. That’s fun if it’s just they’re just hobby or side projects, but when my livelihood depends on me actually shipping, then it’s clearly a problem. To solve this problem in my life, I’ve used these two strategies that have proven to be useful. Hopefully they’ll help you be more productive in a meaningful way!
Read MoreIn psychology, students learn about something called Classical Conditioning (and the scientist Ivan Pavlov). You can read about it in more detail here (thanks, Wikipedia!) but in short, it’s about associations and the reactions they illicit.
Pavlov would feed dogs right after ringing a bell. Part of the normal reaction of eating is salivating (to help break down the food). It would be like: Bell ring, then get food and begin salivating. He did it enough times that one day he simply rang the bell (no food), and the dogs began to salivate anyway. Their brains had now wired together that a bell meant food, which meant they should salivate.
Knowing this, there’s a really cool productivity hack you can do if you’re trying to be more productive or more disciplined about a task. One of my many tasks of this company is sit down and write code (for our apps). It’s a difficult process because it requires that you really have a strong focus, and it requires a lot of abstract thinking at times. Writing and creating code (like any other creative process) has a lead in time that can’t be disturbed otherwise you start over at zero. Think of it as falling asleep— you gradually fall asleep and then you’re out. If you get disturbed by a loud noise, you more or less reset back to being awake and you have to start all over again.
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