Personal Productivity Love: How to Energize Work

Introduction: Personal Productivity

In business, doing more with less is a matter of survival. Those run by home-based entrepreneurs are no exception. This fundamental need for efficiency spawned an entire industry focused on personal productivity.

Like any market, profit attracted the charlatans. In a field littered with self-proclaimed gurus, how do you determine what’s real in the world of work-from-home productivity?

You can start by reviewing this guide, which outlines knowledge work productivity techniques without bias toward any system. Think of this article as a framework of productivity tools.

To distance ourselves from the expert wannabes, we’ll reference scientifically backed studies and papers, while avoiding cherry-picking facts and promoting pseudo-scientific solutions.

However, most of this field is more of an art than a science. Personal productivity is, well, personal, because what delivers results for one person may not for another. Therefore, it’s best approached with a trial-and-error mindset.

There are four sections, but feel free to jump to any area where you need help. After all, it isn’t productive to review something you already know.

• What is Productivity?
• Time Management
• Work Processes
• Mental Productivity

What is Productivity?

When people try to be more productive, they often dive straight into productivity techniques. This approach can lead to being efficient at things that have little to no impact on your business, misapplication of methods, and unnecessary stress.

To avoid these dangers, let’s spend time discussing the definition of productivity along with how to measure it.

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Productivity Definition

Defining productivity provides a solid foundation from which to explore improvement. Our next step will be to review the formal and business definitions for productivity, along with the most common synonyms.

Productivity Meaning

…defined as:

he quality or state of being productive

Productivity in a Sentence:

I am seeking ways to improve the productivity of my work.

Productivity Pronunciation:

pro-duh-TIV-uh-tee

Productivity Business Definition

In knowledge work, productivity refers to creating…

output, reports, strategies, designs, analysis, models, content

over the course of

minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years

Other common productivity definitions include…

impact         time utilization       process optimization       output efficiency

value creation        customer value delivery            performance to cost ratio         

impact         time utilization       process optimization       output efficiency

Productivity Synonyms

The most common synonyms are

• efficiency
• effectiveness
• performance
• output
• productiveness
• proficiency

Want more? Review our productivity thesaurus for an expanded list of synonyms with definitions, along with antonyms.

Productivity Measurements

You can measure productivity in both objective and subjective terms. Objective measurement of knowledge work productivity is challenging yet rewarding when you can pull it off.

Subjective measurement is much easier and has several options. It’s downside is that they often default to false measurements, which we’ll review so you can avoid using them.

Finally, we’ll bring both types of measurements together by examining measurement tools.

Objective Productivity Measurements (Productivity Formulas)

Productivity began as tracking manufacturing output during the Industrial Revolution. The basic productivity formula is

• P represents productivity
• W represents work
• T represents time

Productivity Example

A worker produces ten units per hour, P = W / T = 10 units / 1 hr. = 10 units / hr.

This productivity ratio remains constant across various contexts. For example, labor productivity is P = Labor Productivity = Output / Hours Worked.

Subjective Productivity Measurements

Popular business theory loves objective measures. Yet, it’s almost impossible to gauge the productivity of knowledge work without incorporating subjective measurement.

The most effective strategy is to utilize three to five subjective measures in conjunction with relevant objective ones. The most common subjective measurement is output, both in terms of quality and quantity. Other typical ones include innovation, customer feedback, teamwork, and growth.

False Productivity Measures

The danger of not choosing productivity measures is defaulting to false productivity measures, which can be both objective (e.g., screen time) and subjective (e.g., always-on availability).

What most of these false measures have in common is mistaking busyness with results. Even worse, they waste the time of anyone who interacts with this individual through unnecessary meetings, emails, and reporting, among other things.

Even automated systems often prove to be false measure as they have three limitations: 1) fail to track activities outside of electronics (e.g., conversations), 2) can’t infer the intent of using an application (e.g., shopping on Amazon for work supplies or personal items), 3) the duration of using an app isn’t reflective of productivity (e.g., leaving Word open without writing anything) [2, p. 1].

Productivity Measurement Tools

To measure productivity, you need the right tools. Let’s break them down into three categories: objective, subjective, and blended.

Objective tools are either part of your operational systems or software designed for measurement. Operational systems include Inventory, accounting, logistics, customer relationship management, and any other tool you rely on to run your business.

Software designed for measurement includes time-tracking software, task management systems, and messaging applications, among others.

Subjective tools consist of evaluations, surveys, self-assessments, and behavioral observations. Use them across different audiences (peers, managers, customers, individuals, etc.) to judge performance from various perspectives.

Blended tools like scorecards and performance reviews combine input from the various tools mentioned to provide a holistic view of performance.

Time Management

For discussion purposes, you’ll need to understand how we define time management. Many authors treat “time management” and “task management” as the same. Yet, they refer to different concepts.

Time management focuses on the efficient use of your hours. Task management focuses on how you organize and complete work. This split creates two improvement targets. Activities that give you more time. Or ones that change how you work. 

In any case, it’s no secret that time management is a prerequisite for productivity. Find more time with six key processes.

