There’s a good reason why there are Seven Dimensions of Productivity: just one or two didn’t cover it.
Productivity is not just time management–if it was, all you’d need is a calendar and a watch to become insanely productive.
Focus goes hand in hand with time management– that’s part of how you learn to spend your time well. But there’s another piece: investment. That means learning to prioritize, to sort between all the tasks and projects vying for your attention and picking the right one. And sticking to it.
Once you’ve gotten focus, learned how to decrease distractibility and recover from interruption, then there’s getting organized. You’ve got to know where everything is from resources to skills to information so you don’t waste time, energy, and who knows what else trying to find things.
Ducks in a row? How is your follow through? That’s reliability not just with other people, with yourself, too.
In addition to mastering the art of keeping your promises, you’ve got to make sure you’re doing the right things. That means streamlining processes and monitoring results.
To direct the path to success, you need a strategy: a high level view that includes learning and insight, reflection and vision, roles and goals. With all those, you’ll be better able to implement the lessons of the past to direct actions of the future.
The capstone dimension is satisfaction and fulfillment. No amount of productivity is worth anything if there’s no purpose, no meaning. To meet the demands of tomorrow, you’ve gotta grow today–if not, you’ll get steamrolled. And if you’re checking stuff off your list but not getting any pleasure from the accomplishments, what’s the point?
And because all Seven Dimensions are important, that’s why you need balance between and among them. If you’re killing it on one or two, and tanking on another, you’re not going to get where you want to go and will be less likely to achieve your ultimate aspirations.
To get a handle on how your Seven Dimensions stack up, you can take a listen to this podcast. You’ll hear all the assessment questions you need to rate yourself on each Dimension in turn. Unlike other productivity systems and approaches, the Seven Dimensions will tell you exactly what areas you need to improve on and where you can lighten your touch some. If you're ready to get started on improving in one or more dimensions, join me here.
–
If you liked this post, you might like these, too:
Getting the Right Results: Create Some Unexpected Friction
Reliability: Putting People First
Strategy: An Interview with an Offer
Connect With Me