It always seems like we are being productive but there is still never enough time to get everything done. That’s why, for most of us, we take shortcuts that we think are helping us to maximize our time. Unfortunately, those shortcuts don’t always help us in the ways that we think and they are actually slowing down our productivity.
Theses are the 5 shortcuts that are damaging productivity
1. Not writing down your to-do list. Your mind is designed for making choices, not remembering and reminding. Without making a list you won’t be able to prioritize tasks and you’ll end up scattered all over. This can really slow down your productivity and make you more at risk of mistakes.
2. Prioritize your to-do list. Most people put the most important task on the top of their to-do list and this usually makes them not want to do it. However, if you move it down your list, you mentally trick yourself into not dreading the task so much. You’re basically warming yourself up with other tasks before confronting your most important.
3. Saying yes to everything. You may think that this is making you an easier person to work with, but you are also slowing yourself down by constantly working with too much on your plate. Those who are focused and keep their eyes on the bottom-line will become the most successful. If you commit yourself to everything then you will always be scrambled. Rather than saying “I can’t do that for you” try saying, “I don’t have time to do that for you”. By doing that you’re telling your brain that you are in control of the situation.
4. Delaying decision making. If it takes less than two minutes, do it now. You need to trust and hone your intuition so much that you should be able to make a decision in nine seconds or less. If you put off a task, it loses its meaning and you end up spending more energy going back and figuring out the priority attached to it. You need to be able to gather information, make decisions, and assign it to a system and move on to the next thing.
5. Multitasking. Our brains just can’t do multiple things at once, but we continue to do it because it gives us a false sense of accomplishment. Try performing tasks in sequence, switching between tasks, rather than multiple at once. That way you can completely focus on what you’re working on.
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