Productivity: What They Should Have Taught You in School About Goal Setting, Time Management, Self-Discipline, Procrastination, Habits, and Mental Toughness

By Deon Hillman

If you're looking for ways to increase productivity instead of wasting your time procrastinating, then read on.

Do you often find yourself distracted? Or do you feel like you just want to set aside and ignore your to-do list? This is a classic case of procrastination. But don't worry – you're not alone.

In fact, according to a survey, 88% of the workforce procrastinate at least one hour a day. Procrastination is so common that some can brush off an hour wasted as a common excuse. You might think: Everybody does that, anyway. But this is a serious problem no matter how much (or little) time of your day gets wasted because of it.

It all starts with tiny bad habits affecting focus and productivity. These bad habits include being distracted because of notifications from your gadgets or the constant need to check your social media. Multi-tasking can also be counter-productive and instead of achieving more in a day, you achieve less or nothing at all. A survey even shows that the lack of rest or sleep affects productivity. All these are habitual responses to either the distraction around or to the scope of things to work on in a day. Nonetheless, they are impacting your life negatively.

The good thing is that you can ditch them. Psychological studies proved that habitual responses such as bad habits could be replaced by better ones to achieve success. This book will help you get there.

Doing so wouldn't be effortless. The road to productivity entails mental toughness and a deep desire and motivation to change what was to something that matters. From changing bad habits to proper mind setting; from beating laziness to carefully managing your time and energy. Slowly but surely, this book will make it easier for you to have a new mindset towards a better quality of life.

You might have come across other books about productivity, and they still didn't work their magic on you. But this book is different. It gives you a guide on how to be more productive and helps you understand vital concepts revolving around it. It tackles procrastination, habits, mindsetting, and goal-setting in such a way that it will increase your productivity tremendously.

Here's a quick look at how this book can help improve your productivity:                                                                                                            
- Identifying reasons for your lack of productivity and why you procrastinate.
- Looking at the effects of stress on productivity and how being unproductive can also cause you stress.
- Changing your mindset towards work or accomplishing your tasks.
- Setting goals you can achieve throughout the day
- Finding and maintaining focus despite distractions.
- Managing your time correctly and effectively.
- Understanding the hustle culture and its do's and don'ts.
- Cultivating mental toughness and harnessing the power of self-control and self-discipline.
- Converting small bad habits into high-performing positive routines that last.
- Providing strategies for further growth in management and productivity.

Page by page, you'll open yourself up to a brand new life where you master your time and embrace a stress-free way of getting things done.

So, stop dilly-dallying! Get this book now and adopt extraordinary changes to skyrocket your productivity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Deon Hillman
• Release date: Mar 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393297543

Book preview

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Introduction

There are a lot of books that have been written about productivity by people who know next to nothing about it. They pretend that they're masters of productivity. You'd believe it too when you look at the list of achievements they carry around and are ever so happy to brandish every chance they get. Given enough time and observation, you come to realize that they're nothing more than skilled advertisers. They'd do very well in the world of Mad Men, assuming they were a product that needed marketing.

This book is different. It’s not enough for me to just write that. I invite you to go through this book, page by page, with a fine-tooth comb if you will, and you'll notice that you're getting a lot of gold from it. Here's a little something about gold: It can change your life for the better — if you're smart about how you use it.

People have all sorts of views on what productivity is. For some people, it's able to complete their book or create a business. For others, it's about committing to a workout program each day and striving to be better. A trader would consider their day productive if their trades hit their take profit levels, and they're in profit at the end of their day. An artist could find their productivity in learning one more way that their artwork does or doesn't work. Same for the scientist. Productivity could also mean being able to spend time with family and friends, building your relationships.

What I'm trying to say is that productivity is all about the various ways in which you try to put your time, energy, money, and smarts to good use, so that you can get the best reward possible, without killing yourself. Productivity is a journey. On this journey, you learn how to achieve results without having to suffer dire consequences.

In this book, you're going to learn what productivity entails. You'll be able to peek under the hood and see just how it works. The insight you'll gain from reading this will help you finally understand why some folks are more productive than others.

The fact that you're reading this book tells me two things: One, you want to become a better version of yourself, and two, you are all too familiar with procrastination. You've probably resigned yourself to a lifelong sentence in procrastination prison since nothing all the books out there suggest seems to work for you. Well, good news! You're going to learn how to tackle procrastination once and for all. You will also learn the best time management skills you need so that you can not only be more productive but also eliminate stress in your life.

What productivity really all comes down to is self-discipline. You must master yourself if you're going to make the most out of each day in your life. But I'm sure you're wondering, How can I master myself? What's the first step? This book will dive into that as well. Here's a hint though: A big part of self-mastery comes from changing your mindset, or as I prefer to call it, your state of mind. Once you do that, then all your actions have no choice but to come from that state of mind. I assume the state you desire is that of productivity. Why else would you be reading this?

