Every now and then when I sit down to write a post for my blog, I find my mind drifting off to other tasks; things that I could be doing at that moment instead of writing. In these cases, it’s not an issue of struggling with writer’s block, as I know exactly what it is I wish to write about. Instead, the problem has to do with something we all face at one point or another in our daily lives – getting stuck in the procrastination rut.

It’s a common situation that we can all relate to – finding ourselves procrastinating when there’s this pile of work that requires our current attention and focus. Of course, thanks to today’s hyper-accelerated sense of immediacy and drive to increase productivity, procrastinating not only draws our frustration and annoyance, but it’s also become something we feel guilty about doing.

Ironically, part of the problem with procrastination is that we’ve created a negative perception around it, instead of recognizing it as being a normal behaviour. After all, even the most efficient workers among us procrastinate at times. In dealing with procrastination, we need to understand that the real issue here is not so much the behaviour as how we choose to respond to it when it happens.

With this in mind, here are some things you can do that will not only help with maintaining some level of productivity, but which will also change how you look at procrastination: Click here to continue reading »”How to Deal with Procrastination”

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”

In the first two parts of this series, we saw that multitasking and time management are far from being realistic or effective approaches to managing our ever-busy lives.  This leaves us with the question of what should we be doing instead.  The answer comes down to two inter-related concepts that I’ll discuss in the concluding part to this series – focus and setting goals.

The key to climbing the mountain

A few weeks ago, I watched a documentary that followed a group of mountain climbers who were attempting to climb Mount Everest.  Thanks to a number of technological advances, the first two-thirds of the ascent were not as daunting as it was decades earlier.  However, the final leg of the climb still presented the same challenges and dangers as it did when people first started climbing this mountain over fifty years ago.  Climbing up that final leg, the team was hit by winds far stronger than they had anticipated, making their climb much more strenuous and leaving them with even less of their precious oxygen supply for the return descent.

Despite this unexpected challenge, the climbers pushed ahead, not only reaching the summit of Mount Everest, but also safely returning back to their base camp.  When asked why they pressed ahead in spite of the conditions, one climber remarked that they couldn’t get distracted by such things as an unexpected wind storm; that the key to surviving Everest depends on your ability to pay attention to what you can control, like breathing and pacing your climb.  While this answered the interviewer’s question, it also brings to light how important keeping their focus on reaching their goal was to their success on climbing Mount Everest.

There are, of course, other examples that demonstrate the importance of maintaining focus in order achieve a successful outcome.  The success of Click here to continue reading »”Unravelling The Myths of Multitasking and Time Management – Part 3″