How To be More Productive in Your Personal and Professional Life

Isn't There More You Could Be Doing?

It seems that we're all busy people. We always have someplace to go, something to do, a phone call to make, etc. And yet, for all that hustle and bustle, we never seem to get caught up. We are never quite as productive as we'd like to be.

With that in mind, it makes sense to take stock of how we are spending our time, and look at things we can do to be more productive.

Quit Your Second Job: Turn Off the TV

Most Americans have a second job and don’t even know it. It’s called watching TV. Believe it or not, the average American watches approximately 34 hours of television per week. 34!

That’s a lot of man-hours – practically enough to work full-time somewhere. (Now you know the reason I referred to it as a second job…) That’s why one of the first steps in being more productive – and I know it’s hard – is turning the television off. Right now, most Americans are like addicts; they have to get their television fix or they feel like they’ll go bananas. But trust me, after you turn it off and get used to having it off, you’ll be shocked by what you can get accomplished.

That said, I know most people won’t be able to shut television out completely. However, it’s an epidemic, much like obesity. Thus, you need to curb your appetite for television – take in fewer broadcast calories. I would suggest you try to limit yourself to a maximum of 10 hours of television per week. Thus, you need to pick the programs you absolutely must watch, and jettison the rest. (And with television now being a rare treat, you can justify watching your programs on a nice set.)

Make a List of Goals and Things You Want to Accomplish

Statistics have shown that people who write down their goals come a lot closer to achieving them than those who do not. Therefore, your productivity is likely to increase if you make a to-do list of things you want to accomplish.

In short, no matter what your goal is – whether it be losing weight, competing in a triathlon, or writing the great American novel – you stand a better chance of making it happen if you write it down.

Keep the list close – maybe in your wallet or purse – and review it a couple of times each week. And as you accomplish the things you’ve written down, check them off. (And maybe add some new objectives.) And the goals don’t all have to be lofty; they can be simple things, like baking a cake for a friend, finally getting around to cleaning out the garage, and so on. You’ll find that after you complete a couple of the items on your list, that feeling of accomplishment and success is something that you’ll want to experience again and again.

Exercise for Energy

Studies have shown that regular exercise not only increases your energy level but also fights fatigue. Wouldn’t you be more productive if you stayed energized? If you didn’t get tired very easily?

Thus, you should adopt a regular exercise regimen. It doesn’t matter if it’s lifting weights, riding a bike, walking or pilates. The important thing is to do some form of exercise. Moreover, after you make it part of your regular routine, you’ll soon find that you feel out of sorts if you somehow fail to exercise on a day when you were supposed to.

In retrospect, it can be fairly easy to become more productive. Cutting down on your television viewing will give you gobs of time. Making a to-do list will give objectives to shoot for. Finally, regular exercise can give you the energy to get the job done. In brief, this is a workable plan for becoming more productive. (And once you’re more productive you can turn your hand to other things you may be interested in.)

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