by: Sarra Findsley with
[10/12/2007 10:59:00 PM]
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Ever wonder why some people are so productive all of the time while other people never accomplish anything? Most of us assume it is because of intelligence, wealth, family, friends, luck, or education. Those are not correct. The key of productivity is about having goals, making plans, and having diligence. And the only way to achieve any of these productivity methods is by having effective habits. So, here are a few tips on how to be more productive.
GOALS: Have goals in life. Always strive to accomplish something.
ORGANIZE: Create a plan for each goal. Itemize each plan with a list of tasks.
PRIORITIZE: Determine the importance of each goal and each task, include when each task needs to be completed and in what order. Also consider which tasks are not really important and can be removed.
SCHEDULE: For each plan, create a schedule with when each task should start and finish. This means doing the first task first, the second task second, etc. Managing time is extremely critical, since it is the biggest productivity obstacle.
BE FLEXIBLE: Be prepared to re-prioritize and re-schedule each task on a moment’s notice. A previously less important task can suddenly become more important. Know when to stop working on a task, even though the task may not be finished. Don’t get upset or mull changes for too long. Being flexible is personally very hard for me.
BE PROACTIVE: Take responsibility and seize control of each task. Actively start working on each task according to the schedule. Proactively seek out solutions to problems. Being reactive slows down productivity, so find and resolve issues before they are major problems.
ASSISTANCE: Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Delegate when possible.
GOAL ORIENTED: Begin, throughout, and end each task with the goal in mind. Be open to discoveries during a task that may affect other tasks, the entire plan, or a goal. See Tip #5.
COMMITMENTS: Make and keep commitments, especially to ourselves.
UNDERSTANDING: We seldom reach our goals alone, so we must understand the goals and desires of other people in order to achieve personal goals. So, empathically listen to others, think about what they say, and finally discuss tasks and issues to truly understand any potential obstacles that could affect productivity. Not having a clear understanding with other people is personally one of my biggest time wasters.
SYNERGY: When dealing with other people, cooperate to build on each individual’s strengths and compliment each other’s weaknesses.
WIN/WIN: We live in a very symbiotic world, so help find solutions that will appease everyone. Remember that success spreads even indirectly. So when someone else succeeds, we all succeed.
RELAX: Being productive all of time is impossible. Being productive most of the time is very exhausting, so relax and reduce daily stress. We all physical and mental needs that are essential for peak performance. Read this article for ideas on reducing stress.
I really do not expect anyone to follow all thirteen of these suggestions, but just adding a few of these tips will increase anyone’s effectiveness and productivity. And once these tips become habits, building productivity momentum will become second nature.
Good luck!
Labels: all, lifeline, productivity
by: Glenn Lopez with
[7/18/2007 10:23:00 PM]
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There was an article I read about a few weeks ago by
Extreme Tech that argues about how the messier the person the more organized he/she actually is. To some degree I agree with this statement so here’s my take on it. Being organized doesn’t necessary mean being clean. It just means that you've created a system for your self to know exactly where everything is and being messy just makes you more productive. Being clean and organized at the same time cuts down on productivity because of the amount of time you spend cleaning and putting everything back to the way it was again. And
having a messy system doesn’t make you less organized than the person next door who spends every second trying to look neat and tidy.
Here’s my example:When I was first starting out as a student pilot at day one, I was overwhelmed with the amount of panels, switches, and gauges even a small airplane had. I had no previous training, no simulator experience so I was clueless and stuffed with fear of never understanding the instrument panels. As my training progressed, I worked hard and began reading up on how these instruments worked, I even went as far as trying to replicate everything on paper, drawing everything little detail on that flight deck from memory and compared it with the actual picture. If I missed, or mispositioned something then I made a promise to start from scratch.
After a few failures I realized something with the way a flight deck was layed out. These instruments weren’t just placed randomly... no, they were actually placed specifically to make logical sense based on their function and how often an instrument is used. This chaotic flight panel is actually grouped in such a way that what every task you had to deal with whether it be navigation or an emergency situation, were so well organized that any one regardless of training could navigate them provided they knew the layouts algorithm.
If you were to look at an A320's flight deck you'd be so overwhelmed with the numbers of buttons and start to wonder... "how do pilots remember where all the buttons are?" and the answer to that is... they don’t. Its all about knowing where to expect the switches and buttons for a specific tast. It may seem chaotic and very messy, but to a pilot its the best way to deal with every demanding task and still be productive during the job.
Now remember what I said earlier... about being clean and organized? Well imagine if a pilot had to deal with that in his/her environment. Imagine being in an emergency situation where the pilot actually had a switch to open a group of other switches... lol sounds ridiculous right? Well that’s because it is. Not only does it take up precious time, but you'll be dead before the pilot can read the next paragraph on that Emergency Reference Handbook.
Most air traffic controllers are actually messy during their job. No, I don't mean they pick their nose and wipe it on the guy next to him to conserve time... I mean the fact that they don't have the time to neatly organize something. They must do it the fastest way possible and the only way to do that is by bieng messy.
Now similarly in a much more miniscule concept such as your work-area, your much less prone to emergency such as the one I described above in fact, I don't recall the last time I heard of a house with a flight deck falling 18,000ft from the sky before. So what’s the correlation here? Simple.. cleanliness will simply make you less productive!
Now this doesn't meen you have to go as far as avoid taking a shower for a few days just to be productive. Its just a general idea you should only apply to your work habit and not your entire life.
Labels: all, aviation, lifeline, opinion, organization, productivity, tips
July 2005
