by Fatima Sheikh | May 27, 2021 | Personal Growth
Many see self-discipline as a very difficult trait to develop and attribute it to characteristics belonging to only a few. When it comes to the aspect of self-development, it is easier to discuss a range of topics in this area than discuss self-discipline.
Years of living in a boarding school have thought me a lot about self-discipline and the traits I developed have helped me achieve goals I thought were never possible thereby making me stand out amongst my peers. Simple habits like waking up early and going to bed early can tremendously groom you to be focused and help you achieve your objectives easier.
As simple as it might sound, self-discipline is a very powerful trait, and if possessed by an individual can keep you ahead of many. At first, developing a structured disciplined path might seem difficult, but just like a muscle, the more you work on developing and using it, the stronger it becomes. Self-discipline is not limited to career growth, imbibing a disciplined routine in your normal day-to-day activities such as health, lifestyle choices, relationships, financial decisions, and a personal life choice always boosts your self-esteem and keeps you on top of your game.
The formula for mastering self-discipline is simple, begin by setting a goal, find motivation, Identify obstacles, replace old habits, be consistent, push yourself regardless of how you are feeling emotionally follow through with your intention and hard work. Still, wondering why you need to master self-discipline?
Reasons Why You Should Master Self-discipline
1. It Helps You Gain Self-control and Inner Strength
We live in a time where everything is available with a single click; we are bombarded daily with a chunk of options for every issue. Having a sense of control of your decision can go a long way in helping you stay focused on your goals.
It might be developing a healthy routine to shade some weight or daily habits to help you achieve your career goals, mastering self-discipline will help you develop that self-control to keep you focused and going.
2. Self-discipline Keeps You Going and Motivated
The past few months have been a tough one on everyone with the Covid19 lockdown. Many got infected with the virus, some losing loved ones, jobs, and everyone has to stay away indoors without socializing for months. This took a toll on everyone directly or indirectly and in a situation like this, we all need a source of motivation to keep us going and never giving up.
Life will always throw lemons at you but you need to make lemonade out of them. Having a strict regime to help you achieve your set goals will help you stay motivated to keep going and never giving up.
3. Boost Your Self-confidence
Self-confidence is a trait many struggles with, in my last article, I share a list of tips and advice on how to overcome low self-confidence and stand out amongst the crowd. If you are on a journey to build your self-confidence, mastering the art of self-discipline will make it easier for you to achieve your goal.
Developing a disciplined regime will keep you going making it easier for you to achieve your goals thereby giving you that self-confidence boost.
4. Keeps You Focused on Achieving Your Goal
One in five people are procrastinators and 20 per cent of U.S. men and women are chronic procrastinators, they delay at home, work, school and in relationships.
Dr Ferrari
This statistic is also not different from in other places around the world. To beat this habit of giving up on your goal, you will need a schedule and set of disciplined routines to keep you in check.
Mastering self-discipline will keep you focused on your goals and make it easier for you to achieve them.
5. You Become the Best Version of Yourself When You Master Self-discipline
Everyone is panicking about robots taking over their jobs in the future, although machines and modern technological innovation are already taking people out of the job market. Sooner or later modern technology will advance to a level where only experts in a field will be required. Don’t panic, this might take a while to fully come to existence.
Robots and machines are fully dependents on people, so robots and machines will still need experts to manage them. This breeds room for competition and the need to improve your skills and expertise to be amongst the best in your field.
Mastering self-discipline in all areas of your life including education, career, and skills accusation will make you a better version of yourself and make it easier for you to be recognized amongst the top in your area.
Conclusion
When it comes to topics like self-discipline, there is never enough tips and strategy to help guide you to achieve mastery. Self-discipline is a vital skill if included in your daily routine and all aspects of your life such as daily routine, house chores, education, career, relationship, and self-development would go a long way in moulding you to be the best version of yourself thereby making you amongst the few successful lots. It is also one of the daily habits of successful people.
There are books, materials, and videos that can guide you step by step on how to master self-discipline. With hard work and consistency, you will be a master of self-discipline. The secret of your success lays in your daily routine.
