Delve into 2012!  Let's define productivity, and find ways to improve!

The only way to improve any aspect of your day is to dig in and examine the little details surrounding the big picture.  I hope to take you through the meaning of productivity, the distractions

Productivity is a great word, but how many of us ponder our daily productivity?  What is productivity?  Merriam-webster.com says it is "the quality or state of being productive."  Now we must examine productive which they define as "yielding results, benefits, or profits."

You have to like this definition.  Most of us, especially those who pay attention to websites like dealer elite and others like this one, are in search of ways to enrich productivity.  However, in the year 2012, we find many obstacles that drive down the productivity of our teams and ourselves.  This doesn't have to be the case.

The human mind, when trained properly, thrives on completion of tasks and productivity.  Darren Hardy published an excellent book called The Compound Effect and in it he talks about how super-productive people become addicted to completing tasks.  I should say, they get addicted to completing their most important tasks. 

The world we live in is after a different state of mind.  I believe that the world we live in wants us to stop and smell all the roses.  The roses being objects and services that company marketing campaigns are tossing in front of us all.  It is almost as if nature is trying to help us pass the time rather than maximize our time. 

When I look at the distractions that come into my day, I am blown away.  Email, phone calls, social media, web ads, pop-ups and not to mention personal commitments and distractions, it seems to be getting harder to find time to squeeze in actual productive work. 

How can we be better? 

I started this forum post with the idea of ranting about "Invite a Friend FRIDAYS"  This was one email I could do without in my inbox to help make me more productive.  However, maybe this was just the email I needed to start my year off right. This email message brought my attention back on track as I search for ways to maximize my productivity in relation to my use of time.  This email created an urge inside of me to put my thoughts down and share them with the world so that we all can take ownership of our use of time.  Perhaps we can also all comment on how we don't need more time wasters in our lives and we can ban together to put a stop to "Invite a Friend Fridays."  Well, even if I still get the email to invite my friends, maybe we will all find ways to help each other improve our productivity by focusing on how we use our time this year.

The simple advice for improving your productivity comes down to planning.  What do you want to accomplish with your day tomorrow?  How will you accomplish it?  Will you celebrate when it is off your list?  When you associate task completion with celebration, you win!