How To Double Your Productivity

If you want to double your productivity, set reachable goals that turn you into an achiever. Entrepreneur Bill Gates said, “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” 

Bite-sized goals that you can achieve quickly reward you with the satisfaction of success. Small successes lead to bigger ones. Realistic, measurable goals help you accomplish what you need in a year or ten years.

In the meantime, tackling your daily and weekly goals is just as effective. Over time, you can increase your productivity and achieve more by following a three-step plan. 

1 Productivity Assessment at the End of the Week

Let’s begin with where you are now. Whether you already had goals or not, reflect on what brought you here. What did you accomplish? 

Whether they are big or small, your achievements are important, so celebrate them. For example, you ate a healthy lunch today. You rocked your job interview. Or you finally bought your dream home. Goals are goals, and they’re all worth recognition.

Assess what you’ve accomplished. What did you do well? What could you have done better? Some people find it difficult to feel proud about what they’ve done. They don’t want to share their achievements because they are humble or feel uncomfortable bragging when they should. A win is a win.

Also, look back at what you’ve done and think about what you could have done better. Could you have reached your goal more efficiently? Could you raise the bar for your next goal a little higher? 

If you fail to reach a goal, set aside time to deal with any negative feelings of disappointment. Provide time for self care. Then decide if you should set a different goal or change it. Maybe your goal was unrealistic and needed a stepping stone. 

Instead of opening an e-commerce business, first, take a business course. Instead of running long distances, start with shorter ones. The most successful people in the world had to overcome failures.

Evaluating and assessing will improve your productivity and what you can achieve in a week or a year. 

2 Check in with Community and Family

Whether you are an introvert or an extrovert, having community and family support is important for your productivity. Surrounding yourself with like-minded people is vital for self care and inspiration.

If you’re an introvert, having a virtual community or “family” is a way to help you recharge. Join Facebook groups with a mission or purpose similar to yours. 

You can post anonymously for advice and read other posts for ideas on improving your health, ways to do your work more efficiently, and inspiration from other people’s successes. It may take a while to find the right community, but investing time is worth it. Another advantage of virtual groups is getting in touch with like-minded people worldwide. 

If you like being around people, join in-person meet-up groups to be with people who have similar interests as you. Being around people in person has a different energy level than viewing posts on social media or reading about people’s brag moments. Spending time with like-minded people can recharge your energy.

Spending time with close friends and family is another way to recharge and improve productivity. These people are your cheer squad. They celebrate your successes and motivate you to be your best self. They are also there to pick you up when you’re down and set you on your way again.

3 Productivity Assessment for the Coming Week

The third way to improve your productivity for the coming week is to decide what you want to accomplish before the new week begins.

Start with the big picture first. What are your big goals for the week? Decide on one to three things you want to achieve before the next seven days are over. These could be personal goals – such as a fitness goal – or professional goals – such as finishing a major project.

Next, break down your major goals into smaller ones. These are your daily goals. Again, they can be personal or professional daily goals. For example, you plan to run for X minutes every day. Another example is to break down work projects into daily milestones.  

When you set daily, manageable goals, you will have a daily feeling of accomplishment. By the end of the week, you will have a series of accomplishments to look back on.

Prepare yourself for the week ahead. Some people choose their work outfits the night before to save time. It’s also efficient to prepare your meals for the week.

Also, set time each day to reflect. Some people meditate. It is a time that you set aside each day to check in with yourself. Too often we focus on getting things done for work or family and forget to check in with ourselves. Are we feeling mentally or physically exhausted? Do we need time for self care?

Finally, set daily goals for continuous learning, even if all you have is five minutes a day. Learn a new word in your native language or another language. Google a faster way to use a computer program that you use at work. Try out a new recipe. They say constant learning keeps the mind young.

Key Takeaways

To double your productivity, assess where you are now and where you would like to be. Set goals to help you achieve your personal or professional accomplishments. Connect with like-minded people who will motivate you. 

Finally, always reflect on your accomplishments. Could you improve, or have you done the best you ever can?

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5 Soft Skills to Advance Your Career

How important are soft skills when it comes to advancing your career, getting a raise, or showing your employer that you deserve to take on more responsibility?

Soft skills are just as important as job-specific skills. But before we get into why or how they are vital, let’s look at why now is the right time to hone your soft skills.

Recent events during the pandemic changed the lives of millions, and many have changed careers, jobs, or where they work. The pandemic has brought much uncertainty, with people fearing the stability of their jobs and finances, especially with the escalating prices.

Forget vacations or even splurging on a new pair of shoes: now some people aren’t even sure if they can afford their groceries. So what can you do to increase your chances that you can keep your job, or get a job when a crisis like this occurs?

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Amazing and Shocking Insights on Writing Skills

How much do you love writing?  Whether you want to answer this question with a groan or heart emojis, writing is a necessary part of modern life.

For some, writing is a lucrative career. For others, writing is necessary, everyday communication through work emails, or texts with family and friends. Writing is a skill we can’t do without.

Writing tasks can be as simple as filling out name and address forms. Or it can be as challenging as writing a multi-page report complete with footnotes and data tables. 

Over time, and with practice, you can improve on the skill to overcome writer’s block, awkward sentences, jumbled thoughts, or grammar issues. 

Because writing is an important part of our lives, we are sharing some amazing and shocking insights on writing skills. It’s astonishing what you can achieve when you put together a series of words!

Amazing Insights on Writing

  • What is the fastest time for writing a book? According to Guinness World Records, the fastest time to produce a novel is 9 hours 5 minutes 8 seconds. A team of 53 professional authors and academics wrote Moş Crăciun & Co.
  • How quickly does the English language change? Every two hours, a new word is added to the dictionary! Leading style guides such as Chicago, APA, MLA, and AP regularly revise their rules for punctuation and words and phrases. Writers and editors need to keep up with the latest changes to ensure their writing is up to standard. 
  • Is there a limit to original story ideas? J.R.R. Tolkien had the idea for the Cauldron of Story (Pot of Soup), which is the collective imagination. All writers dip into this hypothetical pot, meaning no new stories are ever created.
  • How old is the earliest writing? About 5,500 years ago, humans drew symbols and images during the Stone Age. Around 3500 BCE, the first writing appeared, called Sumerian cuneiform, from pictographs. This writing system was used for business transactions, recording complaints, and refunds. Much later, writing developed into literature.
  • What are the most in demand writing jobs? The most in demand writing jobs are in content writing. Content writers write blog posts or articles. 
  • What are the highest paid writing jobs? Some of the highest paid writing jobs are (in no particular order): technical writer, copywriter, medical writer, speechwriter, screenwriter, ghostwriter, grant writer, and proposal writer. 
  • How much do writers make? The average writer’s salary in the United States is $65,000 (according to ZipRecruiter). The average salary for a creative writer in the United States is $52,576 (salary.com). Copywriter jobs pay from $75,000 to $140,000 (ZipRecruiter).
  • How is creative writing similar to professional athletics? German researcher Martin Lotze discovered that brain activity during the writing process and during athletic competitions are similar. However, professional writers used the speech-processing center of the brain while amateur writers used the vision center to visualize their story.
  • Do all writers write their own stories? If you have dysgraphia (difficulty with handwriting, typing, and spelling), it can be challenging to write a story. Author Agatha Christie published investigative books with the help of a typist like Barbara Blackburn, who could type 150 words per minute.

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