Finally, what are some of the ways that have helped you become more disciplined? Tell me in the comments section!
by Happiness Hassan | May 19, 2021 | Personal Growth
Are you a boss or a manager? If yes, do you get disturbed about how to improve productivity in the workplace to enhance your business growth? Clearly yes! The goal of every business is to achieve maximum profit and attain progressive growth. However, the success of a business irrespective of the years of establishment is influenced by its level of productivity.
Nonetheless, productivity is attained by deliberate actions. Being productive in the workplace centres on how employees can carry out their assigned duties effectively. Therefore, in this post, we will discuss 10 practical steps on how to improve productivity in the workplace.
10 Ways to Improve Productivity in the Workplace
1. Build a Healthy Working Relationship
As a boss, the relationship between you and your employees contributes to business productivity. Do you treat your employees harshly? Like nagging, giving disrespectful comments, imposing your will, unnecessary deduction of salary, delay in payments, overburdening them with duties, and more.
If you engage in any of such behaviour you should make amends if truly you seek the progress of your business. In contrast, be open to suggestions, treat them with respect, communicate effectively and be simple.
Remember, the happiness of your employees boosts productivity.
2. Delegate Duties at Workplace
Division of labour makes works easier and faster. Therefore, duties should be divided among employees without bias. To experience high productivity be conscious of how you delegate duties. No employee should be given fewer duties whereas another is overburdened with duties.
Unbalanced delegation of duties disorganizes a business workflow. In addition, division of labour reduces stress.
3. Inculcate Time Management Attitude
Are you time conscious? If yes, how long does it take your employees to finish a task? Effective time management practice enhances productivity. Whereas, spending too much time on a single task decreases productivity. To achieve this, tedious tasks should be carried out first and assigned to more employees for quick accomplishment.
Similarly, working hours should be scheduled with the needful activities. In addition, unnecessary meetings or activities are to be erased from the schedule. There is no need for a staff meeting when the information can be passed across via emails or text messages.
4. Assign Duties Based on Specialization
There is beauty in diversity. Likewise, productivity is achieved as employees function in their field of expertise, they input their best at work. As a boss delegate duties based on their skills, capacity, and strength.
For instance, a customer relations officer won’t perform exceptionally in the office of an accountant. These employees will get into lots of trouble miscalculating. Perhaps, reduce working speed to avoid errors. However, excellence will be achieved when he is placed in the area of his strength.
5. Schedule Time for Seminars and Training
One of the responsibilities of a manager is to ensure that his/her business employees advance in terms of skills and knowledge. Therefore, if you’re curious about how to improve productivity in the workplace you need to work on your employees. Our world is continuously changing, likewise the business world. Hence, the knowledge base used 20 years ago wouldn’t be sufficient to produce maximum productivity in this current age.
In essence, your business needs to grow with the trending skills and knowledge. Therefore, seminars and workshops are useful platforms to achieve this. This provides a medium for your employees to learn profitable skills. Their increased knowledge equals productivity.
6. Provide the Right Tools and Equipment
It’s difficult to achieve a result when there aren’t functioning tools to work with. Similarly, substandard equipment will strain your employees. For instance, an organization computing data manually wouldn’t produce an effective result as a company computing data using an excel spreadsheet application.
Working with the right tools boost speed, reduces stress, and produces maximum output.
7. Reward and Appreciate Your Workers
Employees will always give in their best when appreciated. Therefore, don’t hesitate to commend your staff when you observe their excellent performance and output. It motivates them to do better next time and inspires other staff.
Furthermore, don’t stop at commendation, when staff is due for promotion be quick to give that employee the upgrade. Note that no appreciation decreases productivity.
8. Minimize Distraction at Workplace
Productivity is achieved when there is maximum concentration towards the set goal and assignment. Hence, to see your staff work effectively remove every possible source of distraction.
A low distraction policy should be enacted in your company such as no phone calls during working hours, no excess free time, and no discussion while working. These kinds of policies enhance employees concentration at work
9. Create a Conducive Working Environment
Your company location and environment Influence the input of your employees. A harsh working environment burns out productivity and may affect their health. Therefore, as a manager don’t search far to learn how to improve productivity in the workplace. Simply look within.
Little changes like having a conducive working environment can make a difference and enhance productivity. Your working environment shouldn’t be congested, exposed to any form of pollution, having limited cross-ventilation among others, All these inconveniences hinder the productivity of your staff and your business growth.
