Everyday Productivity: Everyday Business Skills, #2
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About this ebook
You've tried the productivity apps. Now you're looking for ways to work smarter that actually make a difference to your productivity.
Here's some guidance from someone who's been there before you.
In this easy to read book, author Peter Mulraney, with 40 productive years in education, banking and government behind him, shares his insights for working smarter with you.
Inside, you'll learn about the 'three secret productivity ingredients' and be guided through an examination of eight areas that influence your productivity: lifestyle, attitude, work environment, habits, tools, skills, knowledge and community.
After working through the guided exercises devoted to each of those eight areas, you'll have a set of action plans for improving your productivity, and the opportunity to put those plans into practice and make a difference.
Peter Mulraney
Peter grew up in country South Australia, before going to Adelaide to complete high school and attend university. While he was studying in the city, he met an Italian girl and forgot to go home. Now he's married and has two grown children. He worked as a teacher, an insurance agent, a banker and a public servant. Now, he gets to write every day instead. He is the author of the Inspector West and Stella Bruno Investigates crime series; the Living Alone series, for men who find themselves alone at the end of a long term relationship; and the Everyday Business Skills series for people looking to take advantage of his knowledge and skills. As a mystic, he has written several books which explores some of life's deeper questions, including Sharing the Journey: Reflections of a Reluctant Mystic, and My Life is My Responsibility: Insights for Conscious Living.
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Everyday Productivity - Peter Mulraney
Everyday Productivity
Peter Mulraney
Copyright © 2017 Peter Mulraney
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
ISBN: 978-0-9945624-4-9
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Contents
Introduction
How to use this book
Overview
3 Secret Ingredients of Productivity
Lifestyle
Lifestyle Self-Audit
Lifestyle Action Plan
Attitude
Attitude Self-Audit
Attitude Action Plan
Work Environment
Work Environment Self-Audit
Work Environment Action Plan
Habits
Habits Self-Audit
Habits Action Plan
Tools
Tools Self-Audit
Tools Action Plan
Skills
Skills Self-Audit
Skills Action Plan
Knowledge
Knowledge Self-Audit
Knowledge Action Plan
Community
Community Self-Audit
Community Action Plan
Summary
Further Reading
A Note from Peter
Also By Peter Mulraney
Introduction
If you’re interested in productivity, you’re no doubt looking for ways to work smarter so that you’ll get more done. In fact, you’re probably looking for apps to help you get things done faster and with less effort. After all, you live in a digital world that promises streamlining and efficiency.
Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly for those of us who have been around for a while, there are steps you can take to work smarter that don’t involve apps at all. Some of the most effective ways of increasing your productivity are simple things like getting more sleep, drinking less booze, changing your diet and doing some exercise. They don’t cost much but they do require something that all productive people know about: self-discipline.
Self-discipline allows you to move from dreaming through planning to action and to persevere until you reach your goal. It’s a choice to act. It’s not restricted to champions. You choose to be self-disciplined – it doesn’t happen any other way.
I have nothing against productivity apps and use several myself but this is not a book about apps. This is a book about developing a productive mindset that you can apply to all areas of your life, not just during the hours you spend at work. In addition to self-discipline, a productive mindset requires self-awareness, that is, being aware of how your own behaviours and attitudes impact on your performance and the performance of others.
The strategy for developing a productive mindset offered in these pages involves an examination of eight areas that influence productivity, an analysis of your current position, and the construction of action plans to help you refocus your efforts and be more productive.
If you’re not interested in applying a little self-honesty to an examination of your current behaviours and attitudes or in making a commitment to yourself to become more productive, put this book back on the shelf - there are no magic tricks inside.
On the other hand, if you are ready to develop a more productive mindset and to apply it to everything you do, then turn the page and join me for a journey through your attitudes and behaviours that will set you on a path to doing more with your life.
How to use this book
The structure of this book provides a focus on each of eight areas that influence productivity:
Lifestyle
Attitude
Work Environment
Habits
Tools
Skills
Knowledge
Community
In each focus area, you’ll be guided through a self-analysis exercise and then asked to construct an action plan based on the findings of your self-analysis.
The end result of completing the exercises will be a reframing of your understanding of how your behaviours and attitudes impact on your productivity. It’s that reframing which will help you develop a more productive mindset.
I suggest you read through the book before starting on the self-analysis exercises, and then come back and work on the areas that appeal to you the most. This is not something you should expect to complete over a weekend. This work takes time and will be ongoing.
The focus area you choose to start with is up to you, but I recommend you consider starting with lifestyle.
Overview
Overview illustration of the 8 factors influencing productivity.Productivity
Productivity in the workplace is a measure of your effectiveness - with a focus on both the quality and quantity of the work you do.
Your personal productivity is influenced by a range of factors:
Lifestyle
Attitude
Work Environment
Habits
Tools
Skills
Knowledge
Community
Lifestyle
Lifestyle is about how you live your life. Your lifestyle choices may be affecting your productivity in the workplace. The secret is becoming aware of how what you're doing when you're not at work is influencing your performance at work.
Attitude
Attitude or mindset is about how you approach things mentally. If you hate your job, you’re going to find it difficult to be more productive. If you’re set in your ways and not open to change, you’re going to struggle with doing things differently, which is often a key ingredient for increasing productivity.
Work Environment
If you work in an environment that does not encourage change or innovation, you’re likely to meet resistance whenever you try something different. Sometimes you have to take a risk and lead from where you are, even if you aren’t in charge. And, more importantly, when you are.
Habits
Your daily habits either facilitate or impede your productivity. You need to bring your habits into awareness and assess their value. Some of them may have to go. You may need to develop some new ones.
Tools
Tools are the things you use to help you do your job. Your level of mastery of the tools available to you and the nature of those tools affect your productivity.
Skills
Every job requires a particular set of skills. Not having the proper skills or not keeping up with changes as your job evolves hinders your productivity. Skills are like tools in that your level of mastery influences your productivity, and mastery requires an ongoing commitment to your own education.
Knowledge
What you know about your job or your role in the workplace, and,