5 Steps to dramatically increase your productivity

Step #1: Set a clear goal

You aspire to be productive. Fine. What does productivity mean to you?

People mean many different things by ‘productivity’. You won’t do the same things if you look for money, good grades, skills learned, and so on. The first step is to be crystal clear about what you really seek in the first place.

Without a precise goal, there is no direction to move towards.

Step #2: Make the biological machine work

People underestimate the importance of having a good health.

Without a good health, it is much harder to walk the extra mile when needed. If you have the possibility, try to look at your sleep, nutrition, and mental health to name only three. Trying to run a broken machine faster will just make it break.

First, make sure you are in the right conditions before trying to accomplish your goal.

Step #3: Lower the friction

A lot of habits are dependent on how accessible they are.

The easier you make something to do, the more you will do it. If for example you need to go to a place to practice your instrument or work on a project, prepare your things in advance so the only decision you need to make to go is taking a bag and going there.

The more obstacles stand in your way, the more likely you are to procrastinate.

Step #4: Get feedback as much as possible

Not getting feedback is like playing golf with eyes closed.

If you have a target, you know where to go, but someone or something must tell you if you’re walking in the good direction. Ask mentors, friends for advice and feedback on your work. It’s much faster than figuring all out by yourself.

Think about who you will ask advice when you set your goal.

Step #5: Seek a stimulating environment

Without a bit of stress or stimulation it’s easy to go back to the comfort zone.

Probably if you want to be productive, you’ll have to do some uncomfortable things. Think about who or what will make you accountable for progressing towards your goal. Ideally you could find or create a metric and try to optimize your score on this metric.

Don’t try it all by yourself and let energy of others carry you!