I’m doing some primary research on productive energy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that fatigue and lack of energy affect more than 14 million people between the ages of 17-69. Nothing sounds more attractive to you than putting your heads down for a quick nap, and you sleepwalk through the day, fuzzyheaded and lethargic. People who lack energy can’t work on big projects at work or home without the drive or desire—the oomph—to be productive. Just think of all the wonderful business and personal goals people could accomplish if they just had the energy to get up and go!
If this sounds like you, I’d like to hear from you! What saps YOUR energy? Fill in the blank…"I could be more productive if __________." Or if you have a great tip to share, let’s hear it! Go beyond the obvious “get enough sleep, eat better, etc." People who post a comment of 75 words or more will receive a free eBook from me via email on personal time management.
Hi Laura,
I could be more productive if… I closed all of my open loops. When I have something that still needs to get done and then have to move to something else, stress occurs and it’s not pretty.
I could be more productive if… I ate less for lunch so that the hour after lunch wasn’t so difficult.
I could be more productive if… I forced myself to do things more in advance. As an administrator for a school of 700, it’s easy to fall into the thinking, “I’m only one man, etc.”
I could be more productive if… I had more staff support. When you end up stuffing envelopes when someone else could do it faster, productivity suffers.
Hope this helps,
MKS
Thanks, Mike, for your note. I completely agree that open loops are energy drains. They are for me, too! Any time someone says, I’ll do that “later,” I feel anxious. I’d much rather have someone say, “I can’t do that right now, but I will do it by (X).” Things just hanging open or left half-done sap my energy.
Laura
I could be more productive if I could shift my working hours. My natural high productivity time is between 10 PM-6 AM. It has been the case as long as I can remember. Likewise, I do better when I sleep from about 6 AM-12 PM. This manifests whenever I slip out of the normal 8-5 routine, such as when I’m on vacation and the like. When I used to be a developer, either on my own or when I could set my own schedule, I found I wrote my best code in the early morning hours.
However, the current job I perform in information technology requires me to be there during “normal business hours,” because I consult with other teams and help build well-performing and reasonably secure systems. Therefore, there isn’t the possibility of finding a different job with the sort of hours that work best for me if I want to continue doing what I do.