Photo courtesy of Andy Ciordia

The following is a guest post by fellow blogger/writer Nacie Carson.  Nacie writes about personal development issues on her blog “The Life Uncommon“.

Ever since I left the corporate world to work for myself two years ago, I have been fascinated by the concept of productivity. How to get more done, accomplish more, see better quality, and then – as a reward – be able to enjoy greater and more satisfying periods of rest truly intrigue me.

My interest in the art and science of productivity began when I first started working from home in 2008. After months in a cubicle, I was thrilled to run my own schedule, work where I wanted, and focus on the business I wanted to do. However, within a few weeks I found that getting things done was a lot harder than it looked. “I was so productive when I worked at Company X,” I thought, “Why am I not getting the same result now that I am working for myself?”

I started investigating productivity techniques, tips and tricks, and found a wealth of information both online and in books to help me form actionable strategies. But I soon found that within a few days of implementing a new strategy my productivity level would slip back down again. What was the deal?

The problem was obvious, and the solution simple: the issue was my state of mind.

There are two elements that come together to shape our lives: Click here to continue reading »”The Productivity Mindset”

Like most people, I look forward to the arrival of the weekend as a chance to unwind, spend time with the family, and recharge my mind and body in preparation for the jump into a fresh work week.

There are times, though, where that continual push to maintain our productivity through the week takes its toll and we can find ourselves struggling to get out of neutral. This is something that happens to me at times and I know only too well how frustrating these moments can feel, especially when we see that large heap waiting for us in our “To-Do” basket. As such, I want to share some of the strategies I use to recharge my productivity batteries so I could complete my tasks for the week:

1. Review what you’ve completed so far

In the drive to maintain our level of productivity, it’s a good idea to take some time to review what we’ve completed up to that point. This will help in evaluating whether it’s really necessary to keep pushing to the max or whether we can afford to throttle down our efforts to give ourselves time to catch our breath. As marathon runners know, it’s not about Click here to continue reading »”Need A Boost? Strategies For Recharging Your Productivity”

This week I wanted to look at how our perspective in approaching a project or task can dramatically affect our ability to complete the work. In the first post looking at this concept, I demonstrated how striving for perfection, as opposed to aiming to make things better, is actually counter-productive as it limits the perspective to our own experiences.

Of course, there’s another factor that can impact our motivation and subsequent productivity in taking on an idea or fostering some form of change. In this case, I’m referring to those instances when we view these opportunities as something that’s “too difficult to implement” or which “we lack the resources to pursue” and subsequently, we end up doing nothing about it. As I’ll show in this piece, what we need in these cases is to re-adjust our perspective from one where we’re facing a single issue or challenge, into one where we tackle the individual parts of the problem. This will create an environment where we gain concrete, visible results that will help us push forward with the process. Click here to continue reading »”How to Transform Problems Into Wins”