There are so many predecessors of productivity and so many great habits which can lead one there, however, we would like to focus on a different aspect of productivity, which has anything to do with the attitude that someone should have in order to become more productive, stay productive and thus achieve success.
How often do you have the feeling that you can do more or do better but you just don’t have enough energy or time to do it?
How many times have you postponed something or just put everything on hold because you couldn’t find the right resources to achieve some goals?
How often do you consider your job is too difficult because you simply can’t handle certain tasks?
Too often. And probably when it happens once, it will happen twice and then again and again until it becomes a habit. Why is that? Because we are lacking something. And this missing element will lead to frustration and stress. Two factors which will eventually influence in a negative way both our professional and personal lives.
Let’s take a few moments and reflect on this idea: we started talking about productivity – we were challenging ourselves to see if we are productive enough. We could all say: I am productive in a certain way or when it comes to certain things. But then, we answered the above questions and we realised we are more inclined to get frustrated and stressed of not being productive enough and not being able to achieve our goals than the other way around. It didn’t seem so important when we started talking about it – but yes, productivity is so important that we should address this with high importance every single day. What is even more important, is the attitude towards productivity and the steps we take in order to preserve it and achieve success.
Let me define a bit also the way we look at success. Success is not just a number or a medal. Is not only a synonym of the rich people or those who become the greatest leaders in big organisations. Success should be seen as the award for all achievements we have in life, from personal to professional, regardless of its impact, complexity or acknowledgment. Do you remember when you were a child and you were so happy each time you managed to build a sand castle or do any kind of small activity? That was a successful experience for you. Nothing changed today. Stop looking at success as something you can achieve very difficult or maybe never achieve. You can be successful at your regular job, doing what you like without having to become known or being rewarded for it. You define your own success. And the confirmation of it, will always be your state of mind and your attitude of contempt.
You need to stay productive to keep your customers engaged
One of the most important indicators of success is to finish on time and deliver the expected results. When we do this, customers are happy to pay and more likely they will come back for more business. Productivity is the key element that can help us achieve the two most important things that our customers want. Moreover, it will help us build credibility and become trusted partners to our clients. They will know they can count on us because we deliver on time, we fix their problems and we help them achieve their goals.
In conclusion, we positively influence their productivity as well. If we are not productive enough, this will be reflected both in our work and in our customers’. This will eventually lead to a negative loop, that will either make us start losing customers or even worse, throw us out of business.
Customer engagement will always depend on a series of factors and as a successful business we ought to provide most of it, if not all. However, being able to stay productive and achieve our goals will help our customers stay productive as well and achieve success.
Strengthen your competencies – develop your super power – a key to increase productivity
There are so many ways to enhance productivity, so many different successful methods and strategies. You can try multiple and see what fits you best. Following, you need to take a look at your team or your employees and see which method increases their productivity. Eventually, you can propose a team strategy which is also beneficial to your customers’ projects.
We would like to focus on an aspect which we find to be crucial in the productivity long-term development. And yes, you work to become and stay productive your entire professional path – because productivity it’s such an important element, a precursor of success and we have to constantly nurture and develop it.
One way to do it is by looking at our competencies, identifying the most beneficial ones for us and working on strengthening it. Thing about this: You can choose to become your favorite superhero. This means you will have a super power. Maybe this is flying, or having all the strength in the world. This means that your strongest competence is flying or being powerful. Each time you will perform your work as a superhero and try to save people, you will use your super power, thus your super set of abilities. This will help you help others – which means it will act as an advantage for you, helping you achieve your goals or win. It works the same in your professional life. By developing your strongest competencies you build a strong set of abilities, skills and knowledge that will help you perform at your best, delivering the expected results on time and gradually achieve success.
In conclusion, we can say that using your strongest competencies is empowering you to be more productive because you are more focused and efficient in everything you do.
Productivity vs Creativity – or rather creative productivity
We can measure productivity, but we can’t measure creativity. However, there are plenty of studies and experts talking about how we can use one to enhance the other. Working in a productive environment and having productive habits will automatically boost your creativity levels and make you even more productive. On the other hand, being a creative person can help you find innovative ways to become more productive.
The question is: what happens if you only master one of the two? Can I become more creative solely because I adopt a productive mindset or can I become more productive and efficient just by generating creative ideas every day? Some will reply yes and some will say no. We would like to move our attention to a different aspect of this productivity vs creativity matter.
We want to emphasize on the fact that we need both. It doesn’t matter in which quantity or if they are strong competencies. It is important to have it. And by having it, we don’t mean having it in one person. We are talking about forming a team of people who are either mastering productivity or are genius in terms of creativity. Combining the two can help you identify more efficiently the hidden needs and requirements of your customers, approach these better, achieve their goals faster and generate the desired results. The productivity person will focus on achieving the targets faster and mastering the project management process. At the same time, the creativity master will come up with great ideas to support the overall process and even find the best ways to approach the customers and create valuable content in order to deliver the best results. It’s important to create work which will generate results and become organised and efficient in order to boost your creativity.
At optimized it we have this approach and collaborate with different suppliers in order to provide the best experience for the creative agencies we work with. Our team has people mastering various different domains and sets of competencies and one of the reasons we do this is because we believe that our clients interests are the most important and in order to achieve it, we are open to partner with the best suppliers in the field.