• Batch
• Eliminate
• Reduce
• Automate
• Delegate
• Time Yourself

 

Batch

Batching is among the most well-known productivity techniques and for a good reason. It’s one of the most effective.

We’ll cover what batching is, how to do it, and its relationship to multitasking.

 
What is Batching

Imagine your to-dos as puzzle pieces scattered across a table.

email	phone calls	reading	reviewing
designing	creating	social media	updating
analyzing	writing	research	organizing

Batching implies gathering like pieces into similar piles and then tackling each stack one at a time.

Why does batching save time?

Because when you change tasks, you incur time loss due to switching and setup costs.

Switching costs, sometimes referred to as mental costs, are the time required to focus your attention on a new activity.

Setup costs are the time spent organizing tools, opening software, locating files, and preparing for new assignments.

How to Batch

Begin by assigning tasks both a group and a context.

Groups are tasks that require the same action…

email	discussions with the same person	scheduling/planning
use the same application	phone calls	social media

Now, assign every task a context—when, where, how, or what tools you need to accomplish it.

Then, you can batch at both the common task and context levels.

For example, all assignments requiring a computer—email, social media, updating your website, and web research—are in the same context. Now, schedule a large block of time for your contexts with subblocks for each task group.

Your first target for batching should be the ubiquitous time drain, email. A 2012 McKinsey report estimated that 28% of the workday is spent on email [3, p. 1717]. The same study suggests a good strategy for email is batching [3, p. 1725-26].

Join our Newsletter to receive a ‘How to Batch’ guide along with six other free tools.

Multitasking

Switching and setup costs skyrocket if you attempt to multitask. Studies back the notion that multitasking hurts performance [4, pg. 590; 5, p. 455].

However, there are scenarios in which multitasking is effective. Learning when to multitask is the key.

Doing two things well at the same time is possible only when at least one task is automatic [6, p. 3].

In other words, …multitasking is possible if one of the tasks is explicit and one is implicit [7, p. 74].

One example of effective multitasking is listening to music while working.

Eliminate

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.

Hans Hofmann, Search for the Real and Other Essays. 1948 [8, p. 60].

Here’s my favorite productivity secret: skipping something is the fastest way to finish it. Tasks come from two sources that require different techniques for elimination: self-assigned and requested tasks.

Self-Assigned Tasks

These are tasks you set for yourself. Implement a weekly review of your to-dos. Review changing conditions to see if anything has become obsolete. Additionally, match each action to its corresponding goal. If you can’t find a goal that aligns with it, then the assignment is probably not worth doing.

Beware of the attraction of good ideas. Remember, there is an opportunity cost to any task, as you could be working on something more important. Avoid the rabbit hole of good ideas by eliminating all but the essential.

Requested Tasks

Requested tasks are ones that others ask you to do, which makes them tricky to navigate. Preserve time and relationships with these techniques: saying no, requiring pre-work, anticipating issues, and holding office hours.

It’s hard to turn down people who matter to you, whether it’s friends, family, colleagues, or customers. Nonetheless, if you say yes to every request, you’ll never meet your goals. It’s imperative to learn to say no with minimal impact on relationships.

Before saying yes, require prework from the requester. The goal is to have them clarify what they require. Sometimes, the need for preparation leads them to withdraw their request. At the very least, it will eliminate time wasted clarifying their ask.

Another way to eliminate requested tasks is to anticipate issues. During initial communication, provide all the necessary information. Create clear instructions, FAQs, and reference documents to answer potential questions.

Finally, when part of your job requires direct communication with others, have preset office hours for discussions to avoid one-off interruptions.

Reduce

Our life is frittered away by detail…Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!

Henry David Thoreau [9]

For tasks you can’t eliminate, reduce them by breaking them down, limiting choices, learning new skills, applying technology, and redefining what success means.

First, break down all activities longer than thirty minutes. A 2024 study found that

breaking tasks into smaller, manageable chunks enhances productivity and reduces cognitive overload [10, p. 210].

Make life easier by limiting choices. Examples include buying clothing in complementary colors or following a low-information diet.

Next, learn new skills to reduce tasks—typing, keyboard shortcuts, speed reading, etc. Third, identify and implement new technologies, particularly software. Finally, redefine success as minimum viable or, in everyday terms, good enough.

Automate

Automation is driving the decline of banal and repetitive tasks.

Amber Rudd [11].

A 2024 study on digital automation for small businesses found three main benefits for entrepreneurs: 1) enhances efficiency through streamlining repetitive tasks, 2) facilitates better decisions, and 3) improves customer experience [12, p. 269].

If you aren’t using automation, you’re behind. Fortunately, automation no longer requires technical expertise, as a host of tools exists that are easy to use.

When automation is outside your current skill set, it might be worth outsourcing or learning some of the more technical automation processes.  Below is a list of areas you can automate, categorized by both low- and high-technical skills.

Low Technical Skills Automation

Everyone should be employing the majority of the low-technical automation tools listed below. 

• Generative AI Tools
• Password Management
• Email Rules/Filters
• RSS Feeds/Google Alerts
• Browser Extensions
• Meeting Management
• Email Marketing Applications
• Social Media Management
• Project Management

High Technical Skills Automation

These techniques require skill or money to implement, but can supercharge your output. Given the costs, the key is knowing when it’s worth automating processes.

