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Summary: Commit to following these five strategies for a month, and you'll be more productive --- that's a promise.

Category: Motivation

Words: 700

Five Easy, Pain-free Ways To Boost Your Productivity FAST (and make more money)

Copyright © 2003 by Angela Booth

Commit to following these five strategies for a month, and you'll be more productive --- that's a promise.

Note: although my strategies are geared to writers, they will work for you no matter what your work happens to be.

=> One: Think --- "Do It Now!" and write one sentence

This means, that as soon as you turn your computer on, you write one sentence on your current project.

After you've written one sentence, you can read your email, play Minesweeper, have a cup of coffee, or do whatever you like.

Writing one sentence first has an amazing effect. It alerts your mind to what you want it to do. You've broken through initial inertia. You may not get back to work immediately, but you will get back to work, and you'll do it with minimal pressure.

As you're reading your email, you'll think of another sentence, and another one, and before you know it you'll be working happily on your project.

If you're not a writer, then adapt "Do It Now" to your own circumstances. You might call one client, or write a line in your next report, or find a graphic for your new presentation.

=> Two: Never Assume: create a strategy and follow it

Never assume. Always get evidence. Evidence takes time and action to acquire.

We all make assumptions. If a strategy doesn’t seem to be working, it's easy to think that it will never work.

Whenever I was down, I used to think I just needed to wait it out. I used to think I needed to dig down and understand what my soul was trying to tell me.

I suppose it’s a fine line. You want to dig down and extract jewels available there, but you also don't want to get buried alive. In terms of Universal Law, being down, depressed, feeling bad, will only attract more of same feelings. In metaphysical thinking, it is more beneficial to change your thought patterns to something 'feel good'. This will attract more good feelings towards us.

You really need to decide for yourself what you want to do with where you’re at. As I said, it’s a fine line. Acknowledge where you’re at, but don’t dwell too long down there. If you can’t mine a gem from there quickly, cannot find anything positive down there, get out. When in doubt, follow Gambler’s philosophy, "Ya gotta know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away, know when to run."

So where do we start? Here are a few suggestions for when you're feeling down and not-so-successful. The most point is to get started. Doing something, anything, will send a message to Universe of your intentions, and more begets more.

Exercise. I know, I know. It may be last thing on your mind, however, doing anything physical, even slightly so, will improve your mood incredibly. The ol’ endorphins kick in eventually (they can’t help it) and chemical changes occur within our bodies which, in turn, elevate our mood. Even a 10-15 minute walk around block will do wonders. Look at it this way, too. If walk itself doesn’t elevate your mood, at least you can feel good about simply moving your body. A small success is still a success. A number of small successes increases your feeling of success exponentially.

Meditate. Connect with Source/Universe/God/Higher Power. Most people are aware of a power outside of themselves overseeing our lives. Whatever you call it or feel it to be, there is something all knowing, other than our smaller ego selves. Connecting with Source, getting quiet with ourselves, changes our thought patterns.