Productivity Tip - Busy is not the same as productive

Most time management systems are designed to let you do more, to get more done, to do things faster, this is all good and nice but they tend to forget something very important – productivity is not only about how much you get done, it's also about what you do.

I suggest that you can be more productive by doing less – by focusing only on the important tasks you can maximize the value of your time.

Let me explain, everyone has one or two things he does really well, things that are his core business, when doing those things he is really productive, you should know what those things are for you – and you should try to concentrate on them.

For every task that you add to your to-do list ask yourself those questions:

  • Is it worth doing at all?
    What will happen if the task is left undone? Does it make any difference? You'll be surprised how much time you can save by simply not doing things that are unimportant.
  • Is it more productive to do it later with other similar tasks?
    For example, you have to pay your bills, but it will take less time to pay all the bills at once and not one at a time.
  • Is it worth my time?
    When you're doing one task you can't do other things (this is called opportunity cost – I'll talk more about this in a future post), does it make sense to pay someone else to do this task so you are free to do more important things?

The key to productivity is prioritization, everyone knows not all tasks are equally important so start acting like it.

posted @ Tuesday, January 22, 2008 5:34 PM

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