Everybody wants to do better, be better and achieve better – be it work, job, profession, studying, parenthood, life in general and even spiritually. So while companies and businesses always endeavour to improve their productivity levels, where they try to produce more at a cheaper rate thus acquiring greater profits, we as humans also need to be more productive. This is what is called Personal Productivity and this is wat we intend on focusing for this week.

Personal productivity plays an important role in our everyday activities, especially those related to our job. There are those lucky days when we’re effective enough to complete our assignments easily. Unfortunately, there are also moments when we’re struggling with even the simplest tasks.

But the good news is there are many ways to beat this lethargic time.
The first question we need to ask ourselves is, “Am I really unproductive?”

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let’s talk about what productivity really is. Because believe it or not, the concept itself has been skewed over time, and the image we’ve ended up with couldn’t be more divorced from reality.

Unrealistic expectations
Just like with physical appearance and mental health, there is an image of the perfect productive person constructed by social media. Working on your productivity doesn’t mean you will suddenly live that perfect and faultless lifestyle. One where you’ll wake up exactly on time every day, have your breakfast, shower and workout before 7 AM and finish everything perfectly on time.

Granted, some people can have those routines, and maintain such a life. But for our own sanity, it’s best to look at such picture-perfect images and posts as a goal achieved through years of work and dedication. When starting from zero, baby steps are much better at keeping you motivated than a vision board of a Pinterest day-in-a-life.

What productivity really is?
The concept of productivity as we know it – the ratio of input to output – has its roots in the economy. And within that context, it makes sense, as productivity directly impacts the success of various industries.

However, the problem starts when we apply the same concept to productivity in our personal lives. We aren’t machines, nor can we calculate labour quantitatively in the same way, which is why it’s necessary to redefine it.

Productivity in one’s personal life can mean different things depending on the person’s goals:
To some, productivity means working faster, and shaving time off long processes;
To others, being productive means focusing better, ensuring more quality results;

And then to some, productivity is about learning how to be better organized, to use their day to the fullest.

When we look at it that way, productivity becomes a skill with different paths, all leading to one same goal: doing better work.
And so, over the next few days we will delve deeper into this very important topic IA.