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“The Productivity Habits” will get you to take a deeper look into the way you work, and especially how you store and process information. It will especially benefit those who receive large volumes of information which mustn’t be lost, but may need to be reviewed and acted upon at a later date.
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While we all may strive to be as productive as possible, at the end of a day we often feel like we should have achieved more, or could have spent our time in a better way. “The Productivity Habits: A Simple Approach to Become More Productive” aims to get the reader to focus on how they manage their time, process information, and prioritize tasks, and suggests eight techniques which can help you to become more organized and efficient.
What “The Productivity Habits” is About
Most of us will admit that there are times when we just don’t know where to start or what to do first due to the sheer volume of tasks that we believe need our attention. As a result, it can feel like we are getting no where as we waste much time switching our attention from one thing to another. Additionally, we often have a tendency to carry out what the author describes as “fake work” such as constantly checking for emails.
“The Productivity Habits” discusses eight habits/processes that can be used to help us to spend our time more efficiently. It looks at the limitations of our mind and what we can do to help become more efficient. It contains ideas on how to follow a more disciplined approach to the way we gather and store information and how and we allocate our time to carryout related tasks.
As the author states:
“Productivity is not about how much stuff you’re able to produce, how smart you’re able to work, or your ability to juggle lots of spinning plates. Nor is it your ability to succeed at a job that you hate. Rather, it’s a matter of mastery and perspective. Mastery over yourself and your resources, and perspective to decide what’s truly important and what deserves your attention.”
Much of what is contained within “The Productivity Habits” is common sense. But it requires discipline to use and stay with the techniques put forward. Outlined are consistent but manageable solutions which will allow you to focus on what is important, and how to store the lesser important, but potentially useful information, for future use and at a more suitable time.
About the Author
Ben Elijah (@inkandben) is based in London and freely admits that, in his youth, he had a tendency to procrastinate and was unable to multitask effectively. He has overcome these common problems and is now a trainer, consultant and writer in the field of creating strategies to increase productivity and personal effectiveness.
What’s Best About “The Productivity Habits”
Many books have been written on efficiency and time management. “The Productivity Habits” takes a slightly different view on how we are able to become more effective in our work. Rather than being a book which lists a variety of tools and techniques that can be used to be more productive; rather it prompts the reader to look at how they work, and suggests forming efficient habits so that you create order rather than chaos.
The book is very general in that it does not look at being more efficient in a particular type of work environment. This may sound less useful, but might actually be more beneficial as it forces the reader to look at the ways that they are working and how they could apply the recommended habits to their own situation.
What Could Have Been Done Differently
“The Productivity Habits” contains diagrams and work flows to highlight many of the points that the author is making. Personally I found them to be slightly overused. However, if you are someone who benefits and learns better through visuals, then you may find them quite helpful.
Why Read “The Productivity Habits”
Not only is life today more hectic than ever, advances in technology have also caused us to be bombarded with even more potentially useful information. Some of the information can be usefully used at some point in time, some needs to be acted on immediately, while other information may be totally redundant. Yet, we still need to determine how and whether to capture and process this information and this task in itself can be both distracting and overwhelming.
“The Productivity Habits” is an ideal read for anyone who feels inundated with information and tasks that they need to do, and want to find a better way to manage their time and priorities. The book provides eight thought provoking ideas on how to be better organized, to improve on your ability to prioritize, and to be able to retain a variety of information so that it is not lost and can be used at a more appropriate time.
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Aira Bongco
With so many tasks that we need to do, we cannot help but feel overwhelmed. It is natural. So it is important to look for the most important and urgent task and start from there.