The Best Way to Be Productive

I don’t know if it’s just me or what, but I constantly see articles telling me how to be more productive or how to better use my time. They have an eye catching headline and just bait me to click on them. So I click on them, read them and then think, “that’s a good idea. I’ll start doing that” and then I just continue on my day. I don’t write the ideas down, I don’t do anything that will help me remember what I just read.

I was thinking about this today as I was standing in the shower. Why don’t I ever get the things done during the day that I want to. The thought came to me and it was almost an epiphany, I don’t get those things done because I get distracted. Nothing is planned during my day except for the hours I have to be at work. After hours stuff is never planned out, so I end up reading blog posts about how to be productive, all the while not being productive.

Every morning I say, I’m gonna read that book, or I’m gonna get that project coded up. After work I’m gonna change the world. But then I get home and just sit on the couch, because sitting on the couch is easier than changing the world.

So how do you really buckle down and change the world every night? It all comes down to planning and writing those plans down. For two years I lived in Finland working every single day. It was the most productive time of my life solely because I was planning every day. At night I would look back on the day and see what goals I accomplished and which ones I didn’t get. Then I would plan for the next day. Set time aside for things and set new goals. Then once a week I did week long plans and goals.

Also the thing that helped me was that there was someone there with me doing all this. We held each other accountable to our plans and goals we set together and as individuals.

So what’s the key to being productive? Planning and setting goals coupled with telling others so that they can help you with these things.