How To Be More Productive

How To Be More Productive

Working on a creative project could be like running for a bus. Decide on your own version of the rules before you start – if you miss a day of a monthly challenge, can you forgive yourself? Do you have to make it up? Do you quit?

Revise your rules as you go along – these challenges are meant to help you foster creativity, not become a chore. If, half way through, you realize it’s not working, or you’ve already got what you need, you can change your rules or drop out. If you need to be more strict, make more strict rules.

Focus on high impact tasks
Figure out what will have the greatest impact today, and make sure you address the most important stuff first. Don’t get caught up in odd jobs, even those that seem urgent, unless they are also important.

Accept imperfections
Perfectionism is the enemy of completion. Most of the time small imperfections aren’t even noticed, so don’t waste all your time on them.

Eliminate all distractions
Distractions are everywhere. That could be your cell phone, internet etc. Your negative ideas as well. Stop thinking about the bad things that happened and try to focus on the things you want to make it happen. Spending time on negative ideas, people, memories is a total waste of time.

Talk with positive people
Do connect with other people taking part – they can inspire you, keep you honest, and cure some of the isolation artists often feel. Don’t get sucked into too much online chatter – the point of this creative challenge is to free you to create more, not find another place you can waste time.

Make it a priority
Most of these challenges take commitment for a small amount of time. Make the most of the challenge by making it a priority. You might have to drop something else during the challenge.

Stop over-analyzing things
There comes a time when you have to stop evaluating something and just bite the bullet and do it. Contemplating taking action isn’t taking action. It gets nothing accomplished.

Write things down
Nobody’s memory is perfect. If you don’t take notes and setup to-do lists for yourself you will end up wasting time several minutes of time every day trying to remember things that would have taken you seconds to write down.

Start now
In the end, all the tips in the world won’t make as productive as you could be if you simply started to get things done right now. Don’t waste another minute!