Hindrances to Productivity

Who hasn’t struggled with productivity? All of us want to be more productive.

Perhaps one of the best places to start is to identify what’s holding you back.

In my own life I have identified eight things that get in the way. Just being able to identify them has proved helpful.

1. Perfectionism. This shows up when I sit down to type out a message or a blog post. I have to force myself to hit the publish key for the blog to go live. Yes, I could rewrite it, but then I could rewrite it again and it would never go out.
2. Pain. While physical pain can definitely cramp your productivity, I am thinking more along the lines of emotional pain. It is so widespread and all of us encounter it. And it will slow you down. It has your attention, not the project you are working on.
3. Procrastination. I wish I could tell you that I never put anything off. But I can’t. Sometimes I just don’t want to jump in and get started. Precious moments are wasted.
4. Play. To be honest this is not an issue for me, but I have seen it in others. There is nothing wrong with having some play time, but once again, there is a time and a place to play.
5. Pressure. Deadlines, projects, outside pressures, and even things coming up can distract you and cut into your productivity.
6. Pace. It’s not unusual for me to use thirty resources when putting together a message. If I don’t properly pace myself, or if I get sidetracked into another resource, then I’ll have to hurry at some point which means that I may not be able to consult a very helpful resource. All because my pace was wrong.
7. Process. When it comes to writing many times I have to force myself to just sit and write or type. If I try and edit at the same time then I lose some valuable thoughts and it slows me down. The process is something that I face every day.
8. Pandemonium. Chaos and Clutter. Guilty on both counts. Both include multiple things. It may be numerous things on my to do list, too many obligations, too many conflicting opportunities, and too many things on my work desk.

Just looking at these eight things may help you realize how easy it is to be less productive. These things seem to be ubiquitous. You are always fighting them.

So what’s the plan to overcome these hindrances? That’s coming in the next post.