By:
Eric Varker, Barking up the Wrong Tree
Ever
feel like you’re just not getting enough done?
Know
how many days a week you’re actually productive?
People
work an average of 45 hours a week; they consider about 17 of those hours to be
unproductive (U.S.: 45 hours a week; 16 hours are considered unproductive).
We
could all be accomplishing a lot more — but then again, none of us wants to be
a workaholic, either.
It’d
be great to get tons done and have work-lifebalance. But how do we do that? I decided to get some answers.
And
who better to ask than Tim Ferriss, author of the international
bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek.
Below are
six tips Tim offered, the science behind why they work, and insights from
the most productive people around.
1.
Manage Your Mood
Most
productivity systems act like we’re robots – they forget the enormous
power of feelings.
If
you start the day calm it’s
easy to get the right things done and focus.
But
when we wake up and the fray is already upon us — phone ringing, emails coming
in, fire alarms going off — you spend the whole day reacting.
This
means you’re not in the driver’s seat working on your priorities; you’re
responding to what gets thrown at you, important or not.
Here’s
Tim:
I
try to have the first 80 to 90 minutes of my day vary as little as possible. I
think that a routine is necessary to feel in control and nonreactive, which
reduces anxiety. It therefore makes you more productive.
Research
shows how you start the day has an enormous effect on productivity, and you procrastinate
more when you’re in a bad mood.
Studies
demonstrate happiness increases productivity and makes you more successful.
As Shawn Achor describes in his book The Happiness Advantage:
Doctors
put in a positive mood before making a diagnosis show almost three times more
intelligence and creativity than doctors in a neutral state, and they make
accurate diagnoses 19% faster. Optimistic salespeople outsell their pessimistic
counterparts by 56%. Students primed to feel happy before taking math
achievement tests far outperform their neutral peers. It turns out that our
brains are literally hardwired to perform at their best not when they are
negative or even neutral, but when they are positive.
So
think a little less about managing the work and a little more about managing
your moods.
(For
more on how to be happier, go here.)
So
what’s the first step to managing your mood after you wake up?
2.
Don’t Check Email In The Morning
. . .
Read the full article HERE!
~*~
If
you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they
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