Mind Your Behavior

You act or you don't.

If you act, the action accomplishes something or it doesn't. The result either meets your expectations or not.

That is a simple, behaviorist description of personal productivity. Forget about all the syllables (eight of 'em: Per son al Pro duc tiv it y) -- this is about getting things done. The right things. The right way. Quickly

You don't have to be an efficiency expert to understand personal productivity. Anyone can grasp it, but it's amazing how little attention we pay. This is a fundamental factor in human life.

On the matter of paying attention: Even the most minimal amount of it a person pays to his/her own behavior can save that person hours a week, or even hours a day.

Think about it. You need to run errands, say. One of the errands involves an annoying person or thing.

Because your focus is blurred by a minor negative emotion, you don't realize until you're well on your way that you forgot to bring along the items you need to properly carry out the two or three other matters you could handle while you’re downtown.

So, you're going to waste some time, and you have to do some more thinking. Do you turn around and go back? Do you reprioritize your activities? Do you get madder, further messing up your productivity?

Most importantly, do you take a moment to imprint the lesson learned, and leverage some motivation from it to improve your management of the rest of your day?

Personal productivity comprises anticipation, evaluation, prioritization, scheduling, efficiency, problem solving, negotiation and persuasion -- and probably a few other good habits.

But it starts with stopping to think. Do that a few minutes twice a day, and reap some amazing rewards.