How to Increase Productivity

When I was first introduced to the power of visualization, the Law of Attraction, the book The Secret and similar concepts, it felt like all there was to do was to focus on the goal and it would automatically be attracted to me. After an intense year of visualizing and hoping, I concluded that something else was required.

It is true that hard work is not required, but persistent and productive work definitely is. For a long time I felt trapped between the need to work hard and return to my past filled with anxiety and the desire to achieve big goals which require a lot of energy. The solution progressively came to me as I witnessed more and more the power of focus. When you concentrate all your attention on a single task at a time, you become a lot more efficient.

Remove Distractions

It has become counterintuitive in our era to focus. Most of us have the impression that multitasking and doing more yields the greatest results. In fact, this only results in a lot of ineffective busyness. I was impressed by the feeling of peace that came over me after I disconnected Facebook, Gmail and Twitter from my phone. I’m not only relieved from the time I was wasting on social media, I’m also free from the perpetual anxiety that was caused by the constant interruptions. I now check my email and Facebook only once a day. When I respond to my email, my mind is clear, focussed on what I write, I remember things more and I feel that I am truly sending quality messages to people who deserve it. My “likes” on Facebook also have more meaning now that I take the time to really read or watch what I “like” instead of simply liking by reflex.

Break Down Your Work Periods

This is one I still sometimes struggle with, but when I do it, breaking down the work periods really helps to increase my productivity. There are many possibilities for this one, such as the 50-10-50 technique which consists of working 50 minutes, taking a 10-minute break and working for another 50 minutes. During the 50-minute work periods, make sure to follow my previous advice on removing distractions, in order to really make it an intensely focussed period of productive work. The 10 minute break is also very important as it will make your following work period more productive too. I sometimes find it difficult to stop when I’m on a momentum, but experience has shown me that taking this break allows me to be more consistent. Otherwise I feel overwhelmed after working 3 or 4 hours non-stop. Taking the 10-minute break is also important so that I finish my productive work periods with a feeling of satisfaction and freshness instead of feeling exhausted and empty. Ending on a positive note motivates me to go back to work the following time.

Have strong SHORT-TERM goals

My BIG dreams are what I’m really in LOVE with. They are the exciting part of my life and they feed my motivation to keep me working on my projects. But when your dreams are big – and they should ALWAYS be! – they will take some time to realize. Probably years. In order to keep yourself motivated, you need to break them down into weekly and even daily goals. Your mind probably gets bored quickly so you need to show it quick results. After you accomplish a weekly goal, and even a daily goal, make sure you reward yourself. Realizing any big project is always done in breaking it down into small easily digestible steps.

Be accountable to someone

I already talked about the importance of having an accountability partner. What I just recently discovered though is a powerful technique that uses fear to create motivation. Although I definitely believe that fear should not be used as a main motivational tool, the technique that I came across is very interesting. It simply consists of creating a situation that is worse than NOT realizing your goal. For example, in my case I wrote a check to a friend and told him to cash it and spend the money on himself if I didn’t achieve a goal by a certain date. I was so afraid of losing that money – which was scarce at the time! – that it really motivated me to keep working on my goal. Of course, the fear cannot be too crushing either, and this technique should be used in combination with rewarding yourself. But still, I found it to be very effective.

Meditate

I already gave tips on how to make your meditation sessions more enjoyable and efficient. Once again, meditating or simply taking a few minutes of nothingness greatly enhances your working periods. If you want, you can also use meditation to visualize your work already accomplished. This could help your mind find shortcuts that you wouldn’t have seen without taking a break.

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

I’m surprised to see the enthusiasm that still lives around the book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. It was released in 2006 but still, 8 years after its publication, most of the comments I see about self-help books relate to this one. Even one of the comments on my own book is about the secret!

I must say that I got FAR MORE reactions from strangers while reading this book than any other ones! People rarely interrupt to comment or ask about what I am reading. But for The Secret, it was EVERYWHERE and ALL THE TIME!! I initially read it in 2007, one year after it’s release, but even when I reread it years later people would still react and tell me that it is “their favourite book” or that it “changed their lives”!

I’m not sure what kind of impact it had on me. After reading it, I bought an expensive suit and hoped that I would attract a lot of money that way. Unfortunately, I simply ended with an expensive suit and a hefty credit card charge! I reread the book once or twice but it’s only recently, almost a year ago now, that I had my big insight. It’s when I watched YouTube videos from Bob Proctor that the Law of Attraction truly started to resonate with me.

The Secret holds very precious concepts. But I find that putting them into practice is not sufficiently explained in the book. The major thing that needs to change is the mindset. And that’s a though one. The mindset only changes slowly and important and sustained effort is required to make that change last. I find that getting inspiration from people who have already succeeded is a better option.

Most of the rich and successful people are unaware of the concepts of the Law of Attraction. They simply worked hard, steadily, with excellent focus and a clear intention on where they wanted to go. These are the principles that will make you successful. The principles in The Secret make it sound like it requires no effort to attract what we want and that is not entirely true. There is no effort required in manifesting what we think about, but there is GREAT effort required to focus our attention! We are so used to being dissipated, bombarded by distractions all the time, that it is becoming harder and harder to focus on anything.

The theory in the book is very interesting and a good eye-opener on being careful about what we think about, but the true determinant in success is ACTION. I’m glad I read The Secret but most of my progress happened in live seminars and because of the daily routines I established to increase my perseverance. You can read about Self-Help Perseverance here.

I’m curious to know what you thought of the book and if you applied any of its theory into your life. Has it made a significant change for you?