Simple Habits to Boost Your Productivity

There’s an old quote, commonly attributed to Aristotle: “You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

I will be so bold as to say that the same is true of productivity.

Being an efficient and high-producing person — the kind of person who starts each day with a lengthy to-do list and knocks several items off of it by lunch time, making every precious second and minute count — is all about cultivating the right kind of lifestyle; maintaining the right habits over time.

This begs the question: What are some of the habits of high productivity?

As a keynote speaker, I’ve talked to a lot of executives and learned how they make productivity a habit. Let me tell you some of the lessons I’ve learned from them:

• Use your Sundays. I don’t mean you always need to work on the weekends, and in fact I think it’s necessary to take weekends to recharge your batteries and invest in activities that are replenishing. With that said, taking a few minutes on Sunday evening to map out your goals and priorities for the next week can enable you to hit the ground running on Monday.
• Protect your time. Use Google Calendar or a scheduling app of your choice to block off time for all of your valuable activities — not just work stuff, but also…