Have you faced productivity thieves? One of my big Achilles heels is lack of discipline and how scattered I can be when I want to focus and get something done.
What’s more, I confess that today I sat at the computer 40 minutes ago (at 6 am) to write this article, and just now (6:40 am), I’m beginning to give it shape.
Of course, since I turned on my computer I found myself with a lot of distractions NOT RELEVANT for me at the moment (answering emails, organizing files, reading notes, etc.), which made me lose 40 minutes of my creation time, which is already limited.
The 4 great thieves of productivity
But, What if we could detect the causes of our lack of productivity, and therefore combat them?
I have been reading (listening, rather) the book The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, and they identify that there are 4 productivity thieves:
- The inability to say NO
- fear of chaos
- bad health habits
- Being in an environment that does not support your goals
I know I’m not the only one experiencing this, tell me if you also have trouble concentrating and being productive. Let’s review these points.
The inability to say NO
check it out, we started badly, compadres. This is something that definitely costs me a jet of work.
I personally think this happens for two reasons:
- Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): What if what I tell you is NOT turning out to be a great opportunity?
- Grief: I’m going to look bad with the person I have to say NO to.
Keller recommends that we say NO to everything that is not directly connected to our goals.
I often ask myself the question: How much time do I spend attending to other people’s priorities instead of my own? Says the author, what to say YEAH for the short-term pain of rejecting someone, it is less than the cost of having to do something that diverts us from what is priority.
Let’s learn that say no, it is not really disrespectful (and let’s learn that when they say NO to us, they are not disrespectful either). Let’s free ourselves from everything that keeps us from our goals.
The fear of CHAOS
The author tells us that things happen – we argue with our partners and collaborators, the agendas have to change -, and sometimes life is more messy than we would like. But none of this should keep us from fulfilling what is a priority for us.
The author even says that the more we focus on what is priority, the more CHAOS we will find, and this is fine.
You can learn to deal with CHAOS in your own way or let the CHAOS control you
It’s your decision.
bad health habits
Managing our energy can be a great thief of productivity.
I totally identify with es. When I feel “drained” of energy (which does not always mean that I am physically tired), I have a very hard time concentrating and achieving my priority goal.
Keller says we need to incorporate these four actions every day to keep our energy at its best:
- Meditate or pray for spiritual energy.
- Eat healthy, exercise and get enough sleep for physical energy.
- Spend time with friends and family for emotional energy.
- Define goals, plan and have a calendar for mental energy.
(If you want a resource to help you meditate, I highly recommend Meditate Podcast)
The idea here is not to become a bodybuilder or a Buddhist monk, but to try to dedicate at least one moment a day to help us have our four types of energy high.
I am starting a new routine that allows me to attend to them. By the way, the importance of the ROUTINE, is a WHOLE topic, about which if you want, I can also write another day, tell me in the comments if you are interested.
Being in an environment that does not support your goals
We have all heard that “you are the average of the people around you”. The author explains how this is completely true. What’s more, I’ve lived through it a lot in the workin family and with friends.
When you hang out with people who are focused on growing and going further, your energy to grow and go further increases.
In the same way, if you hang out with negative people who only see the bad in things… well, guess what you become?
And it is not that there are only these two extremes, of course. What yes, is that we have to be CONSCIOUS in what environment and with whom we spend our time, since that will have a direct impact on our reality.
If you don’t believe it, the author recommends that we read the “Law of averages”.
For example, I am very grateful to have found in Cynthia, my wife, someone who always challenges herself, who seeks to grow and demands to do things well, and who always takes great care of her health with food and sports. . Without a doubt, my greatest partner in life, she has pushed me to be a better version of myself.
In conclusion…
These are the four great thieves of productivity. The truth is that everyone has robbed me at some point in their lives. Even on occasions, they all organize and make me a “Ocean’s Eleven” that when the week ends I say “What the hell did I do all week that I didn’t achieve anything?” It was completely stolen from me.
Tell me in the comments which of them affects you the most and what you do to combat them.
Fun fact: I finished this post at 7:25 am, since Fatima my baby woke up halfway through and I had to get up to go get her. That if she is not a productivity thief, you also have to understand that in this life, there are priorities.
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john del cerro I am convinced of the potential of social entrepreneurship to solve major social problems, I am the Founder of Disruptivo.tv and Socialab México, winner of the National Entrepreneur Award from the Presidency, LinkedIn TOP Voice, part of Forbes 30 Promises for Business, Gifted Citizen, and received the Impulso Emprendedor Award from ASEM. I am a Founding Member of ASEM, author of 5 books on entrepreneurship, speaker on 4 continents and TEDx speaker.