Getting stuff done should not merely refer to achieving checkmarks on your ‘To-Do’ list; it should reach so much further to include goals to work toward a better, more balanced lifestyle.
Defining Personal Efficiency
Operating at your most efficient means different things for different people. To us, personal efficiency means…
- Having a system to handle all the things that life throws at you so that you can stop worrying and start enjoying life
- Being able to have a good life/work balance, so that you don’t have to take work home with you, consider your laptop a family member, or miss any more soccer games
- Being able to achieve long-term goals, rather than just completing the necessary day in/day out tasks in life
- Living rather than just being!
In the Groove
When jazz musicians are at their absolute peak, playing better than they ever have before, they say they’re “in the groove.” What might being in the groove look or feel like for you? It might mean:
- Feeling in control
- Not feeling overwhelmed
- Feeling positive
- Low level of stress
- Time goes by quickly
- Mind isn’t racing with thoughts
- Easily able to focus on the task at hand
- Work seems more enjoyable
These results can’t be accomplished just with a new skill, or even a single skill like time management. Many productivity experts, feel that a holistic approach is needed to truly improve productivity.
Making many small changes plus a few large changes, plus a whole new outlook on getting things done, is called a paradigm shift. This is what you need to start working towards your personal best and getting stuff done; not a band-aid solution or quick fix, but a whole new attitude and new ways of using the skills that you already know, plus a commitment to keep improving your attitude and skills for the rest of your life. Sounds like a big obligation? It is. But we guarantee that the results will be totally worth it.
Time Management vs. Personal Productivity
To many people, personal productivity is just a new buzzword for time management. We can assure you that this is not the case!
Time management evolved as a discipline in the 1980’s. Its focus was on schedules, daytimers, and to-do lists.
These tools are still valuable, but we need additional tools for today’s dynamic workforce. Work isn’t as clear-cut as it once was. For example, farmers didn’t need to-do lists; the work that they needed to do was pretty obvious. (Who needs an alarm clock or reminders when the horses are hungry or the cow needs to be milked – they’ll sure let us know!)
For most of us today, that isn’t the case. If you’re given a project to improve customer service, what does that mean? How do you know when you’ve reached your goal? How do you know what to do to achieve that task? Personal productivity stretches beyond traditional time management approaches to include long-term goals, project management skills, problem-solving tools, and more, to help us define and accomplish tasks efficiently and effectively.
