For Personal Development and Productivity - Start by Managing Your Time

Procrastinations, interruptions, and distractions are the three culprits that work against your efforts at personal development and productivity.

1. Procrastinations often arise because psychologically you don't want to do the task and consequently you keep putting it off. 

You either perceive the task as being too difficult, too aggravating, too provoking or all three and try to avoid doing it. 

However, avoidance is not the solution and the longer you put it off, the more anxious you will become. 

The solution is psychological in nature. You need to relax, visualize the most positive and constructive outcome you can, and then focus on the steps necessary to make the outcome a reality. Take the steps and then be pleasantly surprised at what happens.

2. Interruptions can be phone calls, someone wanting a face-to-face meeting with you, or any unanticipated event. 

Interruptions, however, can be prevented. If you're working at home consider structuring your day and vow to stick to your structure. 

Break your day down into time/task segments. For example, if according to your body clock, you are typically alert and do your best mentally challenging work early in the morning, schedule the first hour of the morning to do your research and writing if you work requires that. 

Then, schedule your organizing and filing at the end of the day. The hours in the late mornings and mid afternoons can be allocated for meetings, phone calls, appointments and lunch breaks.

3. Distractions are the result of an undisciplined mind. 

Distractions principally happen as a matter of choice. You can choose to be distracted by watching porn as some of our government workers were recently seen doing. You can choose to dwell on the argument you had with your spouse. Or, you can choose to be distracted by the computer games instead of focusing on your tasks.

While procrastinations are also a matter of choice, distractions are even more so. Procrastinations might indeed be associated with having to deal with an unsavory experience such as have to fire someone, reveal some other type of bad news to someone, or just doing something you just don't want to do but has to be done. 

Distractions on the other hand tend to result from an idle mind - a mind without a focus. Choosing to focus and act on constructive tasks with a strong desire to do so until you complete them eliminates distractions.

Your personal development as well as your productivity depends upon you clearly identifying these three culprits and taking the steps to eliminate them.

How have you been managing or eliminating these three culprits? Leave your comments below.