We have all heard the phrase “practice makes perfect.” While I personally believe perfection at anything is really hard to define, I do want to emphasize that the more you do something, the better you can get at it. This is true if when you have a knack for something and also true if you are terrible at something. The only difference is that you go from good to great or from terrible to just bad at something. The same applies to productivity and time management. It is a skill that can be developed as you practice it. There are several ways to “practice” your productivity that can get you further along. Here are a few examples.
Keep making schedules and practice your routine. As I have said in previous posts, making some kind of schedule is a skill that can be enhanced when used. It is something you can get better at. I should also mention that making a schedule and actually following it is two different skills.
Tracking your time. Deciding on how you want to track your time and how much you want to track is the first step. The next step is actually doing it and getting results that are helpful for time management decisions.
Evaluating goals. It is a skill in itself to establish goals. It is another to track the progress of your goals. It is yet another to actually achieve goals. All of these things are challenging, but we better with time.
Keep working at it. There are several times when you are working on something but get off track. It can be easy to get discouraged in the beginning, especially when you are not good at something to begin with. Making an effort to improve will get you to where you need to be. It is best practice to only compare yourself with yourself, not with others.
There may be times when it seems like we are really off track or inefficient. Just remember, it’s like playing a sport like basketball, leaning a subject, reading, writing, math, etc. It is something you can get better at and will. There are times where I get so far off track despite doing this for a long time, we will all have off days. Just remember, whenever you are have an off day, don’t compare your day with yesterday, but rather from longer ago when you started working on improving productivity.