3 Easy Productivity Cures

If you are not having “fun” in your life, you might want to ask yourself if you are making the best use of your time and your talents.  I am not talking about fun in a frivolous sense. I mean fun as in joy and knowing that you are in the flow of life.  Everyone seems to be crunched for time these days, hurry up and do, do, do.   I don’t believe we were meant to live in a constant   "do" mode. It blows out our meridians and diminishes our connection with who we are meant to be. Part of being on a spiritual journey is taking time each day to connect to our higher self and pursue what really fulfills us. I would like to share with you the three easy ways I use to increase my productivity allowing me more time to pursue those things I love.

1. Limit your Email

Yes you read that correctly. I'm not suggesting that you give it up, but what you can do is limit your email reading and responding to blocks of times, say from 9 to 10 in the morning and 3 to 4 in the afternoon. You'll be amazed at how much you can accomplish when you streamline tasks and focus for a period of time. Too many times, it's easy to get side tracked several times throughout the day. All of a sudden you realize the day is over and you have not accomplished what you set out to do that morning!  You are already behind when the next day begins!  Rarely are emails that urgent, and if they are, then you have to wonder why you are given such short notice to respond. If it is truly an ASAP situation, you'll likely get a call. Just a side note, you can also use this technique with phone calls. For example, you could decide to limit phone calls on Mondays to selected times.

2. Do what you love, delegate what you can.

That may sound like you are pushing off the work, but the interesting thing about life is that we are all born with different skills and abilities. For example, my husband Mike loves to interview people and he's fast at preparing for an interview. What he can do in 10 minutes, might take me 2 hours to complete. Conversely I am rather quick on the computer and can do bill processing or build email marketing campaigns easily.  These are tasks that he would not enjoy and would actually cause frustration for him.  Neither one of us would be having fun nor would we be in the flow.  Delegating is easier than you may think.  Look around your business or practice and see what tasks you may be able to let go of. If you are a small operation and it is not in the budget to hire someone, consider doing barter. Perhaps your friend can build you a website, while you provide healing services. There are opportunities to delegate the tasks you do not enjoy; you need only be open to the possibility.

3. Cut Your Work Hours

This sounds counterproductive but if you keep a time log, you may discover an interesting fact. Working more hours does not necessarily mean you have a high productivity. For example, have you ever had a weekend planned and when you knew you would be taking Friday off, you were still able to get everything done. You may find if you know you will be limited to 30 hours of work for the week, you will spend your time more wisely, getting more done in less time. Watch for those time stealers--phone calls lasting more than 15 minutes, unnecessary sales calls, reading junk mail, surfing the web for more than 10 minutes and chatting with co-workers and associates for extended periods of time. Remember, activity does not equal productivity. 

Our time on earth is so short, so make it count, and don't forget to give yourself a reward for increasing your productivity. For every hour I shave off my work day, that's additional time I can spend with my son and husband, which brings me joy, reminds me of what I am meant to do in life and keeps me in the flow.  I am fulfilled and I am having fun!  What do you need to do to create more fun in your life!

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