Maximum Productivity: Persistence
Life November 18th, 2008This article is part of a series called, “Maximum Productivity ” in which I’ll explore the topic of persistence.
See the rest of the series here:
Intro: Maximum Productivity: Series Introduction
Part 1: Maximum Productivity: Perspective
Part 2: Maximum Productivity: Attitude
Part 3: Maximum Productivity: Focus
Part 4: Maximum Productivity: Persistence
Part 5: Maximum Productivity: Adventure
Part 6: Maximum Productivity: Connections
Persistence is continuing to do something in all kinds of situations no matter what happens. Maximizing productivity definitely requires that since there are many difficulties and short term setbacks in learning to do new things and becoming productive.
Steps for Persistence
I’ve got 5 steps to follow to be persistent and I’ll outline how each of those can be applied for maximum productivity.
Step 1: Direction
- Auctions
- Blogs
- Discussion Boards
- E-commerce
- Forums
- Internet Marketing
- Online Advertising
- Online Payments
- Online security
- Personal webpages
- Search engines
- Search Engines Optimization
- Spam block
- Web design services
- Web directories
- Web hosting services
Being persistent is not enough. You need to be persistent at things that continues to steer you in the right direction. I love the analogy where a plane traveling from point A to point B is off course the majority of the time and just continually correcting that course to keep steering in the proper direction to get to the destination. If people would look at productivity the same way, they would realize they need to constantly be changing paths, using new tools, ideas and methods while always going in the right direction. You have to look past any one particular setback or failure, and continue to move forward regardless of that temporary setback. Knowing your direction and where you want to get with your productive tasks allows you to work in the right direction. That is the first step to being persistent with productivity.
Step 2:Plan
Once you know the direction, it’s important to make a plan to get there. It may be an elaborate plan or just a couple of simple steps, but as long as your plan moves you in the right direction, you make progress and can move to the next step. There are a number of ways to develop this plan and it is something you shouldn’t try to make perfect. Persistence relies on doing things over and over so the plan you start with can change and evolve over and over. Some of the ways you might want to consider building a plan are:
- Brainstorming ideas and just write down everything that comes to mind
- Think of things that have worked for you in the past
- Identify the people you could contact to get help from
- List new methods and techniques to try
- Research ways others have done the same things you want to do
Step 3:Prioritize
Once you have some plans or at least some possibilities, you need to look at prioritizing things. First you should prioritize your plans if you have a few ideas and look at which specific things you want to do. Make sure the plans make sense and that it is something you can work on. Do you have the resources to do it or do you need to find that still? Pick the things that you will be able to do or ensure your plan has steps that will get you what you need in order to then get started.
Step 4:Act
This step is simply doing what it takes to put your plan into action. While this often seems like it is making things sound easier then they are, that is not ever the case. Taking some action in your plan should not be difficult or elaborate. If you don’t know how to do something yet, then pick an action that will help you figure that out. Take an action to do some research or to learn more about the topic before you are ready to move ahead. There is always something you can do to make progress, even if it is small . That is the important part here in being productive and it will keep you from ever getting stuck for a long time.
Step 5:Repeat
The last step in to be persistent is to simply repeat these steps. Go back to step 1, to ensure you are still heading in the right direction. Keep your perspective in mind, your positive attitude and focus you’ve learned from my previous articles in this series and start these steps again. You can either reuse your plans, or adjust it as needed. Just keep repeating through these steps and you’re on the path to reaching your maximum productivity.
Repeat Your Successes
As you execute these steps and make a number of passes through them, you’ll learn some things that worked and some that didn’t. This is valuable to learn and use for continuing to improve your productivity. The things that work well for you are things you should look to repeat and enjoy the benefits of. Recognizing that progress definitely makes persistence a little easier and it will help to motivate you to keep working at it!
Don’t Make it Hard
Persistence is not something that will come quickly and it will certainly not come without a lot of mistakes along the way. Don’t make it hard for yourself by expecting too much too quickly and ensure you take your time to slowly learn this practice of persistence. You will have setbacks and sometimes the plans or actions you put in place won’t work or be productive. That’s OK. Just stop to learn from the mistake and go back to your steps and start again.
Prev: Maximum Productivity: Focus
Next: Maximum Productivity: Adventure
November 18th, 2008 at 9:00 AM
And be positive! Have the belief that you can (and are busy) doing it / achieving it.
Keep the feeling of that great outcome in mind.
Cheers
Juliet
November 18th, 2008 at 11:54 AM
It’s amazing that you’ve managed to outline here the exact model I’m using NOW to obtain the results I want in my life. Up until recently, I wasn’t applying any of the 5 steps you’ve outlined here, but I am now and it’s working wonders for all areas of my life.
I think it’s important that people stay positive, as Juliet explained above, and that they really enforce the concept of delayed gratification. The results won’t come overnight people, but if you keep taking step after step after step you’ll definitely get to where you aim to be.
Great article!
