Why Your Productivity Isn’t Where You Want It to Be
Psychological mistakes that hurt your productivity
You’ve probably noticed that in spite of your best intentions, you often manage to only accomplish a little real work each day. Research shows that only about one in four people leave work at the end of each day having completed the tasks that they planned to finish. It’s common for people to feel as if they’ve been busy all day, but still haven’t got around to the things that matter.
While you don’t want to be a work machine, it does feel good to be efficient, to solve key problems, and to reach important goals. If you aren’t sure why you’re unable to get there, the answer could be that you make one of several common psychological mistakes that hold you back.
You’re overconfident about how much productive time you have each day
Creative conceptualizing, planning, and skill-building, all require your undivided attention for hours together. You might head to work each morning believing that you have 8 to 10 hours to focus on the things that you really care about, and plan your goals accordingly.
For many, however, their entire day is taken up by email, quick conversations with colleagues, and so on. There’s some research to…
