Be More Productive at Work: Avoid These Eight Traps

Obviously, productivity involves producing. Producing widgets, events, reports, sales. The more producing you do, the more money you have and the greater success your company has. Right? It's not that simple. It doesn't matter how many widgets you produce if no one buys them. It doesn't matter how many reports you produce if they're irrelevant. So, productivity must be tied to a worthwhile goal.

This is a simple concept, but one that is easy to forget in the hustle and bustle of the day. It's easy to be fooled into thinking you're productive when you answer emails and phone calls and get paper off your desk. They clamor for your attention. The trick is to handle them or keep them at bay while you spend time on the things that actually are important, that are quietly waiting for you to get to them.

Eight productivity traps:

1) The "I can do it all" Trap. Newsflash: you can't do it all, and you'll never be able to do enough. There will always be more you could have done. This is the perfectionism trap. Solution: decide when enough is enough. What is the ROI on your time for a particular project? If you're talking about getting a contract that will be half your profits for the year, spend a lot of time on it. If you're talking about figuring out how to save $40 a month on supplies, spend an hour or less on that.

2) Picking a system and then not using it consistently. Stick with certain ways of doing things. Keep your to do list in the same spot and create items for it with similar language all the time. This allows your mind to concentrate on the content rather than being distracted by the form. Let the form be the holder for the content; something to bring it to you efficiently and invisibly. Each form has its own good qualities, so you just need to pick one. What if phone book entries were all written differently? Some with the first name first, some the last name, some the address first, some the phone number first? Can you see how much harder it would be to look through a book like that and find what you need?

3) The "But we've always done it that way" Trap. Take time to look at what you've been taking for granted and see if its efficiency or productivity can be improved. This can be anything from regular meetings to how your desk is set up to how you get to work in the morning. Anytime you hear yourself saying "we always (fill in the blank)," question that statement. Do you "always" for a good reason? A good reason two years ago may not be applicable anymore. Is it necessary? Could it be done faster or piggybacked onto another task? Sometimes just thinking carefully of the steps involved in a particular project can spur a brainstorm to improve it.

4) The "I don't know what to do next" Trap. Be your own boss, and your own employee. When you're the boss, you formulate and set goals and figure out ways to get there. When you're the employee, you get down to work on those tasks. By separating these functions, you don't second guess yourself as much. Your boss has already decided, for example, that a new brochure needs to be created and it should have certain elements and be ready in 3 weeks. As the employee, you start writing the new copy; you don't waste time worrying about whether the old copy really needs changing, or if 3 weeks is a realistic deadline. If new information comes up while the project is in progress, the plan may change. But, again, trust that the decisions you make as the "boss" are the best you can make with the information available, and then let your "employee" act on them.

5) The "I just can't focus on what I have to do" Trap. Most of us thrive on novelty. We crave variety. The latest thing almost always can get our attention. So you need to figure out some tricks to make your existing project seem new again. Tackle it from a different angle. Ask a colleague for advice and see it from his or her point of view. Break it down into components and then work a little on each one so you don't get burned out on any one element. Pack up your materials and do some work elsewhere; a conference room, your kitchen, a café.

6) The "I need more information first" Trap. This is a variation of #1. You must control your options. People generally confuse having lots of options and choices with getting the best possible result. Fewer choices might mean that the best one was left out. But, lots of choice can induce paralysis. There's an infinite number of questions to ask and conditions to satisfy to determine which choice is the best. And as long as you're stuck on that task, you aren't getting to the doing of the project. Have some simple criteria to judge options, gather them quickly and move forward. What really matters is getting the house built, not making sure you had the world's best hammer to do it with.

7) The "Everything seems equally important" Trap. There's no way you'll get everything done. If you ever did, you can be sure more things would crowd in the door behind them. You must set up criteria for what the important things to do are. In addition, identify things that don't meet that criteria and consciously decide not to do them. Be clear about what you're not doing. Why? Because if you don't, those items will remain on a phantom to do list, forever undone and forever bugging you. Even though you're not doing them, they suck energy away from the important things.

8) The "Everything seems equally important" Trap, part 2. If you can't get everything done, and you don't set your own criteria for what's important, that means that someone else is setting it. Your boss, your mother, whoever. So think of this not as having to give things up, but regaining power over how you spend your time.

The payoff is having clarity about what you are doing, which makes you more productive and efficient. The way to avoid these traps can be as simple as maintaining a regularly reviewed to do list and remember to ask yourself, "why am I doing this?"

