Do you see a decline in your productivity in this post COVID environment?
Most of us are working from home or remote due to the restrictions related to the Queen aka Corona’s impact.
We have had to reinvent how we perform our tasks post-COVID.
Majority of us are working from home, kids are logging into classroom rather than going to school, social distancing, no socializing with family and friends or in a restricted environment, no sports and no gym or exercise either.
Obviously, our productivity has taken a hit in most cases.
Mental health has become an area of concern for everyone. We are emotional beings and when our mental health is challenged it will reflect in all other areas of our life be it work, home, health, and relationships.
The good news is that we can adapt and adopt to our new environment. Being productive is part of our survival because otherwise we will not be able to provide for our loved ones.
Let’s talk about productivity, it’s impact on our mental health and how to manage it better.
Productivity simply put is the ratio of output to the input over a given period of time.
The more efficient you are the more productive you will be. There is qualitative aspect to being productive. It is not just about doing more with less but also how well we do it, the quality of our effort.
Each industry has its own definition, measurement criteria and tools for productivity.
I want to talk about the energetic context since we are in this unprecedented global scale, emotional and physical turmoil of the century.
How do we feel more productive every day and not experience that another day, week or month flew-by in lockdown and we achieved nothing?
It is not just about doing more in less time but doing things that are of value to us.
Therefore, energetically our productive self feels more satisfied and accomplished when we complete an important task over many tasks that may have little value to us.
Sometimes we feel a task is urgent based on the demands of our environment, but we should ask ourselves is it important enough to take priority.
Time is another factor, if we take on a task that will take several days or weeks to accomplish that too might discourage our sense of achievement and the emotional well-being.
5 main opportunities that keep us from being productive are:
I. Procrastination: Not taking action means nothing gets done. We avoid taking action on important tasks until they become urgent and then we go into fire-fighting mode or just give up. This is where we need to hold ourselves accountable. Reduce binge watching or spending too much time on social media.
II. Accountability: We don’t hold ourselves accountable to getting stuff done. It takes our parents, boss or significant other to hold us accountable. If we can be self-accountable, we would be able to achieve so much more. Have an accountability partner until it becomes a habit.
III. Multitasking: Our brain can only focus on one thing at a time. So rather than trying to get too many things done at once, focus on one thing at a time and then move on to the next. According to Earl K. Miller, neuroscience professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, multitasking is not humanly possible.
IV. Organizing: Rather than disputing and trying to prove that you can multi-task, get organized. Organize your day and tasks list using tools like the google calendar or outlook and use a task list to remind you and prioritize the tasks to be accomplished. Use Artificial Intelligence tools to your advantage.
V. Perfection: Things will never be perfect so just get along with it and don’t wait for the perfect timing or every planet and star to align. The other aspect of perfection is that it’s a journey rather than the end state. Let’s all strive for perfection but not get bogged down and lose sight of getting things done.
If the subject of productivity intrigues and you want to explore it further, I recommend reading this article I recently came across on HubSpot written by Amanda Zantal-Wiener, ‘A Brief History of Productivity: How Getting Stuff Done Became an Industry’. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/a-brief-history-of-productivity
On your journey to be more productive, don’t forget it’s important to have fun, and sense of humor is the key to fun. I came across this joke on my social media feed that is befitting here 🙂
“Ladies, if a man says he will do something, he’ll do it.
No need to remind him every six months about it.” 🙂
Written by Rony Pawar
Rony is based in Canada and works with businesses that want to create effective leaders and improve their operations to achieve sustainable growth.
If you want to unlock your infinite potential, get in touch with Rony through his websitehttps://magnumgrowth.biz or email at ronyp@magnumgrowth.biz
You can also check out Rony’s book on Amazon by clicking on this link: