What is personal effectiveness? In short, it is the skill of quickly and effectively solving problems. And it doesn’t matter what area they relate to: study, work, hobbies, sports, personal life or anything else. Personal efficiency allows you to organize any of your activities in such a way that you manage to do everything, spend minimal time on it and achieve maximum results. This ability can be developed, and it is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance.
Methods for increasing personal effectiveness
It doesn’t matter who you are at the moment: a housewife or a mother of three children, a programmer or a manager, an athlete or an entrepreneur, a student or a freelancer, we think you will agree that any work and affairs must be structured so that they are completed without delay. Well, so that there is time for rest, healthy sleep, doing your favorite things and enjoying life.
If you're interested in learning how to do this, start using the methods below. Try following the recommendations for at least 2-3 weeks and you will see wonderful changes in yourself.
Setting goals
No matter what productivity expert you read, his recommendations will always include the point of setting goals. This is definitely correct: what kind of personal effectiveness can there be if a person does not set any goals for himself and does not strive to achieve anything?
If you want to become a truly effective person, take the time and think seriously about what you want to achieve - in a week, a month, a year, several years. Perhaps you are interested in career growth or starting your own business, perhaps you want to devote your life to raising children or spiritual development.
When your goals are clear to you, it will be much easier for you to mobilize your intellectual and energetic resources to start moving in the right direction. In addition, for this you will simply need to start actively working on yourself and develop the ability to take productive actions.
By the way, it won’t hurt if you read a couple of our materials on this topic, namely the articles “How to understand what you want” and “How to find your purpose.” It is likely that after reading them you will be able to better understand yourself and answer at least some of the fundamental questions that every person should ask themselves.
Planning
What is a plan? This is not just a to-do list or a step-by-step scheme for achieving the same goal. The plan can be bluntly called what self-control is based on, because it contributes to the structuring of any activity.
However, many people are hostile to the plans, believing that they force them into some kind of framework. But it is a mistake to think so, because people themselves create plans, and they can easily adjust them to suit themselves and the characteristics of their lives. And if necessary, any schedules and plans can be adjusted and changed - simplified or complicated.
Another value of planning is that completing even one small point of the plan gives you a feeling of victory, including over yourself. And the most effective people generally engage in daily planning, including all activities, tasks, meetings and even entertainment in their plans.
But keep in mind that planning is a skill that needs to be learned. To begin with, it is enough to sketch out on paper a small list of tasks for the day or, for example, several intermediate stages in achieving the main goal, and begin to complete them. But over time it will become too easy and not interesting. Therefore, you will have to master more professional approaches.
We talked about how to plan and prioritize correctly in our articles “Effective Planning”, “How to Set Priorities”, “Planning the Week” and “How to Plan for the Year Ahead”. Believe me: by learning to plan wisely, you will begin to masterfully control your life and become much more productive.
Preparing for work
Whatever business you undertake, you always need to take care of order, because there is a direct relationship between it and the effectiveness of actions. Not every person is able to work in chaos, even if he is creative.
Before you start work or study, try to make sure that the place where you work is clean and tidy. Put everything in its place, get rid of unnecessary items and garbage, and clean your workspace.
Remember that order, firstly, systematizes thoughts, and secondly, it significantly reduces the time it takes to find something you need, because you know exactly where it is and can quickly find it. And one more thing: be sure to ventilate the room so that the brain does not lack oxygen.
Step by step work
If you had to eat an elephant, what would you do? Logically, you would probably cut it into small pieces, right? The situation is exactly the same with serious tasks - it is much easier and faster to complete them by dividing them into several small stages and taking breaks between them.
If you, for example, have a large project, break it down into mini-projects, and if you set yourself a long-term goal, divide it into intermediate goals. Moreover, according to psychologists and personal effectiveness trainers, you first need to solve the most difficult tasks, as well as the less pleasant ones.
After complex and unpleasant tasks are completed, you can calmly move on to simple and more pleasant ones. This approach allows you to do what needs to be done without delay and finish what you have planned for the day faster. And for proper step-by-step work there is an excellent tool - the Eisenhower matrix, and we advise you to get acquainted with it.
Setting deadlines
Planning can be flexible, but you still need to have deadlines for completing tasks, because... they help you stay on schedule and avoid accumulating large amounts of tasks. But no less important are deadlines - the deadlines within which you must do this or that thing.
