What is habit?
Habit is a routine of behaviour
that is repeated frequently and tends to occur subconsciously. Bad habits
intrude your life and prevent you from accomplishing your goals. Breaking any habit can be difficult. For
instance, if a person smokes regularly it becomes his habit and even if he
feels to quit, it becomes difficult for him to give-up.
Psychologist and philosopher
William James proclaimed that the entire life is nothing but a series of habits
that we form repeatedly. The power of habit is been explained by various
authors and motivational speaker. One of
the famous Author Stephen R. Covey, wrote and published a book known as “The 7
Habits of successful People” describing an approach to being effective in
attaining goals.
To achieve excellence in big
things, one should develop the habits in little matters. Keeping the desk
clean, removing the clutter in your mind, etc. all these small things can be
practiced again and again. If you can instill these habits into your life, you
can create the foundation for achieving your goals.
However, here are the 8 Habits of
Highly Productive People that you have to adopt to get the best out of you!!
1.
Ruthlessly
Cut Away the Unimportant
That’s right. Try to focus only
on the important things, and cut away everything that’s unimportant. There is no
point doing something that is unimportant. So push yourself to quit wasting
time, and bring yourself back to the production mode.
2.
Allocate
breaks strategically
Productivity declines over time
without taking brakes. Take plenty of breaks throughout the day. The rule of
thumb would be to take a 5 to 10 minutes break every 2 hours of work. Breaks
are a highly effective way to boosting your productivity.
3.
Remove
productivity pitfalls
Things that limit your productive
must be thrown out. It can be the music
you listen to when you work, your phone calls, alerts from your inbox, your
slow computer, the internet, You Tube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. These things
trap you and prevent you from getting things done.
4.
Tap
into your inspiration
No matter what field you’re in,
your inspiration is the key to your output. So, channel your inner muse. Keep on
thinking and contemplating the things that motivates you. And definitely you
will find that your focus increases thereby upsurging your productivity.
5.
Create
barriers to entry
Don’t make yourself too
accessible. If you’re too accessible then you will face a lot of interruptions.
Nowadays people can connect with others very easily with the touch of button
(text, emails, calls, etc.). Therefore, guard your time to improve your
productivity.
6.
Optimize
time pockets
Make the best of every minute.
For instance, if you’re working for 10 minutes ensure that you achieve maximum
outcomes in that 10 minute and then you can take time off. You usually get time pockets while waiting
for people, commuting, chess app,
reading books, or planning.
7.
Set
timelines
Be clear on what you want to
achieve, and then set your timelines for them. When you set timelines, you set
the intention to complete the work on time, hence paving the way for the
reality to manifest.
8.
Automate
everything possible
Technology today has made
automation possible for a lot of things we do. Hence, find a way to
automate every task and let it be your habit. If you outsource, delicate,
automate your task obviously your
productivity will improve.
Another important Habit that you must build to increase your
productivity is Prioritization. Always there is a constant tension between the
urgent and the important things. Important
activities should be of high priority because they are the things that
contribute significantly in reaching your goals. Whereas urgent activities may
or may not relate to your big-picture objectives, and usually they do not make any
significant contributions.
Thanks for reading.