• Scraping
• Scripts
• Workflow
• Generative AI Modeling

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Delegate

Can someone cover a requirement more effectively than you? Does the time spent cost you more than paying someone else? If either answer is yes, consider delegating through support or outsourcing

Support

If hiring is outside your budget, seek external support.

• Business Partners
• Friends and Family
• Employees

Outsourcing

When your time is worth more than what you can pay someone, delegate by outsourcing.

• Virtual Assistants
• Freelancers (writing, web development, SEO, etc.)
• Specialists (Accounting, Legal, etc.)

Time Yourself

Numerous studies found that tasks take longer than predicted [13, p. 2]. This phenomenon is known as the Planning Fallacy.

How do you improve the accuracy of your estimates? Time yourself. Timing yourself splits into two timeframes: short-term (minutes or hours) and long-term (days, weeks, or months). Not only does timing yourself minimize planning error, but it also makes you aware of where you spend your time.

Short Term

Timing yourself in the short term involves simply tracking how long a task takes, measured in minutes and hours. The key is to track everything—work, breaks, meals, and even the twenty minutes spent scrolling social media.

One technique you may want to experiment with while tracking minutes is the Pomodoro Technique, which involves setting standard work and break intervals. The most common split is twenty-five minutes of work followed by a five-minute break. After four cycles, named Pomodoro’s, take a fifteen-minute break.

One study on the Pomodoro technique found it to be effective because it eliminates the need to make a decision about taking a break. When people determine their break schedule, they demonstrate lower levels of concentration and motivation [14, p. 356]

For those who find the Pomodoro Technique too rigid, try the Flow Technique. Focus on a project until your concentration slips. Then, break until you feel recharged. Note the time, length of break, and your state of mind when you return to work. Continue adjusting break intervals until you find your optimal schedule.

Long Term

Long-term time tracking refers to the duration of tasks, projects, and goals, measured in days, weeks, months, and beyond.

Timing in this manner requires you to track every activity (whether work-related or not) and roll it up over more extended periods.

You can track time using numerous software tools or a spreadsheet. If you’d like the spreadsheet I use, join our newsletter, and receive a copy for free (plus six other productivity tools). The one thing that improved my productivity the most was tracking my weekly activities. I hope it can help you, too.

Work Processes

Now that you’ve saved time, it’s time to work on work (puns intended). This section is about the structure of how tasks get done.

There are five ways to improve your work processes.

• Task Management
• Office Set Up
• Minimize Distractions
• Organization
• Standardization

Task Management

Task management presents a significant opportunity to enhance your efficiency. There are three primary methods for managing commitments.

• Task Management Systems
• Task Prioritization
• Scheduling

Task Management Systems

Everyone needs to choose a task management system. Your options include:

1. To-Do Lists: Simple, often used for personal or small-scale task tracking (e.g., pen and paper, digital apps like Microsoft To Do or Google Tasks, spreadsheets).
2. Kanban Boards: Visual task management using columns to represent stages of work (e.g., Trello, Asana, or Jira).
3. Project Management Software: Comprehensive tools for managing tasks, timelines, and collaboration (e.g., ClickUp, Notion, Basecamp).
4. Agile/Scrum Frameworks: Used for team-based project management, focusing on iterative progress and sprints (e.g., Jira, Monday.com).

Whichever method you choose, avoid analysis paralysis. Choose the system that saves the most time, while also accounting for the time spent maintaining it.

Within your tool to track everything you need to accomplish, from work projects to personal errands. Compiling a comprehensive list guarantees job completion and relieves the stress on your memory. Plus, who doesn’t love crossing tasks off a list?

Most importantly, choose something you’ll stick with. A 2019 study found that the longer one sticks with a system, the better they manage tasks [15, p. 30].

Task Prioritization

Task prioritization is about answering the question: What’s next? For such a simple question, there are numerous answers.

Some people swear by the “tackle the most challenging task first philosophy,” popularized by the 2001 book Eat That Frog, while others believe that warming up on small items leads to momentum, which carries over to larger projects.

Another popular method is the 80/20 rule (Pareto Method), which suggests that 80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes. Hence, focusing on the twenty percent of projects that produce eighty percent of results.

Other options include complex systems, such as the Eisenhower Matrix and ABC prioritization, or MoSCoW, as well as simpler ones, like completing your top three tasks each day.

Logically,

priority should be given to the most efficient task (i.e., the task with the best cost/benefit ratio) [16, p. 586].

Sounds simple, but

people often prioritize activities based on perceived importance…rather than…objective measures [10, p. 208].

The verdict is that everyone will need to choose the system that suits them best. That being said, prioritization must account for two things to be successful:  1) limit work-in-progress (WIP) and 2) assign tasks context and duration.

Too much in-process work leads to a range of issues and inefficiencies, such as cognitive overload, increased time spent administrating (e.g., project updates, meetings), and longer lead times. Whenever possible, limit yourself to three to five active tasks at a time. 

