There are certain lies that we keep telling ourselves that keep us reaching out for more. The more you know about common productivity myths, the better you can organize the work schedule to do things better and faster. Using To Do Checklist productivity app on a daily basis will help you reach your goals while staying intact with your mind, body and soul. Each and every one of us is hectically searching for more productive work routine, but are we really getting ahead? Or do we resemble hamster on a wheel spinning it faster but getting nowhere?
Does Keeping Busy Make You Less Productive?
World-leading CEOs usually say that it is not about doing more work but making wiser choices throughout the day. Managing your workload doesn’t have to be all about stress – as it tends to accumulate causing health problems and productivity drop down. The common questions that business coaches ask:
- Are you valuable to your organization?
- Are you adding value as an employee by increasing your level of productivity?
- Do you manage to do everything on time?
If we cut to the chase, there are two main principles that many people don’t understand.
- When people fail to do everything they need to do, they are not adding to their value.
- Employees are ‘only valuable to their organizations’ when they do what they are hired to do.
Why do so many people fail in their careers? Does productivity level have to do anything with it? Let’s explore common lies that hold many people from being their most efficient at work and life in general.
1. I work My Best Under Pressure
The so-called lie procrastination myth is a common type of justification that leads nowhere. Of course, many of us tend to mix up and confuse stress with adrenalin. To tell the difference, let’s review both.
– Stress causes negative outcomes like pale-looking skin, health problems, even greater procrastination at work, drop down of energy level, insomnia, indigestion, and bad breath (you may neglect the last one).
– Adrenalin feels like happiness hormone that tends to wear off. The epinephrine hormone is released to the blood flow in response to out-of-normal situations described as exciting, threatening or dangerous. A major boost of oxygen and glucose sent to the brain and muscles. Some people tend to experience it as “super” strength.
Note: if a person is a last-minute racer and hidden adrenalin junkie, they like to work under pressure. But the truth is there is no other time, no more options, no miracle happening to help. There is no other choice but to push themselves forward.
STRATEGY:
- Break down the large task into smaller pieces
- Use To Do Checklist productivity app (download it here)
- Set earlier deadlines
- Triple the time estimate that one project will take.
It’s OK to leave one small task to bring closure, yet do not leave the whole project to last minute.
2. Take Work Home!
A common misconception is ‘successful business leaders work hard’. Hard equals late, yet the studies show that only rest can: 1) boost up you creativity level 2) increase work speed naturally. When people take work home, they refuse to take their time off. Their common saying is “Work isn’t 8am-5pm, it is much longer”. The problem is people anticipate taking work home, meaning they are less efficient during working hours. Truly productive people crunch all tasks in one ‘time container’ with specific time frame for every task. Set To Do Checklist productivity app alarms to go off to finish tasks quicker.
STRATEGY: There should be only rare – certain occasion for overtime work, other than that, do not make it your daily expectation.
3. Don’t Fix it if it’s Not Broken
Many companies, just like people, leave their standard work procedures intact neglecting the fact that they can perform by far better at some job-related activities. To find the area that needs improvement is easy: leadership should ask employees on input on process and find the one that isn’t optimal. Same is applicable to people, take your time to learn something new, master new software, acquire new habit like putting all ideas and tasks in To Do Checklist productivity app. It will be rewarding to you.
STRATEGY: we live in a fast paced world and if we want to be successful, we need to develop instant ability to change. Acquiring new habits may be tough at first but very rewarding later.