There are many useful and smart habits around in the field of productivity and this post does not intend to decrease the value of all other habits. It solely intends to highlight of one particular which has a simple but powerful approach towards effective productivity.
To always be aware of and work most on the one current task in your job or side-project that needs to be done regularly. The one task that is the most essential one of the business, job position or side-project.
- Is it writing articles and posts?
Then focusing most time and energy effectively on actually writing articles and posts and publishing them is the essential and most important task.
- Is it doing sales?
Then focusing most time and energy effectively on closing sales is the essential task than learning further skills or information.
- Is it doing podcasts or doing videos for Youtube?
Then focusing most time and energy effectively on recording podcasts or videos is the essential task than doing excessive unnecessary amounts of research or deciding about details of content.
- Is it about getting an offer of a higher position?
Then focusing most time and energy effectively on doing the most important tasks that have the most impact on the performance and results of you doing your job or carrying out your position is the most essential task than getting lost in unclarity and too much diversity and complexity and with them into lack of productivity and overall main results.
- Are you an actor?
Then getting to have as many qualitive roles as possible in short movies, real movies or series is the essential task besides improving your set of knowledge, skills and techniques and a deeper understanding of why humans act the way they act within their personal circumstances, views and personal history. Attending and preparing for as many castings as you can or igniting to direct short movies with suited roles for you. Or even a real movie.
- Are you a young or new entrepreneur?
Then focusing most energy and time on the most important tasks of your business in forms of creating and offering products or services or both together is the overall most important task. In the beginning one often has to take care of and perform many other subfields that are also important at the same time. Nevertheless, one is well advised when one keeps most of the time and energy effectively on the overall essential task of the business or one´s biggest strength and quality and does the other tasks in other moments and degrees of intensity. Ideally to let them be done by others who can do them even better than you.
- Is it about becoming an expert in a certain field?
Then determining which knowledge, techniques and fields are the most important ones of your chosen field of expertise to spend most of your time and energy on deepening and strengthening your understanding of the essence of and it´s overall most important fields of knowledge and techniques or skills is the essential task. Get clarity about these fields and things and then schedule your self-studies into your daily life. Give it as much time and energy than you can reasonably afford while maintaining a healthy and functioning lifestyle and balance.
The old Pareto Principle I have written a post about is an 20/80 rule or principle that helps staying focused on doing the 20 % of subtasks of an overall task that have 80 % of the impact on the final outcome of productivity or purpose of position or business amongst other fields of possible use of this principle.
Stay focused on spending your time and energy on the essential tasks of your business, position or side-project rather than losing a lot or even most of time by trying many different productivity habits.
The research and trying out of habits or new information that are supposed to increase one´s productivity and skills or information still belongs to the field of personal- or professional development or education and not to the productivity of the essential task itself. You can schedule an hour a day or more if you can into getting to know as many productivity habits or growing your knowledge about productivity supporting information. If you don´t do it, it can happen that you do this during your most productive times of the day which is a lost amount of productive time.
Doing research and doing the essential task isn´t the same thing unless you are a researcher. Your main essential task or set of tasks probably require from you higher amounts of energy than only researching of new habits does. That is why you are well advised to be aware of what you focus on in your most productive moments of the day to prevent procrastination or unproductivity in general.
Enjoy advancing more by focusing more on doing the essential tasks and what is necessary to do them without getting lost in research and preparation.
