Productivity comes in many forms and manifests itself differently depending on your work, life or focus. It really is just a matter of getting results or accomplishing a goal or task that brings you closer to a desired, meaningful outcome. That may be a new or better job, higher revenue or income, enhanced relationships, improved health or simply a more organized or efficient home of life with less stress. The skill or strategy of being productive is highly transferrable to every aspect of your life and is unquestionably worth the investment of your time and resources to cultivate as often as possible.
Whatever your goal; true personal productivity involves:
- Having a clear outcome
- Defining your purpose
- Timeframe for either completion or progress
- Method of accountability
- Outlined steps or tasks required
- Reward yourself if possible
Let me share with you a simple example from my own personal life to illustrate the concept in very basic terms. My son and I recently began a practice of reading together before school. We both love to read and used to read together at bedtime, but that just doesn’t happen anymore – he prefers to read by himself quietly before bed and my evenings are just so busy much of the time. At any rate, I decided to take my own advice and look at this personal issue from a productivity standpoint – what would I advise someone else to do?
- Outcome – Read The Mysterious Benedict Society with my 11 year old son
- Purpose – Spend quality one-on-one time with my child doing something we enjoy
- Timeframe – One month
- Accountability – Son as partner – he waits for me in our reading place and reminds me
- Steps/tasks – Read for 15 minutes each school morning while waiting for bus
- Reward – Breakfast in the park & a new book for next month
In this case since I was working with a partner, so commitment on both our parts was necessary to make this work. There were obstacles of course – days I had to leave home early or when one of us was ill – but even then we would treat this as a firm commitment and work around those roadblocks by rescheduling for afterschool or a “make-up” session on the weekend.(Yes, I added these sessions to my calendar!)
Simple, easy and remarkably effective!
What project or goal can you apply this too?
Your guide to living well in every area of life. Freelance writer, Life Fulfillment Guide, Idea Curator, Life balance mentor, Productivity junkie, Book Addict. 
