But Perhaps The Best Productivity Strategy Is The One You Create Yourself

Ah, productivity – today’s number one topic in virtually every work environment! Even though this sentence might be quite ironic given the fact that this article is indeed situated around that same subject, I just felt I needed to share my latest epiphany. When was the last time you felt stuck and went straight to your browser in a desperate attempt to find the latest trending productivity strategy that promises to be the right answer to everything?

The truth is this: As the business world gets more and more competitive by the minute, it’s only natural for people, regardless of whether they are CEOs or employees, to do their best when it comes to finding the exact recipe for enhanced productivity that will quickly turn their efforts and aspirations into palpable success. 

In today’s article, I’d like to address precisely the productivity strategies that are everywhere to be found – while this is of course a good thing (since people have hundreds of options to choose from), it also requires deep self-awareness and eagerness to try out different methods before realizing what proves to be working for you and implement it into practice. Because sometimes we may fall victim to what others believe is the key while, in reality, it’s not necessary to be the key that opens precisely our door, so to speak.

Before Finding The Best Productivity Tactic, We First Need to Understand Why We Lack Productivity In the First Place

I’ve always been someone who believes that the best way to find a solution to any problem is to go deep and discover the origin of the issue first. I’m aware that there are people who find this approach to be unnecessary and rather time-consuming – they oftentimes opt for finding a quick resolution that saves time and is fast in delivering productivity results. The potential problem with this approach is that without first discovering the source of the lack of productivity, chances are we’re about to find only temporary fixes that would soon fail to deliver their purpose.

In a nutshell, the very reason why we witness a drop in our productivity levels can help us find the best solution and quickly get ourselves back on track.

Discussing Some of the Most Frequent Reasons for a Drop in Productivity

• Check your motivation levels. More often than not, our productivity levels drop the moment we experience a drop in our motivation or lose our sense of purpose when it comes to the work we do. In situations like these, it’s important to ask ourselves the right questions: Is this the job I truly want and enjoy? What changed and why does my motivation seem to have decreased? Is there a situation that diminished my motivation? What will it take for my motivation to come back? Often people avoid asking those questions, mainly because sometimes the honest answers require action. Food for thought.
• Are you about to face burnout? When we are overwhelmed and very tired, it’s only natural for our productivity to drop mainly because we lack energy. Ask yourself when was the last time you took a break and whether you managed to relax properly. Taking care of both our physical and mental well-being is absolutely essential if we want to achieve great results not only at work but virtually in every sphere of life.
• Consider overexposure to stress. When we are stressed out and constantly alert, our nervous system doesn’t have the chance to calm itself and reboot. Essentially, this could easily lead to tiredness, lack of focus and therefore decreased productivity levels.
• Perhaps the problem is not the job itself but the work environment. A toxic atmosphere at the workplace is detrimental to productivity, focus, motivation and desire to show up and deliver the best results. A toxic work environment may be presented by inadequate leadership, poor professional relationships with your coworkers, unrealistic expectations and job requirements, etc. – the list could virtually go on and on.

So Now What?

Of course, those are just a fraction of what all possible scenarios could be – the point here is not to list every single opportunity; my job here is to help you address the lack of productivity more seriously and dig deeper for plausible reasons. I promise this act of dedication would help you in the long run – it both raises your self-awareness and helps you better determine your job preferences and overall expectations.

How (Not) to Find Your Ideal Productivity Strategy

If you’ve experienced a significant drop in your productivity levels, chances are you’ve already headed straight to your browser in an attempt to find a quick solution. Hey, I’ve done the same thing so many times! After all, a plethora of productivity hacks and ideas are just one click away – it’s truly tempting to indulge in this field of information and try out some of the advice the best thought leaders in the industry have to offer.

I’m not saying scavenging for ideas is essentially a bad thing – online I’ve been able to find some tactics that truly prove to be working. The infamous “eat the frog” method, the Pomodoro technique and the inevitable “create a list and follow it through” all seem to come in handy whenever we witness a significant drop in our productivity and motivation levels. By all means, trying out a multitude of ideas and practices can oftentimes help – all I’m saying is that it’s not a bad thing if they don’t.

The thing with putting all our resources into a single (or even multiple) productivity strategy is that if it fails to work for us, we might fall victim to the idea that our motivation and desire to achieve our goals are forever gone – and that is by far one of the worst things someone could think. 

Individuality Is Key

We are all different – coming from different backgrounds, experiencing life in different ways, having different triggers, aspirations and goals. It’s only natural for what productivity strategy seems to be working for us to be also different from tactics that seem to work for other people as well. Perhaps choosing a more individual approach in finding the ideal strategy is the better option – although we might try out different strategies to determine their result, I believe it’s always better to come up with our own productivity method, regardless of whether it’s canon or not.

Be it frequently changing your workspace, opting for decorating your office, handwriting your daily tasks, stepping away from the computer for a while, you name it – if it works for you, then it’s the right productivity strategy for you. Just because someone swears over a tactic, doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with your productivity approach if it doesn’t work for you. It’s all a matter of finding your inner balance, proper reasoning and what successfully pushes your buttons.

Conclusion

We all tend to lose our focus and productivity from time to time – in a world filled with overwhelm, stress and competition, it’s only natural if we need to take a step back and reboot. Luckily, there’s always room for improvement and what’s lost is always meant to be found. Finding our own productivity strategy that proves to be doing the job for us is oftentimes a path toward self-discovery and uncovering the real reasons. After achieving that, motivation would quickly follow.