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What You Learned in 5th Grade is All You Need to Know to Stay Productive at Work

Guest post by: Leslie Shreve

Article Overview: Here are four simple steps that Heidi uses with her kids, which remind us that being productive at work is something you already learned how to do back in grade school. So get back to basics when you want to get things done and reach your goals.

What You Learned in 5th Grade is All You Need to Know to Stay Productive at Work

When visiting Heidi, one of my dearest friends from childhood, in San Diego last fall, we started talking about productivity and getting things done. I was thinking about professionals in their work day and she was thinking about her two children and their study habits. At the time, her son, Edward, was 8 years old and her daughter, Charlotte, was 6 years old. We found it interesting the similarities between the process she uses with her children to get homework completed and the process adults use to get their professional work completed. No matter what kind of goal it is, no matter how big or small, what works for her children is actually the same as what works for adults regarding strong focus, fighting distractions and reaching goals.

Here are four simple steps that Heidi uses with her kids, which remind us that being productive at work is something you already learned how to do back in grade school. So get back to basics when you want to get things done and reach your goals.

1. "Set goals and put your focus on them all the time."

For Heidi's kids, the end-of-year goal is meeting or exceeding state standards for the grade they are in.

Have you declared your goals? For the year? For 5 years? For work? For life?

If you don't know what you want or you don't declare your goal and commit to it, then it's going to be really hard to make progress.

Author Edwene Gaines, who wrote the "The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity" says, "Can you imagine calling up a clothing company and telling the person who wants to take your order, ‘Just send me something you think I'd like?' It wouldn't work at all."

It's like going to a restaurant and telling the waitress to just "pick something" for you. Who knows what you're going to get. You have to be clear on your goals and what you want or you'll get something don't want or nothing at all.

If you're not used to setting concrete goals, start with declaring just one goal in any area of your life and determine what you need to do every day or every week to reach that goal. If you're seriously committed to your goal, then it'll be easier to say "no" to other options, roadblocks and time wasters that could get in your way.

2. "Be aware of the effort required to reach your goal."

Heidi says this part is the more complicated part. Working backwards from the big goal for her kids in #1 above, her kids have to be aware of and agree to what needs to be done, which is getting a certain amount of homework completed each night.

Each of her children has different challenges in doing their homework, so varying degrees of effort need to be put forth in order to reach individual homework goals that support the big, end-of-year goal.

Are you already working toward a particular goal? Is what you're doing each day helping you achieve that goal? Are you staying on course and watching how you use your time? Are you finishing what you start?

As you solidify your path to that goal and turn it into a habit, determine if you want to set another, different goal and proceed in the same way. But don't overload yourself with too many goals at once. You need to stay focused on one at a time for 3 weeks or more until each one becomes a habit of attitude, thinking and action.

3. "Get some quiet time."

Heidi's children learn best when they're separated and focused on their own homework.

Where do you do your best work? If you're an entrepreneur working at home or a professional working in a corporate setting, both environments are chock full of distractions and interruptions and it may be hard for you to focus.

If you try to get things done and still uphold your "open door" policy all day long, then you could be setting yourself up for lots of stress, a daily race with time and even failure.

If you're in either scenario, incorporate these steps into your daily plan:

1. Get daily quiet time behind closed doors

2. Remove yourself from the environment by sitting in a conference room

3. Set boundaries with others who can support your quiet time and visit when your door is open

4. Turn away from e-mail, turn off instant messaging and ignore the phone for periods of time each day

4. "Reward yourself."

Heidi's son enjoys going to Starbucks to get a treat, while her daughter enjoys ballet at a nearby studio.

How do you reward yourself? Be sure to give yourself a little relaxed time in between strongly focused time. It will help your brain, your productivity and your success in the long run.

Try these, next time you need a break:

1. Walk outside to enjoy good weather

2. Stretch

3. Breathe deeply for a few minutes and relax

4. Get some water or a beverage refill

5. Don't skip lunch and be sure to enjoy it somewhere other than your office or desk

6. Take a break with a friend or co-worker to engage in light, fun conversation

7. Choose an activity you enjoy doing that's away from your computer

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Article Tags: business, getting organized, leslie shreve, organization, productive day, productivity, task management, task management system, taskology
Referred by: http://affiliatepowercentral.com



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How to you re-fresh yourself? - Productive time improvement is about increasing the time that you, your staff or your organisation has available for front-line service delivery; and making sure that time is being used to best effect - "working smarter" by: - doing the right things - (eliminate unnecessary work) - the right way - (use standard, streamlined processes) - with the right people - (right skills, availability, location) - using the right tools and equipment. But we all will agree that somewhere we don't follow these and give ourselves a break. When I give myself a break, I a. play online games b. chat on Internet c. Listen to some soft music What you do when you are not "working smarter"?


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