Before coming up with a strategy to improve your productivity you should take time to consider some very important aspects necessary in understanding what matters in and how planning a strategy works:
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Fundamentals of Building A Strategy
It is vital that you start by focusing your personal capital – skills, talents, and aptitudes in that specific direction that is most likely to bring you the results you wish for by using that capital in the most natural way.
To develop on this concept – any goal requires time, energy and effort invested in it. Smart strategic planning means to manage your talents and skills so that you get the maximum possible benefits in return for what you have invested. It’s a sort of a balance between what you put in and what you take out.
There’s a quote by Ralph Emerson you should remember each time you have a task ahead of you: “The task ahead of you is never greater than the power behind you”. Another thing you should also remember is asking yourself if that task or job gives you the maximum return on the energy you put or want to put into it.
Open Yourself to Opportunities
If you study really productive and successful people you will notice how they have managed to make the ideal fusion between their skills and the requirements of an objective or situation – this is the point at which the investment in terms of energy, time, efforts pays off to the maximum.
Efficiency starts with focusing entirely on one step at a time, that is, on one task at a time. A skill itself is recognizing those big opportunities when they come your way and engaging all your resources towards them. When having people working for you, this means being also able to make them focus their energy on that specific opportunity.
Keep A Lively Workflow with Deadlines
There’s no such thing as strategy without deadlines; at least not a very efficient one. Setting deadlines for your objectives and respecting them is at the core of personal strategic planning. This is because of the incentive kick a deadline gives and which is crucial for pushing you effectively towards your goals. After all, there’s a small procrastinator in all of us.
Set Your Rhythm
Perseverance is directly linked to rhythm. The latter gives you confidence and flow. It’s like a car on a long road trip maintaining that optimal speed – too high and you might bump it into things or take it off the road, too low and the road will seem dreary and you won’t be comfortable making the trip. And to reinstate a previous emphasis – remember, one task at a time!
