subject: How Having Fun Can Make You That Much More Productive [print this page] There are many ways to become more productive, but one of the simplest is to find tasks and goals that excite and motivate you. Having fun can be great source of motivation and most people find that they are most productive when doing things that interest and excite them. The key to happiness is finding what excites you and allowing it to motivate you.
If you tend to procrastinate, you probably admire the highly motivated and productive people who seem to have it all together. How do they do it? Most of them are accomplishing goals that excite them and bring them happiness. If you feel like you are doing something amazing, you are far more likely to stick with it. I know that I have a much easier time sticking to my goals when they seem meaningful. Getting excited about your work is important as it gives you a reason to succeed!
Many of us, myself included, find their day jobs rather boring. However, we all know that these jobs pay our bills, so we stick with them day after day. I am a terrible when it comes to procrastination. I put things off until the very last minute when suddenly a deadline is looming and I know I must work productively or I will never finish. In this situation, the looming deadline is what is giving me motivation and making me excited about the work I am doing. Even though the work itself is not exciting, it is made so by the threat of not completing it on time. Once I do meet the deadline, I find happiness in knowing I succeeded.
Another example of excitement playing into productivity is the work habits of my college years. In most of my classes, I did only the minimum work required of me. I would miss deadlines if there were no consequences and would not do any work that was not necessary. Years later, I realize that this was because there was nothing exciting to me in these courses. In my business classes, I felt as though I was learning something meaningful. In these courses, I always did my very best, handed in my projects on time, and went above and beyond what was expected of me. That was because I had excitement to motivate me. Success in these classes brought me happiness.
The key to increasing your productivity may be as simple as finding work that is meaningful to you. In some cases, this can be done quite easily. However, many of us are not in the position to quit our jobs and start a new line of work, so we must find excitement in the things we already have to do. Setting your own deadlines can be one way to bring excitement to the tasks you must complete. Looking at the big picture can also help.
Another key step towards increasing productivity is organizing your office and workspace. One key element that many of us need to address is our address books. My personal contact lists are full of multiple entries and repeat contacts. Thankfully, there is software that can help you streamline these lists and reorganize them.