November 18th, 2008 at 8:03 PM
Hi Juliet. While you are definitely right that staying positive helps, I left that in my article on attitude a few days ago. Don’t you think if you do these 5 steps you will be persistent, regardless of attitude. I know there are some things I’m persistent at but I don’t enjoy them or feel great about them. Just a thought to challenge you a little, there is no doubt that it is related and helpful though…
Rahul, thanks for your comment as well. I’m happy to see you verify it yourself with something that works. I know it has for me as well.
November 18th, 2008 at 8:37 PM
Mike,
Thank you for the article. I thought of myself and I felt I “always” (insist: always) mess up at the step 5. I could never repeat things that I thought was good for me. I started exercising at home, then stopped. I stopped drinking during weekdays, I started drinking again. There are lots of things that we know are good but we could not keep doing it.
Why some people are better at repeating than others? Why are there people who never do things out of their routine and people who could never follow the routine?
Is it personalities?
Is it DNA?
Is it the age?
Is it discipline?
Is it environment?
Family?
Work?
Lifestyle?
All of these?
I think the step 5 is the key to successful persistence.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:02 PM
I too liked step 5. It helps to get us to not only become more persistent, but also to be sharper in our skills, allowing us reach maximum productivity with every single step.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:07 PM
Viriya and Daniel. Yes, this one is definitely the key to this area of productivity and like you mentioned, also the most difficult.
Personally, I think the main reason is that people don’t put much value on accomplishment when it is something small, they don’t value progress and instead seem to be disappointed that it was only 0.5 a pound lost or 2 visits to the gym or whatever it is. They discourage themselves from repeating instead of being happy with some results and then staying persistent at it to see more.
November 20th, 2008 at 1:52 AM
It’s been long time since I was repeating to everyone I met in my life that persistence is the crucial part to be successful in our life, considering all points you mentioned before are met, .
I tried to dedicate some time just to read your brilliant “Maximum Productivity” series. I admit that I discovered great tips that I would keep in mind to help improve myself:
Perspective: improve your life from the perspective filling your passion.
Attitude: always have that positive attitude.
Focus: thanks God that I wasn’t the only one who doesn’t watch TV.
Persistence: never stop improving what you have started, else you will have to start to build it again from the beginning.
Finally, I’m eagerly looking forward to the rest of the series, and “Connections” part is what I’m concerned at the most, as I have a problem in how to share what you have effectively with others.
Regards
Husain
November 20th, 2008 at 8:43 AM
Wow, thanks Husain. I’ve been waiting to read your comments. Your suspense factor has forced me to be highly engaged once I saw your comment. I think you have a nack at sharing things as you have also put your comments out to further some discussion.
I appreciate your comments on this series, it has definitely been the one I’ve spent the most time on for this site, ever! I hope I’ll do the series justice with my last one on connections. It was definitely the most difficult to write, but from my perspective and I know yours as well now, the most important.
Thanks for sharing!
November 20th, 2008 at 8:28 PM
Right from step one I enjoyed the analogy about a plane constantly readjusting and making small changes to stay on the correct flight path…
Our natural inclination is really just to give up or move on after a few goes at something – as you point out here, there is much more to being persistent and attaining maximum productivity. Cool, Mike.
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:08 AM
One of my biggest weaknesses was direction. I always had an idea of what I wanted to accomplish, but no single direction. My focus has sharpened and I’m accomplishing a lot more than just a few months ago.
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:13 AM
Thanks for the comment Karl. I just starting looking at your book, I didn’t realize it was online free! That’s awesome and I’ll look through it to see what’s all in it.I’ll probably buy a copy as well as I think it’d be a great gift for people as well.
Anyway, I think that a lot of people spent time on being creative and having ideas but they are not often enough in the right direction. People tend to shift one way then the other and temporarily forget what their purpose or direction really is so they don’t actually spend much time going the right way even though they are VERY busy and productive. Just on the wrong things…
Thanks for your comment!
November 30th, 2008 at 5:53 PM
Hi Mike,
I think that one of the keys to building persistence is to not allow one’s inner critic too much of one’s mental space when one makes mistakes or has setbacks on the way.
I had one particular habit I wanted to change and once I ignored my inner critic about previous “failed” attempts and introduced a daily accountablity tracker, I was able to change this habit permanently. Effective personal development takes time to fully mature – something at odds with having to be switched on 24/7.
Cheers
November 30th, 2008 at 5:59 PM
You’re absolutely right Ben! The difficult with this is staying positive and moving in the right directly still even after those stumbling points. You must learn to recognize smaller steps and slower progress than you might initially hope for. Continue doing that, and you can overcome anything, but you are right, you can’t simply do that immediately.
December 10th, 2008 at 8:02 AM
Great description, Mike. You clearly outline how to be persistence.
I remember a quote from Robert Collier : “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”
Always be success, Mike.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:42 PM
Persistence is key to success, but there is a fine line between persisting and flogging a dead horse. Defining this line can be quite a challenge, especially if emotions affect the decision making.