Whenever the term ‘productivity’ comes in mind there comes the term ‘time’ too as productivity is a rate i.e., amount of our output in a particular period of time. It sounds a little scientific but when something is directly or indirectly influenced by some factors it can be actually controlled or improved just by changing its use to optimum quantity. So simply there lies always the probability of improving our productivity. There are many factors which influence our productivity, let us first count them
- Time Management
- Direction of effort
- Taking pause at regular interval
- Width of our Horizon
- Depth of our knowledge and
- Acceptance for change.
Now let us understand how these factors influence our productivity and how we can improve it with their help:
Time is itself a remedy for all problems as well as an eloquent preacher of life. We should always use it effectively. But we all know even an excessive doses of medicine can be fatal i.e., investing excessive time in one thing may end up in exertion with no good to us. Productivity can be improved only when we invest optimum time in our work every day because everything has a capacity whether it is a machine or a human being.
Again, the direction of our hard work is very important in assessing our productivity. We should be always assured that the direction in which we are walking is leading to our destination. Otherwise leaving home to reach the destination without knowing the route to it, end up with harassment only.
Before understanding the width of a Horizon, we should know what is Horizon. It is a place where the earth and the sky meet as well as our minds and eyes. To experience an extraordinarily increasing graph of productivity one should try to expand it. The more we can catch the view, the more is the width. Expanding our horizons means expanding our knowledge and understanding of the subject in which we want to excel ourselves.
Now let us know how a pause or break can help us in improving our productivity. A regular and good break always refreshes us. Our body is designed in such a way that it needs to pause from the same and daily routine. To think broadly and openly our body and mind need an open ambiance. It rejuvenates and detoxifies our mind and thus enables us to work with more energy and simultaneously enhance our productivity.
The deeper we go the more we know. Depth of subject helps us to see every aspect of it like pros and cons, reasons and consequences, loss and benefit, etc. We can drive any car if we have good driving skills. However, when it comes to our own car on which we have good hands, we drive it complacently. To make it clearer I can say that, the better we know our car the better we can drive it.
One factor that directly influences our productivity is our readiness for learning new things or accepting changes or the tendency to modify ourselves to our updated version. Those who resist change are not really content with their performance in life but afraid of challenges and failure. We are required to keep space of learning in our own confined world as it is the only way that can lead us to win the race even staying within our fences. Changes should be welcome wholeheartedly for our betterment or good. Accepting changes keep our body fluid as fresh and pure as a flowing river. As we all know that stagnant water is always prone to get contaminated and on the other hand moving water can refine itself on its own. Collectively it can be said that drifting towards learning and acquiring new things can eventually improve our productivity.
The way different factors influence our productivity, it has also different meanings to individuals. Productivity can stand differently to an entrepreneur, an employee, a student, a homemaker, a retired person etc. For an entrepreneur it is the measure of company’s production process which indirectly depends on various things like his/her company’s business strategy, employee’s performance, expenses etc. Whereas for an employee productivity is self-assessment of his/her performance and growth. For a student it can be his/her progress report as well as development. A homemaker can see it in house expenses control or his/her personal development and for a retired person it may lies in peace, happiness and spending time with family. So, what can be concluded from this is that the meaning of productivity changes from person to person because of their ages or stages of life, their profession, their situations as well as their goals in life.
One thing which is really interesting to know is that we all are born with our own sunglasses. These sunglasses are given to us by the culture of our surroundings, society, city or country. So, considering the biggest among these i.e., country say Indians are born with blue sunglasses that suggests that Indians can see everything blue through them. And at the same time people living in Japan are born with yellow sunglasses and can see everything yellow in surrounding. Now if an Indian has to move to Japan for his/her further life and in spite of all effort he/she is not able to match their earlier productivity level is only because they can see everything green over there. It means what they can see is not only different from what they are habituated of but even different from what others can see. So, to see the surrounding yellow an Indian would require to replace the blue sunglasses with a yellow one after moving to Japan. These so-called sunglasses are actually our perspective or point of view. Sometimes we are required to change our way of looking at things to get them done.
Now the genuine question that should arise in your mind after knowing all these is that how can you improve your productivity. So, the answer lies in the summary of this article itself i.e., first by understanding the meaning of productivity that stands for you, secondly recognizing and controlling the factors which influence it and last but not the least by changing your perspectives of looking at things whenever the time as well as place demands for it.