Most people would agree that productivity is pretty important. But why exactly is it important? What can productivity do to help you?
Below is a list of eight reasons why productivity is important. These reasons tell you exactly how you can benefit from learning some productivity skills.
1. You can get more work done in less time.
This is the biggest reason to learn how to be productive. If you knew you could make some small changes that allowed you to get the same work done in half the time, wouldn’t you want to take the steps to do it?
A major thing people struggle with is the focus. Some people feel like they focus better with music or TV running in the background. However, it’s really important to try to focus without them or with instrumental music only.
When your brain isn’t divided between concentrating on background noise and concentrating on the task in front of you, you’ll find it easier to get things done quickly.
If your job is piecework or commissioned, getting more done in less time maximizes your ability to generate income. When you can do twice as much work in the same amount of time, you can double your income.
“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.”
– Zig Ziglar
2. You’ll have more confidence in how your time is spent.
It will be easier to move between tasks and get more things done when you develop productivity skills. Because of how easily you complete tasks, you’ll have more confidence in your ability to get a lot done in a short period of time.
When you’re more productive, you might also get a better sense of how long it takes to get things done. This will help you estimate how many hours or days a task will take, allowing you to pass on an accurate estimate to people depending on your work.
Learning how long it takes to complete a task has been very helpful to me. I have some tasks that repeat every week, so I have a pretty good idea of how long those take.
When I’m working out my work schedule for the week, knowing how long things takes helps me determine how much time I need to dedicate to work in order to get everything done.
Better accuracy in estimating how long tasks will take can also make it a lot easier to set up your personal schedule. If your job depends on both meetings and productive time, increasing your productivity will give you a better idea of how much time you need outside of meetings in order to meet your work deadlines.
“Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year – and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!”
– Tony Robbins
3. Productivity makes things easier.
Learning how to be productive will help you accomplish things more easily. If productivity skills help you get more done in less time, they can also help you manage more difficult tasks.
As I’ve learned some productivity methods to help me get work done, I’ve found it easier to get things done. Because I know a project won’t take as long as it did before, I’ll feel like resistance to getting started.
Things that used to take days might be able to fit into a day or two of productive work. As you learn effective productivity methods, you’ll find that tasks seem easier over time. While you’ll still have “big” tasks, tasks that once seemed big will no longer monopolize your time.
“The shorter way to do many things is to only do one thing at a time.”
– Mozart
4. You’ll have options to do more things when you’re productive.
Because you’re getting more work done in less time, you’ll have more options on what you can do with your time. As I’ve learned productivity techniques, tasks that once seemed impossible are looking more manageable.
For example, writing a book is a pretty huge undertaking. But because I’ve learned techniques to make the most of my time writing, I’ve equipped myself to the point I can take on a big project like a book in the future.
Increased options aren’t just good for work, but for play as well. If your job’s schedule is based on how quickly you get the work done, completing your work efficiently will free up more time for you to enjoy your hobbies.
“Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow.”
– Anonymous
5. It’ll feel like you have more time in your day.
If what used to take you all day can be completed by early afternoon, you’ll feel like there are a lot more hours in the day. While the number of hours in your day hasn’t changed, your work habits have equipped you to have a lot more free time to take on new projects.
Productivity doesn’t just help you get more done, but it frees up time you might have spent being less productive.
Certain tasks used to take me forever to get done. When I learned some techniques to help me boost my productivity, I was able to cut down on how long it took to get those things done.
I was completing the same amount of work but felt like I had more time in my day and in my week because of how much faster I was finishing tasks.
There are lots of ways to build productivity. Learning how to focus, timekeeping and other methods can help you cut through repetitive tasks in your work. When combined, these skills allow you to have more time in your day to focus on the things that really matter to you.
“Take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves.”
– Lord Chesterfield
6. You’ll push yourself to grow.
Learning how to be productive can help you do more things in less time. Over time, you may be able to cut down on the time it takes to complete tasks even more!
Productivity isn’t just something you either have or don’t have. It’s a skill that you need to learn and build over time. As you learn new methods for being productive, you’ll find that you can continue to grow in your skills as a worker.
One of the biggest things in learning any skill is the time you spend practicing it. Because productivity helps you free up your time, you’ll have more time to learn new skills. As you become competent in these new skills, your productivity habits will continue to give you opportunities to grow.
“In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”
– Eric Hoffer
7. Productivity can help your business.
When you get more done, you equip your business to grow. Whether you’re working for yourself or at another company, your productivity directly impacts the company’s growth. Increasing your productivity can mean the success of a business.
Lots of entrepreneurs need to learn productivity skills in order to succeed. Starting a business requires a lot of work. Especially in the initial years of a business, you may be the sole employee, forcing you to put in a lot of work to get the business off the ground.
However, your business could be limited by your poor productivity skills. When you learn how to productively manage your time, you make room for your business to grow.
I found that I can get a lot more writing work done when I manage my time right. Because I have customers that place orders as soon as I get a previous order to them, I can have as much work as I can handle.
Because I’m paid for each order, my business is able to increase as I’m able to manage my tasks and get them done efficiently.
“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent, and not enough time on what is important.”
– Steven Covey
8. Being productive can decrease your environmental impact and overhead costs.
If you can do more in less time, you won’t need to use resources for as much time. This will cost less in electricity to keep your lights and tools running. While the impact of this can be small on an individual level, it can be much greater when an entire workforce implements productivity methods.
Suppose, like me, you write articles as a business. If you find a way to write ten articles instead of five each day, you’ve just cut the overhead cost per article by 50%, since you won’t need to use as much electricity and computer power during the day to get things done.
For one person, that’s not a dramatic difference. But suppose you scale your business and hire fifty writers to work in a shared space.
If teaching them productivity techniques helped them to write twice as much in the same amount of time, you’d dramatically reduce the overhead cost to run your company. You wouldn’t need to pay your writers for as many hours if they managed to complete things quickly.
“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time”
– Jim Rohn
Conclusion
Productivity is important. If you’re an entrepreneur or get paid for how much work you complete, learning productivity skills is absolutely essential to your success.
Although some of these skills require hard work and time to develop, taking the time to invest in your productivity is taking the time to invest in your future.