There's a misconception floating around that productivity is all about working harder, and for longer, until you exhaust yourself. It's not about making things more difficult so that it can be easier to achieve stuff. There's no logic in that! What productivity really is about is what you choose, moment to moment. It's about how you choose to think about yourself. It's about how you choose to make decisions. It's about making choices. Each of these choices inevitably moves you closer to or further from your goal. There's no stagnancy. You're always on the move.

My goal by the end of this book is to give you all the tools you need to start moving in the direction of your dreams and aspirations. By the end of this book, you will find that you have a keen eye for choices that advance your productivity. You will learn how to make your life phenomenal — using the least amount of effort. In other words, you will learn what true productivity is all about.

Chapter One: Productivity and Why You Lack It

How do you define productivity? Typically, productivity is all about the proper measurement of efficiency. In other words, it's about being able to figure out how to get the most milk from one simple squeeze. Now, let's make this more relatable and personal. How can you determine how productive you are in your day to day affairs? After all, chances are you don't have a cow, and even if you did, the bulk of your life is not about just getting milk out of it.

What Productivity Is

Put simply; productivity is all about getting optimal results for very little effort and time. The reason you're reading this book is that you're on the hunt for ways that you can make the most of your life, and achieve all that you've set out to do while giving yourself all the leeway you need to focus on stuff that matters to you.

The Opposite of Productivity

Picture a successful, handsomely paid employee of a Fortune 500 company. He wakes up 6 AM in the morning, gets ready for work, and is in there by 7. From the minute he walks into the building, it's go time. He's on the phone with business partners in Istanbul for an hour. Right after that, he jumps right into another meeting with potential clients, and after a couple of hours, he's landed them. Now he needs to get back to work on a proposal that he needs to have ready in the next three hours — and this is only one of seven deadlines he must somehow beat today! It sounds like a very busy dude! Sounds productive, doesn't he?

Well, this is not productivity. It's not about being busy all day. It's not about doing one task after another, trying to beat deadlines, and constantly taking on more and more duties. Never assume that being busy equals productivity. In truth, when you're productive, life does not feel like you're forever under pressure. You don't feel like you're behind. You get a lot more done with a lot less effort! True productivity is about learning how to make the most of the 24 hours we all get each day. It's about making sure that in all your drive to achieve, you also feel fulfilled. It's smart about work. Hard work doesn't pay off in today's world. Smart work does.

Your Definition of Productivity

Just like anyone else who is interested in being more productive, you want to have more time so you can devote that time to the stuff you care about. You know, the stuff you could do endlessly without pay because you're too busy enjoying yourself. When you can hit your targets on time, this means that you will be able to do other things. The upside of increasing your productivity levels is that you'll be a lot less stressed in life. That's worth it in my book.

Now, do not misunderstand me; I'm not saying that

Reviews for Productivity

[John Kenneth Vertido · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Awesome! this book helps to become more productive in everyday life, highly recommended for everyone to help theri lives. This book tells you not putting your time and effort into waste. Focus on your self do not get bothered by anyone or anything.

[Tolits Mendoza · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent, easy to read and adopt tips and challenges. I really love this book. I feel like his simple suggestions for improving productivity are really actually effective and easy to adapt and integrate into your habits and schedule. The verbage and tone of the book is excellent and enjoyable to read. If you're looking for a productivity book - I highly recommend this one.

[Scotty Voltaire · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book envelopes many great ideas that have proven to make you more productive and are results of one year engagement with numerous experiments from the author. This is one of those rare books that I think everyone can gain something really practical from. A highly enjoyable read for anyone looking to improve how they spend their time and effort.

[Rosendo Villarmea · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book to read! It reminds me not to be idle and be productive, and not to lose focus to achieve the set goal. I highly recommend this book. It teaches us to keep ourselves to stay focused, despite of the distractions that we encounter and to maintain our self discipline, it is the main core in achieving our goal.

[Laijho Marapao · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This kind of book is what everybody needs. It is very helpful because in my case, I always do experience time lacking. My time management skills are not that good which then leads me to be unproductive. This book introduced to me the importance of self discipline; it is where everything started in proper.
It just that nice that the author smoothly laid the information needed by the readers. It is really worth reading for.

[Antoniette Luarez · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great tool for improving productivity for someone like me who procrastinates. It helps me to manage my tasks effectively. I find myself improving day by day just by following the author's methodology. This really is a life-saver.

