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If you’re productive, that means you do a lot — you create or produce large amounts of something.
And there is what you want to be: Efficient.
In both, productive or work addict, you want to be efficient!
Once I read this phrase in an article written by Jay Roomer :
…Consuming content is easy, and it makes you feel good about yourself. You feel a sense of progress, accomplishment and Productivity despite not even acting upon your newly gained knowledge.
It is the same thing with work. Some people are just consuming content. They are not productive at all, but they are always overwhelmed, too busy, and have no free time. Being busy doesn’t make you productive or efficient.
We tend to create more work than it is needed! We create a vicious circle and lose our focus on what is essential to achieve. Just take a look at our government institutions!
Some people seem to be workaholics in our eyes, but are they? They work a lot because they loved to work. They loved the feeling of achieving something. And they probably do.
The term workaholic, or that of work addict, refers to anyone who has developed a form of work addiction.
The word has bad press and is often related to terms like “burnout” and “depression” for many years. Is it a bad thing to be a work addict? I am one too, but, with time, I realized that I do not have to work 100 hours per week to be productive and achieve my goals. OK, some times, yes but not every week. I now earned more money in about 2/3 of the time I used to work, and I still consider myself a work addict. And it is because I love what I do.
Take a look over time, the people that were recognized as workaholics fifty years ago were working more than 100 hours per week. Nowadays, if you work 60 hours per week, you are a work addict. What about the restaurant’s owners? Then in my humble opinion to be a workaholic is not a problem. The fact is to make sure that you are productive and efficient in what you do! That is the point.
To be productive, you need to:
Be in the right job and love what you do;
Be organized;
Learn and read to improve yourself;
To be efficient, you need to:
Be focus on your goals;
Delegate what you are not good enough at;
Not be a Yes person;
Repeat the first one.
There is nothing here about how many hours you should work. It is up to you based on what you want to accomplish in your life.
Here are little tips about how I do it:
Highlight what it is essential to achieve daily;
Do what you are good at and delegate the rest.
Create a tracking sheet and stick to it.
It is as easy as this. Just stick to it, and you will become efficient and highly productive. Do not hesitate to modify and adjust your tracking sheet from time to time as your needs and goals change.
There are no shortcuts, and the most significant issue you will have in time is the routine syndrome. You will have to change your schedule from time to time. The same way as when you trained for bodybuilding, you need to change your routine after a few weeks to have new progress to shock the muscles. Your brain is a muscle too and needs to be shaken from time to time; otherwise, you lose your focus and then your interest.
Here is an overview of my monthly tracking sheet.
Keep it simple, just and realistic. Numbers are so easy to write down, but to obtain, it is another ballgame as you probably now.
Remember that we can’t be everything to everyone and still be true to ourselves. So stop saying yes to anything that not aligned with your tracking sheet. Otherwise, it will be quite impossible to reach your goals.
For example, I have to find, recruit and present 2–3 candidates per day to my clients. They rely on me. I have to make more than 100 calls per day + emails + text messages. I focus on the job until I finish it. The accounting, follow-ups, updating the website, talking with suppliers, etc. All of those tasks will be postponed or even better, delegated.
Do not postpone your TOP goals of the day. At least not every day. Time to time, it will happen but stick to the plan. Stay focus. Yes, I do have a TOP 3 goals per day. My focus is on them first until completed.
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Inconclusion, stay focus no matter what, stick to your plan and forget about the time you spend on it. If it is well done and fulfill day after day, your future will just be as bright as you expect it to be. Oh, one last thing, do not argue with people that will tell you that you work too much, you become a workaholic, and so, and so, and so. You will always work too much for people who do not want to do what it takes to have the life they expect. Just ignore them and show them the result!