When you add items to your to-do list, assign an estimated time and context for each item. This habit allows you to identify the highest-priority item you have time for in the context you find yourself. For example, if you’re waiting on someone for fifteen minutes and have your laptop, find the first task that requires a computer (context) that takes fifteen minutes or less.

Scheduling

After organizing and prioritizing, it’s time to schedule. Without a calendar of events, you’d be working on random things or worse, whatever you feel like at the moment. Scheduling is about managing your calendar and integrating best practices.

Calendar Management

Calendar management is the tactical piece of scheduling. Maintaining an updated calendar of events, commitments, and milestones is critical for productivity.

Be cautious not to overload your calendar and turn it into a task management system. These two should be kept separate to avoid confusion.

Good calendars also incorporate two key elements: energy management and time blocking. Energy management encompasses both maintaining your energy level over time and understanding your natural energy cycles, allowing you to schedule activities at optimal times.

Maintaining energy is about managing your breaks and meals to maximize productivity in the long term. Breaks help you stay focused and productive without compromising performance [17, p. 179]. Even small breaks (less than ten minutes) alleviate fatigue [18, p. 16].

Time blocking is another key to effective calendar management. Set aside time in your calendar for critical, non-urgent activities.

With time blocking,

you’ll cross off items from your to-do list faster and you’ll be more productive [19, p. 2].

Best Practices

Apply these valuable techniques to boost your productivity.

• Sprints
• Implementation Intention
• Backwards Planning

Sprints are an expansion of the concept of time blocking into an extended period. For example, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenges people to write a 50,000-word novel in one month. For longer projects, you can employ sprints to finish something time-consuming in a relatively short period.

Next, implementation intention (specifying the when, where, and how of tasks)

helps individuals manage their time more effectively by promoting focus, productivity, and self-regulation [7, p 110].

Things placed on a calendar tend to get done.

Finally, backward planning is another approach to planning larger projects. It entails planning each step from the desired result to the first step.

Backward planning can elicit novel insights that help people to develop more realistic plans and expectations [20, p. 164].

Office Set Up

Your environment, which for the home-based entrepreneur means your office, has a considerable impact on your productivity. Set up your home office as a space where ideas flow and successes grow.

Your office is not a room—it’s mission control. Design it to launch your business to the stars. Need more office tips? Download the essential home office checklist, along with six other complimentary tools.

Transform your work-from-home office into a productivity powerhouse by prioritizing both comfort and tools.

Comfort

Let’s define a comfortable home office setup as one that considers your sensory needs and maintenance requirements.

A 2012 study by Mak found that the two most critical factors affecting office productivity are sound and temperature [21, p. 344]. Minimize sound until it reaches a level that doesn’t distract you. Regarding temperature, another study by Seppanen found that the ideal average temperature is 21.75 °C (71.15 °F) [22, p. 3].

Visually, you need to optimize lighting, office color, and sightlines.

Lighting…is highly related to occupant comfort and productivity [22, p. 6].

Take advantage of natural light whenever possible and provide sufficient artificial light to ensure clear visibility. The best colors for an office tend to be blue, green, and neutral; however, if you prefer other colors, feel free to choose them. There’s no universal right color. Additionally, select a location with sightlines that promote productivity.

Finally, you need to optimize air quality, which is related to the air exchange rate. This rate is difficult to measure, but

Carbon dioxide is (easily measured and) a good proxy for indoor air quality because it can provide an indication of air exchange rate [23, p. 8].

Even the best office setup degrades without proper maintenance. First, declutter your workspace at the end of each day and clean your desk area at least once each week. Ensure you have storage, folders, and other organizational tools accessible for physical items.

Tools

Just as critical as comfort is having the right tools for a home office. You can categorize them into computer-related and office equipment.

For your computer, ensure it is sufficient to run all your applications. Having at least two monitors can lead to a significant increase in productivity. An ergonomic mouse and keyboard are also important.

Software-wise, have enough applications to be efficient without overspending. When deciding whether it’s worth the money to buy software, think about the 80/20 rule in the sense that if it’s something that you are working on 80% of the time, then go ahead and buy an application. For the other 20%, a little inefficiency may be worth saving money.

Office equipment covers everything from your desk to mouse pads. The most important aspect is a proper productivity desk setup, which involves the combination of your desk and chair.

You can find an affordable desk as long as it’s the appropriate height, but avoid skimping on the chair, as it can lead to posture issues.

Stand-up desks are not as important as their advertising suggests. Recent research on the productivity benefits of sitting versus standing at one’s desk found no significant difference between the two. [24, p. 567].

Finally, remember to include personal care items, such as a water bottle, a humidifier, an air purifier, or stress-relief products.

Minimize Distractions

Distractions may be the greatest enemy of productivity. Every distraction has the same setup and switching costs that we reviewed while discussing batching.

Further,

Distractions can negatively influence job performance (e.g., loss in productivity), behavior (e.g., acting out towards others from frustration), and health (e.g., unexpected hospital visit due to stress buildup) [25, p. 2].

They fall into four main categories.

