18 Aug How to Increase Productivity and Become more Ambitious
No matter what job you do or what challenge you undertake, the ultimate goal is to give it all you’ve got, seeking to improve and getting the best results from it. Your goals may be climbing up the corporate ladder or earning more money by closing more deals, getting up earlier in the morning and managing your business more effectively, working out regularly and obtaining a high level of physical fitness, etc. There are a couple of constants when it comes to success in a wide range of different areas, and these are productivity and ambition. You can also call them hard work and drive, or dedication and passion, but the same core concepts remain.
It is important to put in the work day after day, and to be focused during your work hours. If you can manage this and set some fairly high goals for yourself, you will get very far, even when faced with tough competition. So, how does one cultivate the work ethics, confidence and focus that would allow them to be as productive as they can and become more ambitious? There are a few things you can do to improve your chances of success.
Overcoming the fear of change
Fear of change or failure and lack of motivation are things that will kill your productivity and turn you into a mindless corporate zombie, toiling away at a pointless and boring job for very little money. Once you give up on any dreams, get comfortable where you are and start settling for less, there is virtually no turning back from the downward spiral. It may be in our nature to fear change and uncertainty, but you can work on overcoming this fear. Face it head on – drown the negative voice in your head with cold facts and positive thoughts, get out of your comfort zone and make a bunch of small changes in your day to day life. Go to a dancing class, speak to a crowd of people, rearrange your furniture, go with a new hairstyle – this way, you’ll learn how to effectively face your anxiety and make big changes easier to deal with.
Boosting your confidence
Once you’ve managed to get at least some control over your fear – remember, it will always be there, you’ll just learn how to deal with it – you’ll need to improve your confidence. You need to believe that you deserve more and that you are capable of achieving more. The best way to boost confidence is to make both physical and psychological changes. Going to the gym regularly, engaging in combat sports or martial arts, learning new skills, developing a positive attitude, going out more and speaking to new people – these are all good ways of improving your confidence. Becoming comfortable with your physical appearance and personality takes time, but you can manage to steadily improve your body and mind, while at the same time accepting who you are deep down inside and trying to make yourself happy.
Shutting off stray thoughts and improving focus
No amount of confidence and ambition will help you much if you are a procrastinator who can’t focus on work. The internet has made slacking off incredibly easy, so it is going to take a lot of determination and patience to clear your mind of stray thoughts and “get in the zone” at work. Recommending breathing exercises and meditation has become a big cliché nowadays – there’s more whacky hippies and yoga instructors online than you can shake a stick at – but exercises like these do work and can help you learn how to calm your mind and take some control over your thought process and emotions. Start off light, doing some 5-10 minutes of meditation once or twice a day and taking the time to breathe deeply and slowly for a couple of minutes when you get stressed out or lose focus, but be diligent and keep doing it every single day. There are a bunch of breathing exercises designed to address various issues like anxiety and anger.
Surrounding yourself with powerful, intelligent and capable people
People will often tell you about the importance of networking and socializing for promoting your career or growing your business, but having the right people around you is about much more than just asking for favors, getting insider information or engaging in tit for tat deals. Having a strong network of friends, colleagues, business associates and acquaintances, who are at your level or better than you in some way is highly beneficial, as it allows you to learn new things and forces you to work hard to keep up. Such capable, successful, skillful, intelligent, experienced and strong-willed people can offer you a lot of wisdom and become a huge source of inspiration. Talk to such people, make them your friends and try to learn from them as much as you can. In the internet era, it can be quite simple to connect with some of the top influencers or join groups that offer advice and share experiences.
Developing a plan of action
Now, if you can manage to gradually improve your confidence, knowledge and productivity over time, it will not go unnoticed. However, although actions can speak louder than words, you will need to choose the right actions to take and focus your efforts on achieving particular goals. By narrowing your field of view – e.g. focusing on getting close to the boss, improving your skill set, making 50% more sales – you will be able to tackle tasks more efficiently and reach your ultimate goal one step at a time. Choose smaller goals based on how much closer they can get you to succeeding in your mission and set some milestones to help you gauge your progress, stay on course and give yourself enough motivation to keep going.
A lot of hard work is needed to turn yourself into a disciplined little worker ant who is laser focused on his goal. Stick to your plan, step out of your comfort zone, put in maximal effort every single day and give yourself some time to recharge your batteries so you don’t burn out – that is how you get closer and closer to making your dreams come true.
