Do you want to become more productive? Read this

2024-01-10 23:15:00

Do you know what stops you from getting to work when procrastination threatens you? (Photo: 123RF)

RHéveil-matin is a daily column where we present managers and their employees with inspiring solutions to start their day off right. While sipping your favorite beverage, discover new tips to make your 9@5 productive and stimulating.

WAKE-UP-MORNING. Have you made a resolution to be more productive in 2024? Not so fast.

Before adopting the new fashionable formula that the apostles extol, courtesy of the survivor’s bias, you should take the time to ask yourself why you are struggling to tackle the task.

This is one of the main pieces of advice given by trained speech therapist and work organization enthusiast Marie-Philippe Rodrigue in the book “The paradox of the chicken with no head”.

Drawing on her readings in recent years and her love-hate relationship with productivity, the author invites us in this 190-page work published in 2023 to go beyond the simple desire to always do more, in order to truly identify the needs that we wish to fill.

Certainly in this book she provides several tips for becoming more efficient, such as voluntarily allowing more time for each task you wish to accomplish, reducing distractions by blocking periods of deep concentration in your schedule or turning off your notifications, or yet to count on a timesheet the minutes actually spent on each of the things carried out in the same day.

However, rather than stupidly applying the proposed solutions, she repeatedly urges the reader to take the time to think about what is blocking them on their journey to productivity.

When procrastination looms over you, for example, she suggests identifying the reasons that are “keeping you from getting on with the task.” So, by pinpointing what is holding you back, you will be able to adopt truly appropriate solutions.

As part of her speech therapy practice, for example, writing her reports has become a much less daunting task since she created outlines that allow her to avoid omitting important details, a fear that used to be paralyzed, she says candidly.

“Being effective is not the simple fact of using “tricks”, you have to know when to use them and why to use them,” writes Marie-Philippe Rodrigue.

Debunking Productivity Myths

The book also serves as a balm for all those people out of breath who try to do more and more, explaining along the way the reasons why it is so difficult to concentrate, or even why it seems so attractive to flounder at a task. to the other rather than devoting oneself to only one at a time.

Above all, the speech therapist and consultant gives back the nobility to breaks, to these “changes of pace” so beneficial to productivity, despite the label of laziness that we too often attach to them.

She recommends taking a moment to analyze the persecuting thoughts that we repeat to ourselves profusely when we procrastinate in order here too to put our finger on what is causing this inertia. Is it the fear of judgment, of failure, of unforeseen events or of the magnitude of the task, for example, that prevents you from moving forward? Recognizing this is the first step to deconstructing preconceived ideas and often well-entrenched productivity myths.

Beyond the many benefits of breaks, Marie-Philippe Rodrigue advocates “active procrastination”, or the action of starting a task or project and letting it simmer, a valuable tool that allows her to see if it really fits with her goals. its priorities. These moments of stopping and reflection therefore save him time, allowing him to become more efficient.