Unproductive? Make A List!

What are your days like at work? Does your mind wander around the four corners of your computer monitor? Do you mentally twiddle your thumbs from time to time? (I say mentally because I haven’t seen anyone actually twiddle their thumbs in years!)

Feeling lost at work is never a good thing. For one, it can be incredibly stressful and give you a poor outlook on your job performance. Secondly, it is likely that if you feel this way, you are not being as productive as you should be.

You should do everything you can to NOT be a reactive employee. That means that instead of sitting at your desk, saying to yourself “Oh yeah! I have to do that,” you should be making check marks next to items on your handy dandy To-Do list.

Here’s what I want you to do: at the end of work everday, get out a piece of paper- make sure you print it out if you’re using a word processor- and make a list of fifteen to twenty tasks you should get done the next day. If you can accomplish fifteen to twenty items on a list, every day, then you are most likely doing something right.  (Use your best judgment,when deciding on a number. Some jobs are more project oriented and some are filled with many small tasks. If you’re just starting a job, ask your boss to help you out. They’ll be thrilled that you’re taking such initiative.)

Companies need employees who can produce! That means you need to be filling your day with as many accomplishments as you can. It’s not always so easy to stay productive, and a big reason for this is that in many jobs, there is a variable set of tasks to be done on any given day. Every day is different!

Even if you know what you should be doing, having that list is going to give you more incentive to accomplish it. Just having a tangible list of tasks can be very motivating. There is no feeling quite like marking our accomplishments.

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