Be focused and productive for a rewarding life

​Being focused and productive is not all about the quantity of work that you complete.. Some people think that the purpose of their time management efforts is to get as much work done as possible. But doing more of the wrong things will not do a whole lot for you. The purpose of improving your time management and productivity is to ensure that you are doing what really needs to be done, as and when it needs to be done. You cannot measure that in terms of quantity which makes it very difficult to determine if you are being productive. You could judge by whether others are happy with your work or not but how often do people give you honest feedback.

​The following are 8 indicators that you are focused and productive. If you are experiencing these indicators in your life, it is highly likely that you are focused and productive.

​I am always wary when I make rapid progress towards a goal in a very short period of time. There are certainly times when everything clicks together all of sudden and progress seems to have been made quickly. But when you look at the goal objectively, you will realise that you have been making steady progress but it wasn’t necessarily visible to the human eye.

For example, I am currently working on a course for my customers. The week the course goes live, it will look like I made massive progress in the last week. Particularly because there are a lot of small things to be done in the last week. But when I look objectively, I can see that I have been working hard on this course for quite some time.

Alternatively, there are times when you might make rapid progress in a short period because you are under pressure. And the reason you are under pressure is because you have been doing little or nothing up to this point. You stress yourself out at the end because you haven’t been making steady progress since the beginning. You are suffering because you have not been focused and productive.

Steady progress is a sign that you focused and productive but rapid progress is usually a sign that your productivity is in need of some serious improvement.

Resource: Ultimate Guide to Goal Setting

​Good sleep is essential for productivity. You need to start each day rested and recovered from the exertions of the previous day. It is quality sleep and rest which allows you to do this. But the relationship between sleep and productivity is a double-edged sword. Because you will struggle to have a good, deep sleep if you are not being focused and productive.

One of the biggest causes of poor sleep is worry and anxiety. When you have too much on your plate and you are not keeping on top of your workload; you are likely to lie in bed at night wondering how you are going to get it all done. If there are negative consequences to be experienced if you fail to get it all done, you are going to be stressed to a point where you will struggle to sleep.

Great sleep is often a sign of an empty head i.e. you have nothing troubling you as you are on top of everything.

Related article: ​Rest time - The foundation of performance

​Of course, if you are sleeping very well, you are going to have more energy to tackle the challenges of the day. And energy is as critical, if not more critical, than time management. Without energy, you are not going to get anything done. It doesn’t matter what plans you have made, you are not going to be able to put them into action unless you have the necessary energy.

There is another reason that being focused and productive leaves you feeling energetic. If you are doing work you love and making steady progress, you are continuously building your confidence and belief that you can achieve your goals. Each little milestone you hit lifts your energy, motivation and enthusiasm; allowing you to get more of your most important work completed. So, being focused and productive means that you get those regular little hits of energy that come from a job well done.
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Resource: Limitless Energy

There are so many ways to care for yourself that I couldn’t possibly mention them all in one article. But the important thing is that you identify the practices which work best for you and help you to be at your best. It is often overlooked but if you want to be able to consistently perform to your best, you need to take time to take care of your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs.

Only you can decide what your needs are but to give you some ideas, here are just a few of the practices I employ to care for myself:

​These are just some ideas but putting yourself first and caring for yourself is essential. Not only does it benefit you but it benefits others too because you put the best version of yourself forward at all times.

Related article: Why you must put yourself first

​Poor communication skills is one of the biggest obstacles to being focused and productive. It can lead to damaged relationships. No matter what you are trying to achieve, you need to be able to work effectively with others to achieve it. Cooperation and collaboration lead to a better result in far less time than trying to go it alone.

When your time management is in order, it is often an indicator that you have built happy and supportive relationships where people work together to achieve results they couldn’t achieve alone. There is none of the stress and conflict experienced when relationships turn sour and prevent cooperation and collaboration.

Resource: If you struggle to communicate effectively with others, check out How to Talk So Others Will Listen

​What does it mean to be focused? I would argue that it means you are thinking only of the most important task that you can complete at that moment in time. You are not thinking about what you have to do next, an argument you had at home or what you are going to eat for lunch. All of your attention is given to what you are working on there and then.

You can ‘t do in anything in the past and the future may never arrive so, the only time you have to affect real change is in the present. The only time that you can get stuff done is in the present moment. When you are focused and productive, life is a series of present moments. You give your all to the task at hand. Then you move on to the next task and you give your all to that task.

Of course, when you are away from work, you also need to be present. If you are with your family, they need to be getting one hundred percent of your attention. Likewise, if you are enjoying a hobby. Whatever you are doing, that is where you should be, physically and mentally. If you are struggling with your time management, you are going to struggle to be present as your mind keeps wandering to the things you have yet to do.

​Goals are a fantastic way to determine what you should be doing. You determine a target/goal you would like to reach and you plot a course to get there. Then begins a journey which you hope will help take you all the way to the fulfilment of that goal.

Most goals are some distance away so it can take a long time to get there. If you spend all of your time thinking about the end result, it can be overwhelming. Of course, every time that you think about that end result, you are also reminding yourself that you haven’t achieved that goal yet which gives you a little feeling of failure.

Instead of focusing on the end result, you need to be focusing on the tasks which you can perform today. Once you have created the goal, you break it down into bite sized, achievable milestones which you can then keep breaking down until you get to tasks. Those who are focused and productive know what the desired end result is, but they focus on what they can do in the here and now i.e. the individual tasks. They are present. They also understand that as they progress along the journey, they may feel the need to adjust the goal to something more desirable or better.

Related article: Attachment – the enemy of happiness

​When you are only thinking about completing a lot of work, you end up performing a lot of tasks which are of little or no value. The contribution they make towards the completion of your goals is negligible, at best. But they do wonders for your ego as you can tell everybody how hard you are working and how much work you are getting done.

Of course, when you are focused and productive, you don’t waste time on anything which doesn’t make a positive contribution towards the achievement of your goals. You understand that there is only one criteria needed for prioritisation – importance. The most important tasks get your attention and when it comes to the tasks which are not important, you do one of the following:

​The first step to focusing on what is important is to identify the unimportant stuff and get it off your plate. That will usually leave you with a much smaller task list, filled with tasks that actually matter.

Resource: If you need to be more focused and productive, The Modern Professional’s Guide to Organisation and Focus will get you started.

​When thinking about time management and productivity, too many people think that it is all about quantity i.e. the more you get done, the better your time management. That attitude is simply a road to ruin. You will never get enough done and what you do get done will be of little importance. Rather than focus on quantity, focus on quality. Think about what you really need to be doing by focusing on importance. Get anything of low importance off your plate and become more focused and productive. As you cannot measure focus and productivity solely on the quantity of work completed, you need some criteria by which to gauge your progress. The 8 indicators, discussed above, give you a good place to start.