There are a plethora of personal productivity methods out there.
It can be difficult to discern which methods are effective.
It’s also worth noting that any method that works for you may not work for the next person.
Effective productivity methods depend largely on an individual’s unique personality.
You also need to overcome any mental hindrances that could stop you from fully implementing your chosen method.
In this week’s Mindset Monday article I am going to provide a brief overview of three popular methods that are proven to be effective: Personal Kanban, Eat the Frog, and SMART goals.
Let’s take a deeper look at each of these three methods. (follow the links for more details).
1. Personal Kanban
Personal Kanban instructs you to compile all of the tasks and assignments you need to get done in a “to-do” folder.
Once you’ve listed all of your tasks, you then move the most important tasks, usually three at a time, to an “in progress” folder.
Once you finish those three goals, you can move them to a folder marked “done” or “complete.”
Doing this keeps you focused on certain tasks until they’re complete before going in another direction with a new set of tasks.
This method is best for anyone who likes to follow a strict schedule that they can see.
2. Eat The Frog
In the Eat The Frog method, you need to determine which of your tasks is the most time-consuming or cumbersome.
This is usually the hardest and most important task in your day.
Once you’ve determined the most important task, you should complete it first thing in the morning.
Conquering the hardest task first thing in the morning keeps you from procrastinating.
Plus, when the hardest job is out of the way, you have more enthusiasm to complete smaller, secondary tasks.
3. SMART Goals
SMART Goals refer to the criteria your goals must meet in order to achieve them.
SMART is an acronym that represents the following:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
The goals you set should be clearly stated and simple to follow, while also being easily measurable.
By this, we mean you should fully understand the goal you’ve set and the amount of time it may take to achieve it.
These goals should also be reasonable and attainable as you prioritise any goals that have specific time limits.
See below for more tips on goal-setting.
