Productivity and productive life is a journey – a never-ending one. However, in order to be productive, you should experience some painful mistakes. In this post, I want to share a list of 7 productivity mistakes that I’ve made over the years and how to avoid the mistakes.
Not saying No
As a parent, friend, colleague, boss or subordinate, you are supposed to say yes all the time, all day, and all your life.
- Sometimes, the price is way more painful than saying no at the right moment
- Say yes to your core values, then say no to the situation
- Finally, say yes to the relationship
Conclusion
Experiment, experiment, and experimen
Not respecting your calendar
It’s only you who can act on your most important tasks with priority
- Set boundaries for yourself and for other people
- Example: leave your office at a certain time each day for the sake of your family
- Don’t schedule a one-on-one meeting with yourself to address your priorities
Overplanning
Set boundaries to ensure that you don’t spend too much time on planning and designing
- Don’t postpone your project launch just because it’s not perfect yet
- Focus on the long-term goals, not the short-term gain
Multitasking
Studies show that multitasking will hinder your work both in terms of quality and quantity.
Exaggerating the importance of productivity
Productivity is a journey and it has countless stations. When you arrive from A to B, you can pause and reflect.
- Never regret if something doesn’t work for you, but make sure that you experiment as much as you can.
Picking up multiple habits simultaneously
It is best to integrate a single habit at a time. That way, you are more likely to establish it and, once cemented, you could consider picking up the next habit.
Skipping & Switching
Switching between different methods and platforms is part of the learning curve, but not for long.
- Another big mistake I’ve made over the years was that I switched a couple of times back and forth between different task managers and apps. It wasn’t the cleverest use of my time and wasn’t productive, either.
