John Kim, co-chairman of Syncis, is a productive businessman who has
worked hard to earn his position as a respected financial professional
in the United States. If you aspire to become a successful businessperson too, there’s more to it than managing your finances and
setting long-term goals. Successful businesspersons typically share
common traits, and one of the most common shared traits is productivity.
Without productivity, John Kim would have never found the time to
launch Syncis, for example. If your days aren’t as productive as you’d
like them to be, the following tips might help you fit more in:
- Organize your day around your body’s rhythms. Different people are productive during different times of the day. If you notice that you’re more productive in the evening, you’re only wasting time if you try to work in the morning. Use your unproductive hours to complete basic tasks and to relax, and then dedicate your productive hours to tasks that require full mental focus. By crafting your day around your body’s rhythms, you’ll also be prompted to create a schedule, which will further increase your productivity.
- Take breaks. Schedule 5-minute breaks once or twice per hour to keep your mind sharp. These break periods can allow you to stretch, get coffee, chat with a friend or take care of small tasks like cleaning.
- Do small tasks as they arise. If a 5-minute task pops up, don’t just write it down, do it. Productive people don’t put things off out of convenience. Instead, they look at an easy task as something to tackle as soon as possible. If, in doing a small task, you take a scheduled 5-minute break, all the better.
- Keep a notebook. Busy people tend to have busy brains, but carrying a notebook will allow you to write thoughts down as they arise, preventing distraction. For example, if you realize halfway through the day that you’d like to look something up about one of your hobbies, make a note of it, but don’t do it. While handling small tasks immediately is a positive trait, there’s a difference between tasks and distractions. Save your distractions in your notebook to indulge in during free time.
- Get up earlier. Regardless of when your waking hours are, begin getting out of bed 30 to 60 minutes earlier than usual. This will give you extra time in your day and, in conquering your desire to stay in bed for longer, you’ll strengthen your willpower for other tasks.
