You always hear people say that they put in the “works” yet they are not getting what they want out. It can be business growth. It’s usually about that promotion. You could have complained about this one time or the other.
Now, now being productive is not about how much exertion you’re putting into stuff. That has its own name. Productive is simply about realizing your goals. Things may not be forthcoming because your effort could be more brawn and less brain. This doesn’t mean you’re dumb.
You’re smart, otherwise how did you end up on this website? Problem is that we’ve all been conditioned to think hardwork is solely about sweating and working at things for long hours. We now know that this mentality is wrong. It’s part of the reason our economy is so small and thus can’t create jobs. If you have strengths to make your life easier, you should totally use them else what is the point? You’re only going to reach your goals doing things by your personal attributes.
Consider the big five of personality. If you’re an introvert you’ll never work anything trying to be outgoing. If you like reaching to people on a personal level, you shouldn’t waste your time trying to be rigid and formal more often than not. What may remain same for all people is the goal they aspire to (sometimes people want different things, let them be). Every small business wants money to invest, money for working capital and money in the form of sweet profits.
With this perspective, you can know whether you’re on the right track or not even on a personal level. Here are 5 sign you work it right:
1. You know what you want
It’s not that simple. You should not only have clear goals, as proven by theories on goal setting and achievement, but you must also know how you’ll get there (trust the process?). If you have your life goals at the front of your mind and are working on them, then just wait for your reward. You can compare yourself to others (c’mon, what’s the point of being number one if there’s no number two?) but only as a benchmark of how much you can achieve.
2. You take what you want
There’s a good RT on our Twitter page (please follow us) about taking responsibility. Entrepreneurs do this. You must believe that you can make things better.
This doesn’t mean buy mindlessly into stuff like “Zuckerberg quit school and became a billionaire.” It means you can be proactive at exploiting or creating opportunity. Don’t always try to blame outside entities first for failure.
3. You play chess, not checkers
Literally too, I guess. It’s best that you be organized so that you’re always prepared and consistent. You want to see things ahead of time and be able to react to alternative life paths.
Funny thing is that people believe being organized is how neat or not you’re desk looks. That’s tidiness. Let’s use words with their actual definitions people – like, let’s stop talking about brand since it has no meaning.
4. You’re in control
This is one of the things that separate wheat from chaff (haha). Are you strong enough to concentrate and finish what you started rather than fall for distraction? Are you brave enough to deny yourself now and today because you’ll gain more later and tomorrow? Most people cannot control their impulses. It’s also why people cheat in relationships (no, it was not the alcohol..ugh). Discipline is not cool anymore. We want momentary pleasure constantly and that’s oxymoronic. Your mind should regulate your body.
5. You have other interests
If you’re productive, you’re efficient. This means you have a lot more free time on your hands than other slacking people.
You probably use this time to engage in other hobbies or develop other skills so you never consider it free time. People are versatile and they will always want to put this attribute to use. If you don’t show this kind of drive, you will regress mind-wise and body-wise. No, watching TV doesn’t count as a hobby.