Being productive is all about making the right choices for your life and your goals. It’s easy to find other things to do instead, but they won’t get you ahead. Here are a few reasons why you’re not productive.
Table of contents:
- You surround yourself with non-productive people
- You have an endless supply of excuses
- You assume you have to do a lot to be productive
- You don’t turn your words into actions
- You place importance on things that aren’t
1. You surround yourself with non-productive people
It’s important to surround yourself with people that you want to be like. It’s easy to let yourself off the hook when you surround yourself with people who are lazy and unproductive. It begins to seem like the norm and you fall into that way of life as well. It’s important to surround yourself with productive people who inspire you.
2. You have an endless supply of excuses
We’ve all met someone who has every excuse in the book to use when they don’t want to do things. Maybe you are even one of them. The littlest thing can be an excuse for you to not do anything.
If your finger hurts, you’re a little tired, or the weather isn’t perfect, you think you have great reasons to not do anything that day. Making excuses like this day after day will lead to an unproductive life. Don’t let yourself off the hook so easily. Circumstances will never be perfect.
3. You assume you have to do a lot to be productive
Being productive doesn’t mean you have to be busy every second of the day. Being productive means getting stuff done. If you feel like you have to do a lot for it to matter, you might decide to do nothing to avoid failing.
Stop thinking you need to get everything done in one day. Make a to-do list with a few things you want to accomplish and work on those. Don’t compare yourself to others and how much they appear to be getting done.
4. You don’t turn your words into actions
You might have great plans and goals, but so far all you’ve done is talk about them. It’s great to talk with friends about the goals you have. The problem arises when all you do is talk about it.
Eventually, it becomes boring to hear about because you haven’t actually taken any action yet. Talking about your goals is only part of the equation. Acting on them is the most important part of all. Don’t spend years talking about the same goal without acting on it.
5. You place importance on things that aren’t
One sure-fire way to avoid being productive is to waste time with things that really aren’t important. If you choose to spend time every hour looking at Facebook to see what others are up to, you are wasting time you could be spending on your own projects. It’s easy to pretend that everything is of equal importance, but they really aren’t.
Don’t spend so much of your time reading about someone else’s life that you have no time to live your own. Other time-wasting activities may include watching too much TV, chatting online with a friend about nothing important or interesting, or watching videos on YouTube.
You can change your ways and start having more productive days. Don’t let another day go by that you regret having wasted time.1