O6 - Me productive? Check!
Objective: To improve the student's organizational and productivity skills in the work or academic area.
Description: The student should implement the following exercises in his/her daily life for a 1 week in order to become more productive and organized:
● Plan the day's activities in advance → scientist Gloria Mark, from the University of California, mentions that it takes people approximately 26 minutes to recover from a distraction, being prepared decreases that gap.
● Take breaks → setting time in the calendar to rest either between meetings or classes increases productivity and creativity. If possible, take 10 - 20 min. nap after lunch.
● Communication → if you have the availability, phone or go directly to your colleagues, will avoid possible misunderstandings that could occur via email as well as wasted time.
● Checklists → for repetitive or highly detailed tasks, that way, you decrease the number of errors.
● Space → keep both the physical and virtual environment arranged or accommodated according to your needs.
(Lavenda, 2021)
Afterward, you should reflect on what you learned from executing those activities with the following questions:
● How did I feel when putting the above exercises into practice?
● My productivity: did it decrease, stay the same, or increase?
● My organization: did it decrease, stay the same, or increase?
● Would I repeat it, what would I add?
Closing: Learning to manage our time and being organized allows individuals to perform their tasks more efficiently. Therefore, being organized increases productivity by saving time, reducing stress, being more creative, having less clutter, locating things more easily, and optimally meeting deadlines (Sexton, 2016).