Even if you want to relax, rest and sit back (which, by the way, is also sometimes useful, because the body and brain need unloading and time to recover), there is nothing to worry about. But having a deadline will not let you get things started, because... it will act like an alarm clock. Plus, this way you can distribute time and workload more optimally.
Many people also note another positive effect of deadlines - if you start work when time is running out, you can achieve higher productivity, especially if you are responsible not only to yourself, but also to other people, for example, to the customer.
Pareto principle
We wrote in detail about the Pareto principle in the article of the same name, so here we will only point out the essence. This principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, allows you to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of any job. He says that 20% of efforts give 80% of results, and 80% of efforts give only 20% of results.
This means that you must understand which of your actions are the most effective, and which are not superfluous, but not so “fateful”. To do this, you need to analyze your affairs and determine those that belong to the 20% most important - those that give 80% of the result.
Once you do this, the remaining 80% of things can safely be classified as lower priorities. They can be done last, or even delegated - entrusted to other people. You will learn how to do this competently from the article “10 principles of delegation of authority.”
Rest according to schedule
A common phenomenon is when a person seems to be about to start work and, for example, sits down at the computer, but decides to finish his coffee and spend 5-10 minutes checking email or visiting social networks. As a result, 30-40 minutes (or even more) are wasted, and the work never starts.
Then the same thing happens at lunchtime and later: a person every now and then gives himself 5-10 minutes to rest, but loses much more time. Of course, you need to rest, but you need to do this at a clearly established time, so as not to get behind schedule and not become a victim of procrastination.
Our advice to you: distribute your working time so that 50 minutes are spent on work and 10 minutes on rest. Keep track of time carefully and don't allow yourself to be distracted more than you should. Another important recommendation: start the process first thing in the morning. This will make it much easier to follow the plan.
"No!" extraneous matters
Even if you are determined to work according to a strict plan, there may always be distractions. On the one hand, these are little things, but on the other hand, they can also waste the lion’s share of time. This includes smoking breaks, SMS, email, conversations on distant topics with colleagues, etc.
To increase your effectiveness, learn to let little things distract you. Put your phone on silent, ask your colleagues not to distract you, close all unnecessary tabs in your browser, remove from your desktop anything that can divert your attention away from your main activity, etc.
Don’t worry, because you can always do all the non-essential and pleasant things during short breaks, lunch or after work. And it’s even better if you set aside a couple of hours of time in the evening specifically for all this - when the main tasks of the day are completed, and you can do what you want with a clear conscience.
Finding Motivation
Without the motivation to do something, you will achieve nothing. The main motivator, as a rule, is love for one’s work. But sometimes even that is not enough. There are inexplicable changes in activity, mood swings, stress, and fatigue. All this is natural, because a person is not a robot.
However, you have the power to influence your own activity. To do this, you just need to know what exactly gives you strength and makes you work and act. This could be a walk in the fresh air, reading an interesting book, talking with a loved one, or something else. Or you can simply remember your goals and refresh your memory of what you are working for in the first place.
Proper nutrition and healthy sleep are also important for motivation. You shouldn't eat burgers and candy throughout the day, because... they deplete the nervous system. It is better to have a full lunch and snack from time to time with fruits and nuts, drink more water and green tea.
As for sleep, it is recommended to sleep at least 8 hours a day - this is exactly the time the body needs for proper rest. For especially busy people, there are alternative ways to sleep, but sleep should not be neglected in any case. If you sleep enough and eat normal food, you will always be filled with energy for new achievements.
Overcoming fear and laziness
Laziness is a big obstacle to personal effectiveness and success, just like fear, especially fear of change. When a person is afraid, he loses self-control and sobriety of thinking, as well as stability, which often serves as a guarantor of a successful and fulfilling life.
But if it is quite possible to fight laziness on your own (read the article “Causes of laziness and ways to combat them”), then it is much more difficult to overcome the fear of change alone. And many people use their age as an excuse for their inability to cope with it.
If you are young, it is much easier for you to decide on something new, but if you are already, say, over 30 or 40, thoughts are already arising in your head about whether it is worth changing something, whether you are able to start living a new life (oddly enough, a huge number of people think about personal effectiveness at this age).
But we believe that fear should not become an obstacle. And there are many examples of the fact that even in adulthood you can achieve success. Read, for example, about Harrison Ford, Suze Orman, Henry Ford, JK Rowling, Ray Kroc - they all decided to change after 30 and 40 years, and today the whole world knows about them.
