8 Simple Habit-Busters to Boost Productivity

Don’t set unrealistic goals

Do you want to read more? Instead of trying for (and likely failing at) a goal of a chapter a day, commit to 10 pages a day or just single page a day. Determined to start a blog that you’ve been thinking about for years? Set a realistic goal, say one blog entry twice a month for starters. Looking to lose 30 pounds? Start small; try to lose one pound a week for five weeks and resolve to walk as much as possible and then slowly progress from there. The idea is to lower the bar initially to ensure early success and create momentum. For, as Newton’s First Law of Motion tells us – a body in motion, stays in motion! All you need to do is get started.

Don’t let your life slip away in 15-minute increments!

Despite technology tools we only dreamt about 30 years ago, productivity in the workplace hasn’t increased. Think about it, if you spend 15 minutes checking email 3 or 4 times a day, check Facebook twice, Twitter and a few other sites, that’s three hours a day down the drain! And, here is the kicker: Because those 15-minute interludes have become habits, chances are you do them daily and with little awareness. Simply put, it’s become a habit to waste time.

If, instead, you just invested a mere 15 minutes a day into any specialized subject, reading about it (consuming all the best books you could find on the matter) and writing about it, over the course of five, years you’d become an expert on the subject matter equivalent to that of a Ph.D.