You want to be effective. Productive. Efficient.
You’ve read all of the books, bought a new leather planner, downloaded all of the apps, and followed every productivity blog you can find.
And yet, it’s just not happening. Productivity still eludes you. At best, you’re only slightly effective. And for the life of you, you can’t figure out why.
It just might be that you execute some of the following seven habits below, and that they are what keeps you from being as effective as you could be.
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Do any of these describe you?
1.) You are the Queen of the to-do list. Actually, make that lists. You have one everywhere: in your planner, on the fridge, in the car, on your desktop. The problem is, you have too many. And it makes it impossible to get them all organized and coherent. Instead, choose one notepad, application, or software to hold all of your to-do’s. And if there is a time you have to write a task down on something separate, get it entered as soon as possible.
2.) You try to do it all at once. Multi-tasking is rarely your friend. Instead of trying to open a dozen windows to manage Twitter, check email, take notes, and check your calendar, schedule your time. Write down the things you need to do, and then give each one a priority based upon its urgency and its importance. Once you have given everything a priority, schedule your time to intentionally do those things. When it’s time to do something, do it and nothing else.
3.) You define success as doing it all. And so, you try to be great at everything. The problem with trying to be good at it all means you never do much of it well. Successful people focus on what they do well. Dave Ramsey doesn’t do ballet, Seth Godin doesn’t offer lessons on knitting, and the Dallas Mavs don’t play polo. And yet, all of them are incredibly effective, successful people. They know their strengths, and then capitalize on them. This does not mean you don’t seek to constantly improve in other areas, it just means you don’t try to do it all at once.
4.) You dawdle in the good, instead of pursuing the best. Twitter is an incredibly good thing. It’s a valuable tool for finding relevant, useful information. I have learned so much, simply by following people I admire and respect. And yet, it is not always the best thing: sometimes, being successful or effective means I turn Twitter off, and do what is best: type a blog post, exercise, spend time with the Lord, or clean my house. Though it is good, it’s not always what I need to be doing in a moment.
5.) You don’t read. This might seem like a direct contradiction with number three, but it’s not. If you’re not reading, you’re missing out on valuable information that can make you more effective. Reading is a chance to connect with brilliant minds, and in so doing, become more like them.
6.) Critiques last only long enough to sting. While it might hurt some, you don’t evaluate criticism to see if it offers any suggestions of how you can improve. Once the sting is gone, so is the chance that it can be used for your good. Instead, try to take criticism as something productive–while you probably still won’t look forward to it, you can take something from it.
7.) You don’t take the time to do something well. This last characteristic is a culmination of some of the above. Because you don’t set down to plan, because you have your to-do’s scattered everywhere, and because you try to do it all at once, you end up not doing something well. Once you learn to use your time strategically, you will be more able to do something effectively, and well.
The good news?
Change doesn’t cost a dime, and it can start as soon as you finish reading this post. And you can go from being an only slightly effective person to a highly effective one.
What is one only slightly-effective characteristic that you could turn into a highly effective one?
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