But it doesn't matter how old you are. You should not allow laziness and fear to make you less active, flexible and pliable. Under no circumstances should you stop developing either after school, or after graduating from college, or after getting a job, even if it is quite successful.
Engage in personal development, gain new knowledge and master new skills, train your brain - this will guarantee your intellectual and professional growth, as well as a great way to always remain an energetic person. And you can learn about how to overcome fears from our articles “Overcoming Fear” and “How to Work with Fears.”
Leaving your comfort zone
This topic is directly related to fear. A comfort zone is the conditions in which a person is accustomed to existing (living, working, spending time, etc.). And often it is she who does not allow him to achieve new results, and if he cannot go beyond the usual boundaries in one thing, then he will not succeed in another, because a certain attitude is formed.
But if you want to maximize your potential, you will have to go beyond your familiar boundaries, one way or another. Yes, the comfort zone promotes calm and even, to some extent, happiness, but at the same time it makes you mark time and feel that something is still wrong in life.
Successful and effective people never stop there and strive to expand their comfort zone, because this allows them to move forward and develop. You should do the same, if, of course, you really decide to achieve success and surpass yourself.
We won't argue that leaving your comfort zone can be difficult. This is where laziness, fear of failure, doubt, and the influence of people come into play. But you need to understand that this is precisely what prevents you from opening up and starting to use your real capabilities. If you manage to push these interferences into the background, your comfort zone will gradually expand.
We cover this topic more fully and objectively in the article “Comfort Zone: Pros and Cons,” and about how to learn to get out of it in the article “Ways to get out of the comfort zone.” We strongly advise you to familiarize yourself with them, because... they contain a lot of useful recommendations for life and increasing personal effectiveness.
Self-education
You probably already realized that there is no one way to increase personal effectiveness. In fact, this is serious work on yourself, and the work is complex. This includes everything that we have already talked about, plus systematic self-education and expansion of your knowledge.
Self-education concerns not only studies or the professional sphere, but all life in general. Reading books, studying history and current trends in various fields, getting to know people's psychology and motivation, learning how to handle money and giving up unproductive habits, and much more.
The more information you absorb (of course, filtering it and discarding what is unnecessary), the more you learn, the more you are able to apply and do, the more powerful and productive you become as an individual. This is called maximizing your potential. Therefore, one of the basic rules is constant and comprehensive development.
All of the above can be attributed to the main methods that allow a person to become more effective. If you start using even a few of them, you are guaranteed to become more organized, disciplined and productive. But there's something else we'd like to talk about: creating the habits of highly effective people.
We need to find a balance
It cannot be said that one is more important than the other. Both indicators need to be improved. Yes, it's nice to achieve your goals and keep your promises to yourself, but first you need to evaluate the costs.
Keep track of how much time and resources you have invested in achieving your goal. If your productivity is so high that there are many errors in the results of your work, which later require additional attention, the law of diminishing returns comes into force. The same thing happens when you think only about quality and become perfectionists. Fear of failure prevents you from performing at your optimal level.
Habits of Highly Effective People
In general, there are three good and useful habits that will help you take your productivity to the next level. The first is the ability to complete any task started. The second is to practice all your actions to achieve the desired result until it becomes automatic. And the third is hard work on yourself without self-pity and any indulgences.
But there are other important habits worthy of attention. Almost all successful and outstanding people talk about them, including the world-famous American writer, business coach and professional in the field of personal effectiveness Brian Tracy. It is his list of important habits that we want to introduce you to.
According to Brian Tracy (and according to the system he developed), people should make lists of goals and turn them into a concrete plan of action in order to understand not only what they need, but also how and with what help they can achieve all this. But let's make what we said a little more specific.
Here are Tracy's recommendations for those who want to become more effective in life and work:
- Be sure to define precise goals and make lists of them:
- prioritize goals and objectives – both current and long-term;
- do daily, weekly and monthly planning;
- determine your primary tasks and do not hesitate in solving them;
- focus on the result;
- if you don’t have enough time, postpone unimportant tasks until later;
- divide everything you plan to do into several categories: important, necessary, desirable and optional;
- analyze and objectively evaluate what you have already achieved;
- divide your life into areas and identify three main tasks in each area;
- Before taking actions, think carefully and prepare;
- follow all planned points and stages of plans;
- improve yourself regularly;
- develop your abilities and improve in their application;
- objectively identify your shortcomings and do everything to eliminate them;
- develop self-discipline;
- organize your internal reserves;
- stimulate and motivate yourself;
- stop using the computer at least one day a week;
- break complex tasks into smaller ones;
- do the most unpleasant things first;
- optimize your time;
- do not put off matters and tasks assigned to you;
- Work on only one task at a time.
