How Time is Overrated in Improving Productivity

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Renu Goyal, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.

Improving productivity is an ongoing challenge for mankind and in this blog I am attempting to round up all important aspects of improving productivity. It is safe to assume that by improving personal efficiency, we can improve productivity. Productivity though defined as a function of time and value; is a personalised thing for each individual. For someone it may mean clocking more hours are work, for someone else it may mean spending more time with their children and yet for someone else it may mean lying down and thinking. Hence, how productive and efficient you are depends on- you, and what you want to do.

Therefore, we should now move over making most of the available time or time management in other words and look at productivity more comprehensively.

In general, there are 5 factors impacting our personal efficiency and productivity-
• Goals (what do I want or need)
• Capabilities (what are my competencies, i.e., knowledge, skill and experience)
• Methods (what are my principles, processes, procedures)
• Space (what is my environment like)
• Resources (what do I have to work with)

Here is a detailed overview of each of these elements, including self coaching ideas which will lead to quicker results.

Goals

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any place will do.” Being clear on goals simply means being clear on what really matters to us. To help identify this, ask-
• What do I want to accomplish?
• Who do I want to be and what experiences I want to create?

Capabilities

“What we can do or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. Its is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.” Capabilities as a measure of the basic abilities or competencies to reach one or more important goal. To help identify what skill set you have and what you need to develop further, ask-
1. What are my current strengths and developmental areas?
2. What needs to change to achieve my goals?

Methods

“Be firm on the principle but flexible on method.” Method is the right way to do a work and we need to evaluate how to make best use of the various methods available to us. A method can be viewed as a process, procedure, activity, task – call it what you will but we all know that simply knowing about a method is not enough. We also need to know how to make use of it. This means we have to find the right method and then become practiced in that method. To make the method work for you, ask yourself-

1. What method works best for me in the current situation?
2. What is another way of doing things which can bring better results?

Space

“For the wise man looks into space and he knows there are no limited dimensions.” Space can be inner or outer space. Inner space is how you feel inside of self- what are thoughts and feelings arising in us. Outer space is more relative to external environment- things and structures around us, workplace structures, rest of the world or people around us, etc. To work on this dimension of personal productivity, we need to ask ourselves-

1. What does space mean to me?
2. How does this pace affect me in achieving my goals?

Resources

“When you believe in your dream and your vision, then it begins to attract its own resources. No one was born to be a failure.” Resources in this context refer to tangible things like money, energy, raw materials, and also non-tangible things like support and relationships. Part of goal setting and action planning must cover the anticipated need for resources. When we do our visioning process and unplug to achieve that vision, we need to evaluate our resources by asking-

1. What are the various resources and support available to me?
2. What people, places and habits fill me with energy?
3. What would you do if you had more time/ money/ energy/information/ network?

Time is an important resource, but it alone cannot lead to a higher productivity and efficiency of an individual. Understanding the productivity factors and then applying this insight will lead to better choices about what we do, why we decide to do it and how we do it.

What has worked for you in your journey of improving self efficiency? Do leave your thoughts below..