What is the secret to being purposeful and increasing productivity? Aligning your actions with your own personal mission.
Productivity should be engaging and enticing, not exhausting. By taking actions that align with your overall purpose and mission, it’s much easier to feel empowered to accomplish tasks, hit goals, and achieve milestones without the noise of outside influences and conflicting opinions.
The intersection of purpose and productivity is sometimes easier to recognize than explain. For example, when a conductor isn't entirely satisfied with the sound of the orchestra, he or she taps on the music stand and announces something along the lines of, "You played the piece well, but it lacked spirit. Let's do it once more, but this time with feeling!" Essentially the orchestra is being asked to play with purpose; sit up a little straighter, connect with their instruments, and play the piece with intent, as it is truly meant to be heard.
4 purposeful ways to boost your productivity
No two people have the same work ethic or ways of working. As the business work week structure continues to look different, from in-office, hybrid, or fully remote, more workers find strength in autonomy while businesses trust their staff to execute the same work principles from home as in the office. As work moves away from an in-office attendance model for completing your job responsibilities, your mindset should shift as well.
1. Scale back: When it comes to the number of tasks you can successfully focus on at a time, less is more. Purposeful monotasking, also known as single-tasking, is better than multi-tasking. It’s accomplished by prioritizing your most meaningful tasks first and only focusing on one thing at a time. According to business growth strategist Scott Hansen, “multi-tasking is one of the worst things you can do. When you multi-task, that means you’re not giving your full attention to the task at hand.” Inc. drives this point home by describing chronic multi-tasking as “the death of productivity,” decreasing productivity by 40%, reducing the grey matter density in the brain’s anterior cingulate cortex region associated with empathy and emotional control, and lowering IQ. Managing expectations about what you can realistically accomplish during your workday will help you end the day feeling satisfied, not overwhelmed.
2. Take accountability: Own every task you set out to accomplish, and be passionate about showing up and doing your best every single day. This can be as simple as showing up prepared for weekly check-ins, sharing your ideas with conviction, being present in each conversation, being open to new opportunities, and being vulnerable in unchartered territory. By doing your best and taking accountability for all of your actions, every situation is a success because of what you have learned from it.
3. Forgive: Humans spend a lot of time self-reflecting. Since we aren’t perfect but tend to seek out perfection, this can become problematic if we don’t forgive ourselves or others and let it go. Because not every idea, task, or presentation will be perfectly executed, it’s important to be purposefully aware that a slip-up or two will happen now and again. Own them, forgive them, and move on.
4. Focus: Make a mental list of constant distractions in your life, like checking your cell phone messages, social channels for “likes,” or overextending your day with too many meetings. Entrepreneur suggests that prioritizing your most meaningful work first and removing distractions gets you “started on the right foot, with the right actions, early in your day, [which] is extremely important when becoming productive.”
Embracing a sense of purpose and creating a passionate connection to each task at hand, big or small, innovates the mind to produce more. If you are eager to discover your purpose and become more productive towards the goals you desire most, learn how Arctos360 can help.
