If you could get back 40 hours a month, what would you do with it? Spend more time on your hobbies? Hang out with family and friends? Work? Sleep?
Getting that time back isn’t as farfetched as it may seem. But before you can work on reclaiming those 40 hours every month, you have to understand how you operate.
Which Productivity Personality Are You?
There are three types of people when it comes to productivity: Zen Masters, Wanderers, and Pig Pens. Think about your mode of operation to see where you fit.
Zen Master
You’ve always been organised. You’re in control of your time and space. In fact, the concept of time management seems unnecessary because it’s so natural.
But, if others could stop getting in your way, wouldn’t that be great?!
Wanderer
You have the heart and soul of a Zen Master, but something’s happened in the past few years. You’ve lost your way and you’re not sure how. You used to be organised. You used to be on time, but now you just can’t keep it all together anymore.
If you could learn where you got off track and how to get back to the place of order that you crave, how much would your life change?
Pig Pen
You’ve never been organised. You’ve never managed time well. It’s not that you aren’t successful, it’s that you’ve learned to succeed in spite of your natural tendency to create chaos.
How great would it be to find the order and time management you need without sacrificing your creativity and ability to build relationships?
Of these three productivity personalities, where do you see yourself?
An Overly Distracted World
Which Productivity Personality Are You? If you look at my life now, you’d assume I’m a Zen Master. But naturally, I’m a Pig Pen. I tend to create chaos wherever I go. You used to need a shovel to get from my office door to my desk!
But the chaos extended beyond my physical work space — it became a career problem.
When we were expecting my first child, I realised something needed to change. I knew that I couldn’t support my family with this kind of behaviour. So, I went to a therapist.
After just a few tests, he found the root of my issue. He said, “Ever heard of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder? You are off the charts! I can say with 99.99% accuracy, you’ve got it.”
Sure, my problems stemmed from my disorder, but really, we all battle distractions. As Seth Godin says, “We live in an ADHD world.” Yet, only 4-8% of our population has diagnosed Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
So, what about the rest of you? Where is this behaviour coming from? More importantly, what is it costing you?
It’s costing you 28% of your time to be exact. BaseX Research found the average knowledge worker (anyone not hammering a nail or lifting a shovel) loses 28% of their day due to interruptions and the recovery time associated with those interruptions.
This is where you’re losing time. And this is where you’ll get those 40 hours back.
But reclaiming your time isn’t just about understanding your personality. Now, you need make some changes. In our next post, we’ll talk about how multitasking causes many of those distractions — and what you can do about it.