[Kimmie Camerino · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When I think of the word productivity, I can define it as simply not putting your time and effort into waste. This book literally tackles about how I, as an effective individual, should make the most of my capabilities while not setting aside my social relationships. The firmness of the author shows as he elaborates his discussions. It is an advantage for us readers to acquire the knowledge from this book for us to be able to finally attain the productivity we want for our lives.

[Camille Manalese Gonzal · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book make the reader really productive, just by learning the contents, the science behind it and understanding how productivity connects with almost every little thing that you never know is associated in being productive. You can learn it all here.

It's a great, simple and understandable book. I really love it.

[mrkjsh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Some books just gives you guides and can be overbearing sometimes when it drills to your mind that "you're unproductive and you have to change it." When this is true, the fact that these books lack the humane approach and understanding really is what makes me stash these books away. But this one is different. It started with understanding the reasons why people are unproductive or not motivated to do their responsibility, which is helpful for us to realize and accept that then it gives guides on changing that mindset for a more clearer and stable goals. Having a change of mindset really is one step on avoiding procrastination and laziness. There are tips on handling distractions also as we are the most distracted persons out there. Overall a great read and will probably recommend this to my other friends.

[HANNAH · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have to admit myself that I am an indeed huge procrastinator; but i found help in this.


Most people talk about procrastination nowadays. We can't blame them because everything else seems to be too tiring to do anything. Because of this, the statistics says that almost 67% of people across the globe find their days unprodctive,as they feel exhausted and discouraged to start any of te work. Behold, because in Deon Hillman's behalf; the author addressed this matter as a disease to be cured. In some of the passages, the author put an emphasis that there is nothing wrong with resting and putting an end to workloads by detoxifying yourself, or binge watching tv series, or stress eating, because these are all parts of the process. However, the author elaborated that the problematic part arises when something goes out of control and procrastination has sprawled up to the person's psychological sense, making it an incapacity of accomplishing things. In this book, the author teaches to achieve and aimed something that we started, to be finished. This is an intircate elaboration of distraction and sleep-deprivision that we should address right away.

[Julius Brigades · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you're a person who is obsessed with productivity–not just the act of becoming productive, but the science and history and sociology behind it–this is the book for you. A highly enjoyable read for anyone looking to improve how they spend their time and effort.

[Hiel Bibliophile · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I like how the book started from helping me understand why people are less productive and made a clear difference to procrastination and laziness. I always had a hard time dealing with my priorities and tasks but after reading this book, it made me realize a lot of things. It somehow encouraged me to create a mindset that will help me be productive. There are times that things can be stressful and so I love that the book also included how to cope with stress and the damage it can inflict. I often use pomodoro technique to help me focus and finish my tasks, but having to read this book, I think it's not bad to be open and do other tricks that might also help me in staying productive. I wish myself some luck in my journey to being productive!

[Troiii · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

All the incorrect information that I know about productivity was corrected by this book. I like how the writer uses puns and confrontations, making the book more interesting. But even without these, the book is still helpful for people like me who struggle to organize their tasks or even start them. I tend to procrastinate especially when given tons and tons of tasks plus the school works. But this book helped me to understand the reason behind my actions with lists of ways and concrete steps on how to change these. The book has more to offer as it extends to self-awareness and to the roots of being unproductive. I highly recommend!

[Eduard Salvador · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm basically starting my quarter life crisis and the more I think about accomplishing things, the more it gets hard for me to do it. This book has taught me the importance of productivity. Not only it does that but this book also touched on the ideas of being lazy, procrastination, dealing with stress and many more. If you're like me and having the same dilemma then I suggest you read this book. This might be the start of your journey towards being the best version of yourself and a very goal oriented person.

[Karl Angelo Gil · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a good collection of professionals with some useful advice on how to be more productive. But in the end it is kind of an advertisement for Doodle. But what is nice is that they do not over do it and let the professionals give real, solid advice on how they are productive.

[Theodore Hurts · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Being stuck in quarantine I tend to procrastinate being in the comfort of your own home I think that I don't need to time manage but everything is wrong this book taught me to change my lifestyle from a procrastinator to a well organized one.

[Marlon Vallejos · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

one thing that i've learn in this book is the key to productivity is focus which is sometime I lack to so i tend to procrastinate. Thank you for this book I bacame more productive in my daily work.

[Elliz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When a person is deemed productive, it immediately gives us an impression that a person is simply smart, diligent, well-behaved and disciplined. Admit it or not, we really look up to people who are likely productive than us thinking that they seem do not know how to procrastinate even once. Aren't we aiming to improve ourselves and become productive? Good thing, I found this book which discusses about productivity. I've been questioning myself lately about the level of my productivity and even contemplating whether the things I do are enough to be considered as excellently productive or not at all. Gladly, this book gave answers to my questions. The book was very detailed and informative, you can learn a lot from the advices, tips and information contained in every chapters. By the end of this book, you will realize that you've gained tools with you to use in becoming productive— to change for the better.

