Activity Perspective
How do you plan your daily activities? Do you have a plan?
Are you responsible for anyone other than yourself?
Being responsible can interfere with being entertained. So, if you like entertainment, you must plan. I do prefer you to allow some time for recreation. And being entertained can be refreshing.
Your attitude about chores might be like mine. I would rather have fun than do chores. It took a long time for me to see that life gets a lot easier if you can do chores as if you are having fun. After all, when the chores are done there is that feeling of achievement that is rewarding.
However, you need to be conscious of the when and where to achieve and to have fun. That is where making plans will help.
The Time Element
We all have 24 hours in a day. But what are you doing with yours?
None of us can be busy all the time each day. We all need to rest to allow recovery from our activities. That is a study, which relates to the oxygen in your cells. The more oxygen in your cells means your body functions better.
Dr. Kenneth Cooper became known as the “Father of Aerobics”. Luckily, I read his book, Aerobics, when I was fairly young, which helped me to give more value to my walking and jogging. Being a heart doctor, he was convinced that aerobic exercise could be measured for benefits and improvements. He suggested that you start with a 12-minute test to get a starting base, which was to walk or jog as far as you could in 12 minutes.
Then, he offered a point system to help you measure the amount of aerobic exercise you needed to make improvements. If you were disciplined in consistent routines, you could show improvement in your next 12-minute test, perhaps a month later.
Consistent aerobic exercise will add to your level of energy because your cells get more oxygen and it will take less time to rest and recover from activities!
That means you will have the capacity to do more in a day than you have before. That translates into the time allowed for exercise which will benefit you more in productivity than the time used for exercise.
Why Organize?
Some chores are just maintenance. Get the oil changed in the car. See the doctor for an annual physical. Do the dishes. Mow the yard. Do the laundry. Ignoring maintenance can create problems.
There are some chores that add to your productivity, like organizing and researching and planning.
Organizing means establishing a place for everything, with the most used items most accessible. The key to good organization is to always put things back where they belong.
I have not always been the best at organizing, but I am reminded of its importance when I failed to put something back correctly and wasted time looking for it later, which is always more time than the time it takes to put it back where it belonged in the first place!
Management schools teach managers to do the right thing and do it correctly. To act with confidence, you must know what that is. That will require research.
I know that AI can give you quick answers. But make sure you know why one action is better than another. Results matter but how you get the results matter too.
Research can give you more mental confidence to make better decisions. That same research discipline can be used when the results do not go as expected. More research is needed to be better informed. If you ignore the need to learn more the same dumb mistakes will be made repeatedly. That is why folks get stuck going nowhere.
Goals and Plans to be Productive
Stephen R. Covey, in his book, First Things First, talks about how to determine what has priority in your daily plans.
The realities of time management are a little distressing. Most of us are lazy and easily distracted. And there are a lot of things to distract us, like the TV, the radio, our phones, the computer, shopping online, etc.
Our best hope is to do about 60% of what we would like to get done in a day. And, even then, we must be concerned about getting the right things done, the things that will help us feel more productive.
I think there is considerable value to being productive. However, there is more value to using time on things that are valuable to you. There are individuals that value your time, your concerns for them, and evidence of your caring for them. You need them in your life to make it meaningful.
Let that thought help you give value to what you could do versus what you might plan to do.
Having meaningful goals that include more than just financial achievement to provide for your family, and retirement will help your evaluations as you plan each day, month, or year.
Setting goals is a means for adding perspective to what you are now and what you could learn to do or become.
Each of us is the sum of what we know and what we have experienced. If we are to change into someone better or more capable, then we must learn more of what we need to know to change.
That kind of perspective will help you do the most important things first each day. You will recognize what you need to do to build your physical, mental, and spiritual confidence each day.
Then your daily planning will go beyond a “To Do List” to what will get you closer to your goals list!
Become Financially Productive
I am grateful that you are reading this blog post. And as part of my goal to help you build a better mindset for money, which has grown out of my own personal struggles with money, I want to suggest a few insights to help you become more productive with money.
First, learn to save money. That is simple to say but harder to do. You must give yourself more value than your living expenses. That means setting aside money from each paycheck for your financial security, not for spending on something you want.
Of course, that means you will limit yourself to living on less than you make. You will need to sacrifice, delay spending, and not use credit to make purchases possible. Possible, yes, but not paid for. Paying interest on credit cards will limit interest earning on savings, hurting your financial security.
The biggest benefit from a savings habit goes beyond just security. Consistency in saving will build a balance worthy of investment. Investing will lead to compound earnings over time. Money making money, which is a great concept for building wealth.
Poor people ignore this habit and wonder why they remain poor. The Bible does teach that the rich are to help the poor. Some do not have a means to earn more and they do need help. Some just need to learn how to earn more and manage their income better. Hopefully, they will be thankful for the help!
What is your savings habit? Any growth to your savings account over the past year? Do you know why? What are you doing to improve your situation?
That leads to my second point, your use of time. Have you set some goals? Are you setting time aside for learning new skills to increase your income potential or to save on expenses by doing it yourself instead of hiring someone?
Are you aware that if you read 30 minutes per day you could read at least one book per month? How many books have you read in the past year? What is your excuse?
Regardless of your job, if you look around you, there are skilled positions that you might have an interest in qualifying for. Lack of knowledge is the only thing standing in your way. Fill that void by reading and researching and possibly taking classes.
A third insight is to be patient. Progress is to be measured against a realistic starting point. Know where you are. Set goals for where you want to go or achieve. Then measure your progress to assess if what you are doing fits with your plans.
When you lack enough income to live comfortably, being patient can be hard. Frustration with lack of progress is distracting. Only patience and faith that you can do what you need to do over time will overcome your frustration.
Read the Bible. There are a lot of references to how faith overcomes frustration. Pray a lot. Be humble and patient. You will see results sooner. You do not need to be a believer to be successful, but it will help your journey feel less lonely!
My last insight is that success is planned not left to chance. Things change when you change. Things improve when you improve.
If you want success read about those who succeeded. Their road was not smooth. They just kept driving with a better map!
In my own study of successful people, I have learned that there are usually just a few things that helped them become successful. But they learned to do them consistently well. The key word is consistently.
Learn to do things consistently well and you will find success. Like being consistent with saving, the amount is not important. Accumulation is what is most important.
Like your reading, accumulated knowledge will grow in importance over time. Especially since it will help you to be more productive!
In summary, now you know how to prepare to be productive!