Brian Tracy himself strictly follows these recommendations, and, probably, this is what allowed him to become a famous and successful person who can safely say that he is extremely effective and his life has been a complete success. Moreover, he shares his achievements and ideas with people - he has many bestsellers under his belt. We also have excellent material about how this person manages his time - “Time Management: Tips from Brian Tracy,” which is also worth reading.
Among other things, we advise you to start at least gradually giving up spending endless hours on social networks, and also stop depending on smartphones, because these things have become the real scourge of a modern person. Of course, you cannot deny their benefits, but you also need to interact with them competently, and not just anyhow.
Private profitability indicators
There are several profitability indicators that can be used to analyze the economic efficiency of a company.
The return on fixed capital ratio indicates the efficiency of using the company's fixed assets. It is the quotient of net profit divided by half the amount of funds used at the beginning and end of the reporting period. This ratio shows how much profit falls on one unit of household assets used.
The return on equity ratio complements and specifies the previous indicator. It is defined as the quotient of net profit divided by the average annual equity capital.
The return on fixed assets is calculated by dividing net profit by the volume (average annual) of fixed assets used by the enterprise. This indicator characterizes the efficiency of business assets that are implemented in the organization's fixed assets.
The profitability of long-term financial investments is calculated by the ratio of the interest received by the organization from participation in the capital of other organizations to the average annual value of financial investments. Shows whether it is wise to use your own funds for investments or whether it is more appropriate to use them to expand your activities.
The payback period of equity capital is calculated by dividing the value (average annual) of equity capital by net profit. Shows how effectively the enterprise's capital is managed. Profitability indicators link the results of current activities with material resources, which reflect the effectiveness of all activities of the organization. These indicators are important for investors to make decisions about possible investments in this organization.
Summary
Personal effectiveness serves as the basis for success in any area of life, in any business or endeavor. Without working on it, we will never become truly successful people, will not achieve prosperity and will not be able to climb the social ladder, but will remain ordinary people with an unknown result in life.
The methods we have discussed for increasing personal effectiveness are quite simple and are suitable for any person, but it is up to you whether you can derive any benefit from them. So think about how well you use your time, opportunities and resources.
Your personal effectiveness will be higher if you find a balance between workload and rest, learn to prioritize and focus on specific tasks, and if you begin to develop the right habits that lead not to dependence and low self-esteem, but to freedom and happiness.
If the topic is relevant to you and you need a detailed study of goal-setting, planning, and global time management skills, sign up for the course “ Best time management techniques .”
And as an afterword, we decided to present you with an interesting video with a speech by an expert and consultant on time management and personal effectiveness, the creator of the acclaimed GTD method of increasing personal effectiveness and the author of amazing books, David Allen. Take an hour of your time to watch. We guarantee that this will not be a waste, but a valuable investment in your success and improving your quality of life. We wish you well-being, prosperity and, of course, high efficiency!
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We also recommend reading:
- Storytelling
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- Simple Time Management Tools: A Brief Overview
- Four steps to create a personal development plan
- Effective planning
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- Why are 92% of goals not achieved and how to join the 8%?
- A Guide to Creating a Personal Development Plan
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Key words:1Time control, 2Time
Effective - what is it (synonyms for the word)
“Effective” means successful, bringing a return on the invested effort and (or) funds.
Synonyms for the word “effective” can be:
- leading to the desired results
- giving the greatest effect
- cost-effective
- productive
- productive
- productive
- fruitful
- valid
- successful
- useful
- profitable
- practical
Beginning of development
Personal effectiveness of a person appears in everyone immediately from birth. And it develops constantly, especially in childhood and adolescence. For this reason, we have to pay special attention to this area. After all, it is the effectiveness of the individual that is the key to success in the future.
We can say that the first rudiments of the concept in question arise when the child begins to understand what is happening around him. Already by 6 months, effectiveness makes itself felt on an unconscious level. But with age you have to improve it, and also realize its full significance.
Personal effectiveness will not develop on its own. Every time we have a goal or desire, we have to turn to this “cell of the mind.” If you organize this or that process correctly, you can achieve maximum results; this has long been an obvious fact. So our today's term is really the key to success in this or that business.