[Hestia Selin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book takes a detailed look at procrastination in all of its forms. It discusses how to establish anti-procrastination patterns in detail. It demonstrates how to build these habits. It illustrates how to relate these anti-procrastination behaviors to establish habits in order to promote the process of productivity. This book is both concise and powerful. It gives the reader basic principles and strategies to help them increase efficiency and achieve long-term objectives. Many of the motivational strategies in this book aren't revolutionary, but they are written in an engaging manner that keeps the reader interested in the process and inspired to follow. It is one of the most effective strategies I've found for overcoming procrastination, and it's a tactic that I will use to plan my own day.

[Jefferson Baniqued De Guzman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book delve deeper on the underpinnings of productivity and the ideal platform and setting that this should be taught. It also discusses how these setting manages to develop the maturity of learners in achieving productive results.

[Revi James · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Focus, time, and energy are all factors in productivity. The book delves into the conformity to facts about basic reasons for why a person could be unproductive. Most times, there is that lack of focus, lack of priority, etc., and how to remedy it, as well as a variety of strategies on how to be productive. This is something I would suggest to someone who needs to develop their productivity while managing stress and keeping a work-life balance.

[Florina · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you are feeling stagnant this book will help you to gain your real momentum again, the book puts you in the correct mindset to evaluate everything you do to postpone the inevitable. You have to really want to change in addition to the reading the book and to become the best version of yourself.

[Dianne Sofia de Juan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In our society today, most of us are caught up with the idea that success is measured by the number of accomplishments a person have in his/her life and it somehow pushes people to exhaust their time and effort while they still have it. But this book was able to change my perspective about the concept of productivity. I've learned that productivity is a journey and the rewards that I could get depends on my goals and mindset in life. It taught me to also give myself a time to breathe and an opportunity to grow as a person. It also discusses proven methods that could help anyone break the habit of procrastinating such as by staying focused, have self-discipline, time management and so much more.

The road to success is not an easy and effortless path. In this book, you will learn to become successful in your own way! I wish I have read this sooner.

[Maii Ca · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just like what this book stated. Productivity is self-discipline.
If you have a disciplined mind then you can have a focused mindset. Self discipline is something we must obtain to do tasks properly and successful.

[Marlon Devera Gumboc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In may case, in order for me to be productive is to do first setting of effective goals. It gives me enough motivation to continue doing. In real life, I am not really good in terms of time management. I even experienced severe stress in deciding what to do first since my tasks and works are overflowing.
But when I found this book, no more uneasy feeling!.
This may help you too, I swear.

[Fiye Imri · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Listening to music improves my productivity rate but still I need more motivation to continue working. I easily get tired whenever I’m at work, I was searching for online articles and it led me to read this book. Yes, stress really affects my work performance so I have to divert my attention and be optimistic. Let’s start a stress-free life and be more productive.

[Johnluis Gunabe · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Innovative and interesting concepts with the:
- Practical steps for easy implementation and
- Memorable, entertaining stories that bring the ideas to life
-Real-life and achievable tips

[Vanessa Elnar · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Honestly, I had a hard time breaking the cycle of laziness. I’ve read several books and articles on how eliminate it. This book will teach you to be aware of yourself. Examine your life and be the best version of yourself. I had a misconception about procrastination and laziness so I decided to be productive by knowing the causes and the nature of my bad habits. This book has guiding principles to follow to become better. I hope I can successfully apply it in my life.

[Chelly Cruz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When choosing goals, we should deeply think about it. Can we really make it? Is it important? Know what's driving you to be better because it’s easier to accomplish when you know the objectives of your future actions. While reading this book, I was thinking about the times that procrastination led me to just sit down and watch TV. This book was able to give ways to end it by being kind to myself and to chunk up my work time. Still reading the last chapters of the book but it’s really worth it. Give it a try!

[Linda Zapata · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Before reading this book, I've always thought about productivity as accomplishing tasks one after another. I thought that the more things you do, the more productive you get. But it is not the case most of the time. This book taught me that being productive is subjective to the person. It is not about being busy all the time. According to this book productivity is about getting the best results for a very limited amount of time and effort. I liked that this book discussed between being productive and laziness. It also talks about the different reasons why does a person lack productivity. There are tips here that can help you achieve that productiveness you yearn for. This book does not just simply discuss productivity but it also encompasses different topics such as dealing with stress in your life, having the perfect mindset to beat procrastination and laziness, properly setting a goal, how to get focused and many more that is related to being productive.

All in all, this book is perfect not only for the young but also for people who are having a hard time being productive. I'll rate this a 5 out 5 for a well-laid out guide.