• Environmental: Covered in the office setup section.
• Digital: The king of modern distractions, which comprises your phone, tablets, computers, and any other electronic devices.
• People: Those caused by others.
• Mental (Internal): Personal thoughts, stress, daydreaming, or emotional distractions.

Digital Distractions

The growing trend of digital minimalism is the counter to this beast of modern interruptions.

Technology, especially smartphones and social media, can fragment attention and reduce individuals’ ability to sustain focus on a single task for extended periods. Constant notifications, alerts, and the lure of endless scrolling can hijack attention and lead to decreased productivity [10, p. 211].

Facebook’s in-app notifications ring a bell not too dissimilar to the one Pavlov’s many dogs would have salivated at [25, p. 3].

 A Harvard Business Review article by Rosen recommends three ways to combat digital distractions: 1) wean yourself from electronic devices, 2) take a non-digital break every hour and a half while using electronics, and 3) keep all technology out of your bedroom [26, p. 112-13]

Along with these recommendations, review your SMS history and email inboxes. Block and unsubscribe from unwanted message sources. Turn off your phone’s notifications and alerts. Log in to social media accounts and shut down messaging.

For notifications you can’t ignore…

important customers       schools        childcare      elderly relatives

medical emergencies      system outages     home maintenance issues

…set up exceptions for your blocked notifications or have a unique phone number or account.

People Distractions

Minimize people distractions through communication and cues. Like a mood ring, share your status within communication tools, via status updates, autoresponders, email signatures, and voicemail.

People often overlook consistency as a form of communication. Following regular times for activities allows others to adapt to your timeframes.

Reinforce the previous methods with cues. Avoid interruption and confrontation with nonverbal cues such as body language. Employ visual indicators, like a red light, to signal you’re busy.

Mental Distractions

Some distractions originate from within, including personal thoughts, daydreaming, stress, and emotional turmoil. While many of these distractions require professional help, try the following techniques for less severe cases.

First, try white noise, such as ocean sounds or a fan, to quiet your mind. Second, schedule worry time and write down the issues you want to confront later. Finally, practice gratitude when these thoughts arise by listing things you are thankful for.

Organization

Think of work as a digital garden. Organizing it is akin to killing weeds, fertilizing, and pruning. Find your Zen Garden by adopting a structured mentality and organizing your digital and physical workspaces.

Structured Mentality

Conclude work in a manner that simplifies the next step. Allocate extra time to avoid rework—schedule time to organize tasks, files, folders, and emails.

While reviewing items, ask yourself, “How could I have avoided the need for reorganization?” Plant the seeds of organization today and reap the harvest of productivity tomorrow.

What to Organize

Organizing

…is such a common activity that we often do it without thinking much about it [27, p. 22].

In other words, start organizing. Review the list of items that need to be organized below for ideas.

Physical Items

• Supplies
• Equipment
• Workspace
• Books
• Documents
• Notes
• Inventory

Digital Items

• Email
• Files
• Software
• Calendar
• Task Management
• Invoices/Receipts
• Ideas/Notes
• Finances
• Browser Bookmarks

Standardization

Standardization is a great way to boost productivity and lock in your best practices. Implementation requires understanding what and how to standardize.

What to Standardize

Standardizing requires time and effort. Therefore, focus on the most time-consuming activities. Below are common standardization candidates.

• Files and Folders: Structure the names of files, folders, and storage locations.
• Documents: Design templates for emails, reports, invoices, and other documents.
• Communication: Email sequences, flow charts, FAQs, define channels (when to email, phone, message).
• Processes: Write procedures for common workflows.
• Branding: Designate fonts, colors, logos, and other visual elements.
• Data: Design rules for entering, storing, and labelling data.
• Roles: Define each person’s responsibilities.

How to Standardize

To standardize: identify repetitive tasks, apply the correct level of specificity, and devise a maintenance system. Take some time to draft a list of recurring activities. Over the next couple of weeks, add anything you overlooked.

Once satisfied with your list, review it using the guidelines below.

• Low Specificity: Everyday tasks you do yourself. These items require simple checklists and templates.
• Medium Specificity: Tasks you delegate or don’t handle regularly. Write SOPs and FAQs, design flow charts, and record videos.
• High Specificity: Tasks you do rarely, but are critical, e.g., filing taxes.
  Or processes you wish to automate. Write a step-by-step SOP.

The final piece is updating your standards as processes evolve. You can track changes by listing the date you last edited it in the file name and maintaining a master list of documents.

Mental Productivity

Mental productivity is about navigating your mind with sufficient understanding to work at your best. We’ll cover four areas related to the mind.

• Know Your Why
• Sustaining Productivity
• Productivity Traps
• Procrastination

Know Your Why

Understanding your “why” is the foundation of productivity. It helps you navigate decisions and stay true to your purpose. Commence your “why” discovery by uncovering the values that define you. By acting in alignment with your values, you strengthen your character. Finally, you are ready to set goals to achieve your desired outcomes while maintaining alignment with your values and character.

Character and Values

The first step in understanding your why is to determine your values. Reflect on what matters most to you and your past actions to draft a list. What are the recurring themes that guide you?