Claire Tompkins specializes in simple, efficient systems to help people be more productive, more easily. Before figuring out how to do something better, ask why you're doing it at all. Got to http://www.clairetompkins.com to find out more. Contact her at Claire@clairetompkins.com and 510-535-0856.

---

Identifying the Rocks: Organizing Your Priorities

In one of my favorite books, First Things First, written by Stephen Covey with Roger and Rebecca Merrill, is a story of the man in front of... Read More

A Personal Action Plan for Change

There are eight distinct steps to constructing and executing an action plan for effective and lasting change.Item 1: Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses.In the "Betterchange" workbook there's... Read More

Get Organised and Transform Your Life

It takes effort to get results, and not just any effort, it takes smart effort. You cannot expect to achieve anything without doing something. Unfortunately in our... Read More

Memorabilia -- Use It or Lose It!

What do you do with those special items that have been passed down to you? Put them in the hall closet and hope the door will shut?... Read More

Saying Goodbye to Stacks of Paper and Distractions

A daily journal will save you time, reduce stress and make you more productive.Several months ago, I visited the office of a million dollar producer. I was... Read More

Balance - And Other Things

The Mexican VillagerThe American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the... Read More

Effective Closet Cleaning Tips - Let Go of More Than Skeletons

I know I have a problem when I have to battle with the overflow every time I try to shut my closet door. Well, okay, it's not... Read More

Declutter for Sucess

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as... Read More

Compartmentalize

The word "compartmentalize" means to separate into distinct parts. I am intrigued with the fact that the word "mental" is in the word. For me, it illustrates... Read More

The Love It Or Lose It Principle: One Simple Key to Living Clutter-Free Forever

It wasn't long ago that you spent an entire weekend "decluttering" ? and now you are expecting guests in two days, and the guestroom is full of... Read More

Six ADD Tips for Organizing Everyday Things

Life with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) can be a constant hassle. Little things like lost car keys, tools that stick or don't cut well, papers that go... Read More

Ten Signs That Your Life Is Cluttered

How do you know if you need to clean out? Here's a sure-fire ten-step way to spot (and deal with!) clutter in your life.YOU HAVE TO MOVE... Read More

Creative Storage Solutions

When the things in your home start crowding in around you and you're short on cash, it's time to come up with some creative storage solutions. Don't... Read More

Words That Inspire - SIMPLIFY

What do you gain if you SIMPLIFY?Dictionary* says:to reduce to basic essentials, to diminish in scope or complexity, to make more intelligible.What it REALLY means:removing clutter and... Read More

10 Tips on Color Coding Your Paper: From Chaos to Coherence

Color-There Is No SubstituteIn anatomical illustrations you see the brain's visual system, where the optic nerve is actually 25 times faster than our audio nerves (hearing). No... Read More

Organisation - Getting Back To Basics

If you look at any major organisation, there is this trend for executives to use "palm pilots" in conjunction with software schedulers such as Microsoft Outlook.What's really... Read More

Getting Organized for Achievement

Getting and staying organized is critical to achieving your goals. A well organized person is more productive, has more free time, wastes less money, and experiences less... Read More

Organizing Tips to Help You Conquer the Laundry Monster

Laundry. You sort, you wash, you fold, you blink ? and the pile of dirty clothes has grown all over again. Laundry is a fact of life,... Read More

Sticking to Your New Years Resolutions: Ten Tips for a More Organized Life

1. A calendar is an essential organizing tool ? start the year with one that works for you! And whether you use a paper or electronic version,... Read More

Taking Care of You: De-Clutter

De-Cluttering our lives can be an extremely liberating exercise. There are many types of clutter than can hinder us having the quality of life we want and... Read More

Daily Systems Keep You Organized

Ever wonder how they do it? How a short-order cook prepares tasty meals in a hectic, rush-rush environment, and does it all with a smile? The answer... Read More

The 4-Keys to Clutter Free Living - Design a Space that Nurtures Your Soul

Decluttering is a simple-to-learn process, once you break it down into manageable steps. Tackling too much at once, or underestimating the time and effort it will take... Read More

Get Organized: 10 Universal Laws

The Law of the 1st StepA good first step in getting organized is to 3-pile everything:pile one is for those things to throw away, pile 2 is... Read More

Clear Your Clutter and Free Your Life

Whatever your clutter problem the answer is the same: make a decision to clear your clutter and then take action to clear your clutter.Without action, the decision... Read More

Getting Organized For The New Year - Part 1

The following procedures will insure an organized and well run office. 1. Have a daily To Do sheet. This is made up at the end of the... Read More

Calendars and Personality Type

I recently conducted a survey to look at the relationship between an individual's personality type and his or her organizing and time management style, and noticed that... Read More