For a better productivity, you need to study

For me it is not only about being productive, it is about life… After all, if you are really productive, you will be able to live even better.

I am constantly paying attention to new articles and studies on productivity, prioritization and anything that helps me to have my job done in the most productive way and to live my life in a better way.

So study and research are integral part of improving productivity as better methods keep emerging and by going deeply into the subject, it is possible to conciliate the various areas of a person’s life.

If you can, get enrolled to a course, but if not, just browse videos, articles and books on the subject. Ah, very important: APPLY whatever you read that touches you. I am sure you don’t need any more theory in the shelf of your head, right?

I hope this helps you to be more productive! Check my post on productivity too.

https://lookingformorethanjob.blogspot.com/2019/06/tips-of-productivity.html

The art of prioritization

To prioritize is totally linked to the idea of making decisions. That means when I am prioritizing I am helping myself to make better decisions, but also when I prioritize tasks, I am training my own capacity to make decisions.

The first thing you need is CLEAR CRITERIA. Why would I do this task first? Why to postpone this task? How do I know which task should be before this one?

I have 3 criteria for prioritization and that is something I change from time to time – before, I had only 2. It helps me to canalize my energy in a better way and, I must say that this system has been for a while now and it came from a very old method: try and try and try… It is possible these criteria tune with you, but you have to create your own criteria, according to your life style, personality, time availability, etc.

My main criterion reflects what will generate impact in my life. I make a conscious effort to understand the tasks from a perspective of its impact: How will this affect my present professional option? What will be the effect of this on my health? In which way will this help me with the present change I am going through? By asking questions, you can understand which tasks should be performed before and which ones after.

As a balance, my second criterion is related to the easiness of the task. I have noticed in myself and others that as the easier the task, there will be more enthusiasm for it. How many hours will I spend doing this? How much of this task I can perform by myself? What is the level of weariness I will feel after finishing the task? Sometimes, I have to split the task into small subtasks, so this criterion is very important for me and it helps me to avoid distraction: the more difficult the task is, the more I try to avoid it.

My last criterion is new for me and I am still working with it. The idea behind it is that every task should contribute something important for me or for others, and I give more marks for those tasks that contribute to others. What is the reasoning behind it? As an IT guy (retired), I realized I give lots of attention to small details like ordering my folders, so this type of tasks has been put as a very low mark as it only contributes to my personal state of mind…

But my IT skills are very useful, so prioritization for me it very easy, but complex enough to create interest: I sum up all the criteria and order it in a spreadsheet by total, impact, contribution and easiness. Then, I start working on it, fulfilling every task.

I hope this helps you to be more productive! Check my post on productivity too.

https://lookingformorethanjob.blogspot.com/2019/06/tips-of-productivity.html

A few IT tips…

I have worked in the IT area for many years and I still flex my tech muscles from time to time. Even though I want to help people to have some tech detox, it hurts that many people really suffers with the present technology.

So, I would like to give you a few tips that may be helpful and I hope are easy to implement:

• Read manuals. Yes, read them… take your time to do it and do it. If your product does not come with a manual, look for it in a searcher like Google, for instance, Samsung Z4 Manual. Another way is to Read articles or watch videos that help you to handle the product; search How to and indicate what you want to do. And what you are going to use will be something permanent or it is key for your productivity, I strongly recommend a course.
• Chose passwords that are easy to remember, but that are difficult for others to guess. For instance, you can choose your pet’s birthday, but the date in a way that only you will be able to understand (12Nov2010 can be turned into BeforeThanksGiving). If you are a foreigner of a different language than the place you live or work, choose something in that language, and if you are visual, mix numbers and letters: M1x#s&L3tt3rs (Mix Numbers And Letters).
• NEVER save your bank or other sensitive information. Yes, every time I check my bank balance or want to do an operation, I type all over again… This is very important, since there is a big crisis in information technological security.
• If a website is not working, just wait a bit… If an app is not responding, just wait a bit. ¿Computer is too slow? Just wait a bit… Many problems get solved if you just wait a bit.
• DON’T CHANGE YOUR EQUIPMENT EVERY YEAR. Even though most people will tell you that if you learn to use a cell phone and you change it, it is very easy to adapt, that is simply not true. There is a learning curve and in many cases, it is increasing. I myself try to stick at least to the same brand of cell phones.

Hope these are useful and if you need more clarification, I may help you with that.

Problems and our inner dialogue: the need for reflection

How do you work? How do you improve your productivity? What is the way of dealing with children? Why to forgive others? 

There are many questions in people’s minds, creating lots of internal noise as we try to navigate the troubled waters of present society, making things even worse. Before, it was much simpler as you can see by these possible answers…

I work as I was told to.My productivity is fine, thank you very much, and I will stay at this company until my retirement no matter what.I speak, my children obey.Forgive others??? Are you mad? They should be killed. I just need my family.

Those were the simpler times and although many people would cringe when hearing some of this, it was like that in our civilization for millennia.

Now, in these very complex times, we may just sit down and cry over past times, or learn new ways…

I do my best in my work, learning as much as possible. I fail and I win, that is how it works. Sometimes it is boring, but I have to live. Will they fire me? I endeavor to improve my productivity. Or not… it all depends if I like my job or not, if my boss is nice to me or not, the money... If it is OK, I will make my best. My children… sometimes I hit the target and I am able to satisfy them. Other times… not so lucky. Wow, it hurt. It really hurt. What that person did… but I need them in my life. What would I do without friends or family? Maybe I can just ignore them and keep some distance. Forgiveness? That’s too divine for me.

That is a present possible inner dialogue.

Now, let’s put some silence in between… Let’s put some reflection between the question and that inner dialogue and see what happens.

Of course, first we need to understand reflection very well. It can be in the form of journaling, meditating or just talking with a good friend, but it means I take the situation as if it is my own reflection – I put aside too much judgement and I accept who I am, what the situation is, and I develop it internally, talking with myself and reaching to some conclusions; not final conclusions, but at least my hair is combed; that is, the situation is clearer in my mind.

By putting some silence, the inner dialogue could go like this, at least at the beginning:

How do you work?…SilenceLet me think deeply in relation to my work. If I don’t like it, why am I still doing it? No, I like it, it is just that there are times I don’t like it. What can I do to make those times more pleasant? To change my boss or even to change my job is not possible or at least it is not instantaneous. Maybe a better attitude is on my reach, so by changing the way I think, I am sure the results in my work will change too… How do you improve your productivity?…SilenceI understand productivity as gaining more by doing less. Often I just focus on one of the sides of that equation (doing less), but let me think it in a different way: What am I attaining by doing this work? There has to be something and this is why I am here. By understand it I can refocus my actions, thoughts and energy towards that. If I work thinking of my achievements, I am sure I can produce much more and much better… What is the way of dealing with children?…SilenceI like the saying that parents are the bows, but children are the arrows. I am just taking care of them and by doing that, I am creating a strong bond, but one day, they will be on the air. The difficulty lies in that they have issues and I am aware I am not really qualified to deal with them. What can I do? Well, I can be a good parent, I am a good human being and I can at least provide them with a space and time, so that they can solve those issues. I can be present… Why to forgive others?…SilenceIf someone does something bad to me, it hurts, and many people have hurt me. If I am honest, I have hurt many people too and I would love to be forgiven by most of them at least. I would love them to look at me with no hatred, with some understanding of my mistakes and situation and hopefully a few of them would even extend their arms and embrace me again. If it is so good for me, I just wonder how good will it be for them if my eyes don’t show any hatred, I am able understand them and look at them in a different way, I can even hold a few of them…

Try this and see the results yourself.