The next step is to align your actions with them. By consistently following your values, you demonstrate character. Character will resonate with others through authenticity and integrity, while strengthening your “why.”

Goal Setting

Goal setting is a way to align your actions with the fundamental purpose of your work, while staying within the guideposts set by your values and character. For example, if your “why” is that you need money. Then, opening a business that aligns with your values is a goal that covers that need.

Set a handful of significant goals and proceed to break them down. It’s helpful to picture goals as a pyramid with a large goal at the top, projects in the middle, and tasks at the bottom.

For example, if your high-level goal were to write a book, a mid-level goal would be to sketch an outline, and a low-level goal would be to research the topic.

There are many ways to set goals, with one of the more popular being SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). At a minimum, a goal requires an objective, a specific timeframe for completion, and a clear definition of what constitutes completion.

Sustaining Productivity

When the initial surge of energy for new projects wanes, you need to find ways to sustain productivity. The primary mechanisms for supporting productivity are habits and a productive mindset.

Habits

Productivity habits are automatic, productive behaviors. One way to model habits is the Cue-Routine-Reward model.

Habits negate the need for self-control [28, p. 340].

Let’s say you want to form a habit of jogging. Choose a cue you do regularly, such as drinking your first cup of coffee, to precede a morning jog. Then add a reward for finishing your run, such as fifteen minutes of social media time (or any other guilty pleasure). 

This approach applies to almost anything— work, sleep, eating, fitness, to name a few. Avoid overwhelming yourself by focusing on one or two habits at a time.

Productive Mindset

The other way to maintain productivity in the long term is to cultivate a productive mindset. Achieve this state by working on your motivation.

The most productive individuals view motivation as something they can control. Motivated individuals tend to do four things.

• Harness Willpower
• Affirmations
• Find Joy
• Mindfulness

Find the right mindset by harnessing your willpower. Willpower begins with taking care of your body through proper sleep, nutrition, and regular exercise. Interestingly, perhaps the most impactful way is to view willpower as an unlimited resource. People who view willpower as unlimited (as opposed to limited) tend to have better outcomes across a range of activities [29, p. 8].

It sounds corny, but affirmations are the secret weapon of motivation. Saying simple positive things to yourself, such as “I got this” or “I’m good at learning new things,” will make a massive difference over time, especially if you interrupt negative self-talk and replace it with productivity affirmations.

The final way to stay motivated is by finding joy. Celebrate. No win is too small for a personal party. Next, keep it fresh by changing locations, routines, and trying new approaches. Finally, share your successes and challenges with friends, family, colleagues, or accountability partners.

Another way to improve your mindset is with mindfulness. A study validates that mindfulness promotes goal progress [30, p. 961]. Another suggests that it improves your focus and attention skills [31, p. 512].

Yet other people report reduced stress and boosts to creativity. It may not be the cure-all that gurus proclaim, but mindfulness is undoubtedly a valuable productivity tool.

Productivity Traps

Productivity, like any good thing, can go too far.

The overorganized person is always making, updating, and losing lists; the overdoer is always busy and has no time to assess value; the time nut only manages to make himself and others anxious [31, p. 5-6].

Mindlessly pursuing productivity can lead to a misguided focus and negative outcomes. Let’s discuss the common traps so you can avoid them.

Wrong Focus

The three focus issues are prioritizing quantity over quality, ignoring relationships, and unethical behavior.

Perhaps the most common productivity trap is celebrating quantity without regard to quality.  Signs of this trap include excessive email, frequent meetings, and spending long hours at work. Additionally, you can end up optimizing every moment, even when you shouldn’t. Do you want to be efficient while playing with your dog or observing a mountain view?

Another pitfall is that most productivity systems overlook the importance of relationships. They reduce human beings to task inputs or outputs. What a horrible way to view and treat people.

At its worst, overemphasizing productivity can lead to unethical behavior.  

When life hacking is used to break the rules of our collective systems for personal advantage, little thought is given to those who are affected. Indeed, those left behind may be employed, literally, for menial drudgery by those clever enough to have just escaped it [32, p. 18].

Hurt You

Productivity traps can not only focus you on the wrong things, but even worse hurt you. This happens in three main ways: 1) causes you to ignore issues, 2) generates stress, and 3) hinders creativity.

When individuals ignore issues, they do so in two ways: avoiding negative emotions and neglecting structural issues. People avoid negative emotions by burying themselves in work, masking avoidance as productivity. As for structural problems, they focus on increasing output rather than fixing a flawed process.

Another pitfall of productivity is that it can induce stress by setting unrealistic goals and failing to allow yourself enough rest.

Finally, you can lose the ability to think, be creative, and solve complex problems.

Productivity and creativity demand opposite attention management strategies. Productivity is fueled by raising attentional filters to keep unrelated or distracting thoughts out. But creativity is fueled by lowering attentional filters to let those thoughts in [33].

Procrastination

No discussion of productivity would be complete without acknowledging its dreaded cousin, procrastination—the act of delaying tasks despite knowing they may lead to negative consequences.

Fellow procrastinators, we aren’t alone. One study estimated that knowledge workers spend an hour and a half per day procrastinating [34, p. 1670].