10. Set Deadlines
Duties assigned with deadlines are quickly done compared to those without deadlines. This is because the deadline makes employees up and doing. Helps them focus more on the set goals. It’s also an effective time-management principle. A company gets to lose potential clients when they fail to meet up deadlines.
Likewise, a company loses productivity when duties are not done with immediate effect.
Conclusion
The longevity and success of a business are influenced by its productivity. Therefore, how to improve productivity in the workplace will require that you skillfully plan your employees working schedules. However, to experience a smooth workflow one or two goals should be set at a time and achieved before stepping higher to accomplish other goals.
Hence, the application of these methods will enhance your worker’s concentration, make them happy with their job and minimize stress. Furthermore, join the discussion in the comment section by sharing your thoughts.
by Aeesha McOsei | Nov 25, 2020 | Personal Growth
Sometimes, we as humans burden ourselves with so much to do that we end up not being able to achieve much or do anything at all. Or we become demotivated and overwhelmed by the weight of what we need to accomplish. Becoming unproductive is not uncommon, and everyone has experienced it at least once.
Take these following steps in stride as they will help you in performing better and increasing your productivity.
How to Increase Productivity in 10 Ways
1. Start Your Day Right
Firstly, start your mornings well. I believe that your mornings determine how your day will be. An unenergetic morning may be one of the promoters of unproductivity. To increase productivity, you should gracefully start your day, putting yourself to a good start.
Getting adequate hours of sleep, sleeping in the correct position, reducing screen time before bed, etc. are some of the ways to get enough rest and wake up with a fresh start every day.
Try learning how to be a morning person if you are not one. You can also carve out a morning routine or ritual that fits into schedule and belief. A well-ordered morning will have a good impact on daily productivity than a rushed and undefined one.
2. Be Purposeful
Begin each day with a clear picture of what you want to achieve. A cleared path is easy to follow than a murky one. Being purposeful is not about your day alone but your life as a whole. You should seek your purpose continuously as you paddle through life, readjusting it as you go through different stages.
3. Set Timely Goals
In addition to being purposeful about your day, set goals. These can be long, mid, or short-term goals that resonate with the purpose you have set for yourself. Ensure that your targets are tailor-made for you and are achievable within the time frame.
4. Create a Realistic To-Do List
Do not, in the hunger to be more productive, make a list of things that is impossible for you to achieve. Doing this will worsen the situation and result in even less productivity. However, you should not make an unreasonably scanty to-do list when you can achieve more. A to-do list keeps you in check as to what your day-to-day life should revolve around.
5. Link Your Goals to the Items on Your To-Do List
Every item on your to-do list should have a connection to the bigger picture. For example, if your goal is to read more, then your to-do list should contain an item that makes that goal attainable. It can be reading a few pages per day or going out to get more books.
6. Ditch Procrastination
Procrastination is the thief of time. If you want to increase your productivity, you need to set fire to procrastination. Although most times misinterpreted as laziness, they are different. You can learn how to get rid of procrastination in these 7 easy steps. (link article)
7. Take Pauses
In case you’re unaware, you are not a machine. Even machines break down if they are used for long without stops. Learn to take pauses during work schedule as this will boost your productivity. Take a walk around the office, or a scheduled nap or game, etc. Nonetheless, be cautious of taking too long pauses that will take your mind off work and plunge you into another bout of unproductivity.
8. Stop Multitasking
When you do too many things at once, you tend to achieve less. You may get a false sense of doing many things, but you get too little done this way. Set your tasks in chronological order and take on each one at a time. Do this, and you will see how much more you achieve at the end.
9. Use the Reward System
Reward yourself when you achieve a goal or accompany a task. The reward should be in direct proportion to the goal achieved.
10. Be Fair to Yourself
Be fair when setting your purpose, your goals, and creating your to-do list. Do not push yourself to limits that you are unable to cope with. If you do this, you are setting yourself up to be less productive. Also, speak kindly to yourself when you are unable to finish a task in time or end up doing things outside your set goals.
Conclusion
You are only human, and humans are meant to falter. It is equally important that you do not, because of one slip out, ditch your whole plan. Pick yourself up and keep going even after you slip. Nobody figures it all out in one day.
