Personal Productivity
Productivity Equation: Get Organized + Get Focused
AUTHOR: Francisco Sáez
“Control without perspective is micromanagement, and perspective without control is crazy-making” ~ David Allen.
In the fast-paced world we live in, productivity has become the cornerstone of success. Whether in our professional or personal endeavors, the ability to get things done efficiently is invaluable.
In this quest for productivity, everyone goes through moments when they feel that they have lost a bit of control and are not following a clear direction. This can happen in any type of activity, both in a professional career and in personal situations.
The way to regain control in any of these situations and return to balance has to do with how you become aware of your reality and focus on certain things at certain times.
Doing this is not complicated, it is the result of applying a series of totally natural and functional behaviors in managing oneself.
There are two things you need to do to get your world under control and deal effectively with all your commitments: getting organized and getting focused. Both are necessary to effectively carry out any kind of task, from celebrating your child’s birthday to launching a new business.
Organizing and focusing are two sides of the same coin and you need to strike a balance between the two to achieve optimal results in terms of personal productivity.
Organization lays the foundation for productivity by creating the proper structure to house your tasks, projects, goals, etc. Without it, your activity will become chaotic and overwhelming.
Focus is the key to efficient execution. Focus allows you to reduce distractions, ubiquitous in today’s digital age, and optimize your efforts towards truly meaningful work.
There is a symbiotic relationship between the two concepts; in addition to complementing each other, they are mutually reinforcing. A well-organized work system reduces clutter and minimizes distractions, facilitating better concentration. On the other hand, having full attention allows you to execute organizational strategies more effectively.
The order in which you achieve this double accomplishment, organization and focus, doesn’t matter too much. You can organize all your things first and then decide what is most important, or you can define your priorities first and then organize your things around them.
David Allen, author of the book Getting Things Done, equates the concept of “being organized” with control and the concept of “being focused” with perspective. Achieving a balance between the two approaches is not easy because, to do so, different working models must be applied.
The GTD method introduces five stages of action to get things under control and six horizons that must be evaluated regularly to establish priorities effectively. This may seem complicated at first, but if any of the steps are eliminated, it will be difficult to achieve true productivity.
It is necessary that you capture, clarify and organize everything that catches your attention, and that you review your inventory of commitments frequently. It’s necessary that your actions support projects that are within your areas of responsibility and lead you to the goals you have defined as important in your vision of life.
Productivity = Organization + Focus
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