What’s the problem? Procrastination has adverse effects, including insomnia [35, p. 1422], stress, depression, fatigue, and reduced overall satisfaction [36, p. 54]. Add other negatives, such as missed opportunities, damaged reputation, and reduced output, and the impact is harsh indeed.

There is no cure-all for procrastination, but understanding why people procrastinate and exploring mitigation strategies is a good starting point.

Why Do We Procrastinate?

Five reasons people procrastinate.

1. Inability to Delay Gratification.
2. Task Aversion—frustrating, dull, or unpleasant.
3. Anxiety and Fear—afraid of criticism or failure. Often disguised as perfectionism.
4. Lack of Motivation
5. Poor Time Management or Organization.

When non-procrastinators dispense advice, they focus on motivation and organization, ignoring the first three on this list. However, pep talks, time management strategies, and setting goals to prevent procrastination are akin to telling most procrastinators to try harder.

In fact, you can be both organized and good at time management, yet still struggle with procrastination. If you find yourself procrastinating, spend some time figuring out which of the five reasons applies to you.

Mitigate Procrastination

Let’s not pretend a few paragraphs will solve much. What we can do is provide a streamlined list of techniques to overcome procrastination, organized by the primary root cause.

Accessibility Note: Mental health links in this section open in a new tab.

• Inability to Delay Gratification
  • Pair tasks with something fun (Temptation Bundling).
  • Reward yourself for completing tasks.
  • Commit to working on a task for only five minutes.
  • Visualize how you will feel when you finish a task.
• Task Aversion
  • Focus on the purpose of assignments versus how difficult they are.
  • Clarify vague activities.
  • Set realistic deadlines.
  • Minimize Distractions.
• Anxiety and Fear
  • Identify triggers and avoid or eliminate them.
  • Replace negative thoughts with positive affirmations.
  • Seek support from an accountability partner or friend.
  • Consider consulting a mental health professional. Visit Mental Health America or BetterHelp for resources.
• Lack of Motivation
  • Connect goals to personal values.
  • Understand the why behind each task.
  • Track progress.
  • Lack of motivation can be a sign of depression. Think about reaching out to a professional.  For more information, visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
• Poor Time Management or Organization.
  • Adopt a task management system.
  • Choose the right workspace.
  • Integrate organization into your daily routines.

Conclusion H2

I hope you found this discussion enlightening. Quasi-scientific appeals to neurology and psychology [37, p. 143] and claims of expertise pervade the topic of personal productivity. I confess to being neither a science professional nor a guru, only someone with a keen interest in the subject and a passion for sharing my experiences.

Remember, time management manages the clock. work processes design the playbook. Mental productivity trains the player.

Can’t get enough of this topic? Check out our productivity book reviews, join me on Reddit at (opens in new tab) r/Remove_Work_Advice, or leave a comment.

Have a wonderful and productive day.

Tim

Background & Support

FAQ: Personal Productivity

Productivity Book Reviews

From brand-new books to old favorites, check out our productivity book reviews.

Productivity Quotes

Do you love quotes? Me too! One of my all-time favorites is the one below by Teddy Roosevelt.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat [38].

References

Accessibility Note: All links beyond this point open to a new tab.

