How can I improve my productivity?

Question: How can I improve my productivity?

Ndubuisi: Simple answer: improve your PROCESS. And the simplest way is to have a text file in your laptop/phone or a diary on your desk. Daily (early in the morning or late in the evening), write down  what you want to get done. As the day goes, and tasks are done, cross or delete them.

If you put 5 minutes before bed or early in the morning to think over what you want to accomplish in a day, you will improve productivity by at least 2 hours. Productivity does not mean working all the time; it means working in the right direction.

As I have written, Effort is a scalar quantity (only magnitude with no direction) while Productivity is a vector quantity (has both magnitude and direction). Any person can put an effort but when you put effort on the right things (yes, the right direction), great things happen because the world is built by people with directions. Yes, the world is built on vectors!

Think of the WAEC (high school final exam): if you put 5 minutes to plan your answers, giving strategic spaces on your answer sheets before jumping into writing and answering, the outcome will improve. Some students will just begin with no planning only to finish 45 minutes before time with spaces locked that nothing more could be added.

While a student with a process has mentally planned, making space in ways that he/she could return to deepen the answers. Simply, do you have time to even think over the task before you jump in? That thinking is where creativity comes.

Creativity is a big cousin of Productivity but only the thinking and planning people #create. PROCESS wins all the time.

How I Stay Productive – Ndubuisi Ekekwe

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