One's ability to perform at optimum level is one of the most important factor behind every success story I've ever come across. As simple as it sounds, a large number of people live their lives everyday performing way below their actual capabilities. Why is this? The reasons we give are numerous
"I'm too busy" "I'll do it tomorrow" "there's just no time!" "I can't do plenty things at the same time" and on and on like that..
We all want to feel totally in control and abreast of situations, completing our daily task to time but sadly, only a few people do. So, how did this few people manage to get more done even though we all have the same 24 hours? Well, here are 5 practical steps to increase your level of output by at least 50%! Trust me, it works!
1 Don't play the blame game, accept responsibility!
One of our very first reaction when things are not working as planned is to find somebody, something, anything to blame! Someone must take the blame! It throws off the pressure away from us and we feel relaxed and relieved. Well, as cool as it sounds this only end up reducing our energy, drive and grit towards achieving our aim. The best bet is to accept full responsibility and say to yourself "if it is to be done it has to be me!" This gives you full control over the situation and helps you focus on what needs to be done and what you need to do to get it done
2 Put First Things First!
Get this now, there are so many things craving your attention everyday so time will never be enough for you to do everything you want to do! But you can always make up time for the truly important things, things that contribute to your life! The problem is we often get them mixed up and we waste time on unnecessary things with the assumption that they are all important. Watching TV, reading news papers, attending to messages on social media may have the appearance of urgency and importance but most times you don't loose anything by not putting them first. When you put first things first, you attend to things that matter to you the most, then others may follow if you have the time.
3 Do it Now! Do it anyway!
Heber Grey, a business man, conducted a study trying to find the common denominator of success, after interviewing several people found out that both successful people and unsuccessful people don't like to do the necessary things they need to do to achieve success but successful people make it a habit to do it anyway. He concluded that your ability to do what you need to do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not, is the common denominator of success! Don't procrastinate, do it now! Even if you don't feel like, just do it anyway! The feeling will come later!
4 Work from a list
Personally I've been able to increase my productivity by at least 20% just by writing down the things I need to do. It helps you create a mental picture of all the things you need to do, either for a day, a week, a month or a year. Write them down in order of importance. This way you'll be able to plan better and avoid forgetting important things.
5 Make it a habit
All habits are learnable. Strive daily to practice these things and make them a habit. Good habits are hard to form but easy to live with. Once you've developed them they become easy and automatic to practice. You'll find yourself responding to life situations in a manner consistent with your habit and you'll feel uncomfortable whenever you're behaving in a manner different from this. It will definitely take time but it's worth the effort
So, that's all folks! But of course that's not all there is about getting things done faster, so feel free to share your own views, opinions and ideas.