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Additional Reading

1. Christy, V. (2023). Gamification Strategies: Enhancing Productivity and Engagement in the Workplace. Confluence Of Curiosity, 126.
2. Du, X., & Jiang, K. (2022). Promoting enterprise productivity: The role of digital transformation. Borsa Istanbul Review, 22(6), 1165-1181.
3. Webb, E. N. (2013). Gamification: when it works, when it doesn’t. In Design, User Experience, and Usability. Health, Learning, Playing, Cultural, and Cross-Cultural User Experience: Second International Conference, DUXU 2013, Held as Part of HCI International 2013, Las Vegas, NV, USA, July 21-26, 2013, Proceedings, Part II 2 (pp. 608-614). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
4. Smith, K. S., & Graybiel, A. M. (2014). Investigating habits: strategies, technologies and models. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 8, 39.
5. Consul, S., Stojcheski, J., & Lieder, F. (2022). Leveraging AI for effective to-do list gamification.
6. Dizon, R. J., Ermitanio, H. D., Estevez, D. M., Ferrer, J., Flores, S. J., Fontanilla, K. M., … & Sugay, J. (2021). The effects of pomodoro technique on academic-related tasks, procrastination behavior, and academic motivation among college students in a mixed online learning environment. Globus Journal of Progressive Education, 11(2), 58-63.
7. Teasley, S., Covi, L., Krishnan, M. S., & Olson, J. S. (2000, December). How does radical collocation help a team succeed? In Proceedings of the 2000 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work (pp. 339-346).
8. Efron, N. (2023). Ten tips for efficient academic time management. Clinical and Experimental Optometry, 106(7), 691-693.
9. Puspasari, I., Firdaus, F., & Samboteng, L. (2024). The Effect of The Task Management System on The Employee’s Performance of The Audit Board at The Head Office. International Journal of Social Science, Education, Communication and Economics (SINOMICS JOURNAL), 3(2), 349-366.
10. Peer, E., & Gamliel, E. (2013). Pace yourself: Improving time-saving judgments when increasingactivity speed. Judgment and Decision Making, 8(2), 106-115.
11. Howcroft, D., & Taylor, P. (2023). Automation and the future of work: A social shaping of technology approach. New Technology, Work and Employment, 38(3), 351–370.
12. Sutton, S. G., Arnold, V., & Holt, M. (2018). How much automation is too much? Keeping the human relevant in knowledge work. Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, 15.
13. Rubin, D., Hildebrand, D., & Malloy-Diniz, L. F. (2022). Does multitasking change how we think? The impact of specialized depletion from concurrent task performance on subsequent behavior. Psychology & Marketing, 39.
14. Oliver, M., Rodham, K., Taylor, J., & McIver, C. (2021). Understanding the psychological and social influences on office workers taking breaks: A thematic analysis. Psychology & Health, 36.
15. Hughes, D., & Boothroyd, P. (2020). Making change stick: Facilitating habit change using a smartphone app. Assessment & Development Matters, 12(3), 8–11.
16. Gardner, B., & Lally, P. (2023). Habit and habitual behaviour. Health Psychology Review, 17.
17. Lee, J. Y. (1987). Measuring productivity for service firms: It’s tricky, but it can be done. Management Accounting (Pre-1986), 69(2), 34–40.
18. Gray, A. ​ (n.d.). What works for leaders? ​ NZ Business + Management. ​ Adrenalin Publishing Limited. ​
19. McCarroll, J. ​ (2018, November). ​ Building personal productivity. ​ NZ Business + Management, 14-15. ​ Adrenalin Publishing Limited. ​
20. Di Nocera, F., De Piano, R., Rullo, M., & Tempestini, G. (2023). A lack of focus, not task avoidance, makes the difference: Work routines in procrastinators and non-procrastinators. Behavioral Sciences, 13(4), 1–14.
21. Keane, D. (2015). Procrastinate later. New Zealand Management, 62(3), 39.
22. Tao, Y., Yu, H., Liu, M., Wang, P., Zhang, J., Yang, Y., & Xin, T. (2024). Procrastination and physical activity: The moderated mediating effect of grit. Journal of American College Health, 72(4), 1150–1158.
23. Tarman, G. Z., & Sari, B. A. (2023). The mediating role of mindfulness on social anxiety and procrastination. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 21(3), 1013–1024.
24. Jin, Y., Zhou, W., Zhang, Y., Yang, Z., & Hussain, Z. (2024). Smartphone distraction and academic anxiety: The mediating role of academic procrastination and the moderating role of time management disposition. Behavioral Sciences, 14.
25. Carruth, N. P., Ramos, J. A., & Miyake, A. (2023). Does willpower mindset really moderate the ego-depletion effect? A preregistered replication of Job, Dweck, and Walton (2010). PLOS ONE, 18(6), e0287911, pp. 1–24.
26. Hendijani, R. (2024). Mental causation and motivation: The motivational congruence theory’s perspective. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 58(4), 467–482.
27. Riddell, H., Lamont, W., Gucciardi, D. F., Lombard, M., Ntoumanis, N., Paduano, S., Maltagliati, S. (2024). Autonomous motivation promotes goal attainment through the conscious investment of effort, but mental contrasting with implementation intentions makes goal striving easier. The Journal of Social Psychology, 164
28. Pincus, J. D. (2024). Theoretical and empirical foundations for a unified pyramid of human motivation. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 58(4), 731–756.
29. de Jong, B., Jansen in de Wal, J., Cornelissen, F., van der Lans, R., & Peetsma, T. (2023). How to predict transfer of training? Investigating the application of the unified model of task-specific motivation. International Journal of Training and Development, 27.
30. Tams, S., Thatcher, J., Grover, V., & Pak, R. (2015). Selective attention as a protagonist in contemporary workplace stress: Implications for the interruption age. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 28(6), 663–686.
31. Marotta, V., & Acquisti, A. (2017). Online distractions, website blockers, and economic productivity: A randomized field experiment.
32. Latham, G. P. (2004). The motivational benefits of goal-setting.  Academy of Management Executive, 18(4), 126-129.
33. Rafieian, H., & Sharif, M. A. (2023). It’s the effort that counts: The effect of self-control on goal progress perceptions. Journal of Marketing Research, 60(3), 527–542.
34. Denison, D., & Nieminen, L. (2014). Habits as change levers. People and Strategy, 37(1), 23-27.
35. Jager, W. (2003). Breaking bad habits: a dynamical perspective on habit formation and change. Human Decision-Making and Environmental Perception–Understanding and Assisting Human Decision-Making in Real Life Settings. Libor Amicorum for Charles Vlek, Groningen: University of Groningen, 1-12.
36. Kudesia, R. S. (2019). Mindfulness as metacognitive practice. Academy of Management Review, 44(2), 405–423.
37. Karacaoğlu, K., & Kaplan, A. (2016). An examination of the relationship between procrastination and self-efficacy: An empirical study. Journal of Applied Economic Sciences, 11(3), 374–378.