Caerberu

I’ve been listening to Brian Tracy’s 21 Ways to Double Your Productivity Audiobook and have found one of the lessons there to be very applicable and effective. To double your productivity, make a list of everything you have to do tomorrow. Make sure to write this list before you go to sleep.

On your next day, identify the tasks that are the most important or urgent, then do them. As you finish those tasks, crush them out.

I found this quite rewarding. Seeing how many tasks I’ve crushed out makes me feel good, since I know I’ve accomplished something useful for the day. It even spurs me to do just one more, and suddenly I’ve got the energy to extend beyond my normal working hours.

Here are the ways to double your time and increase your productivity, according to Brian Tracy:

• Make a DecisionDevelop Clear Goals and Objectives

  Plan Every Day in Advance

  Use the ABCDE Method (Mark A for your most important tasks, and E for your least. Resolve to do A tasks first before other less important tasks)

  Separate the Urgent from the Important

  Practice the Law of Forced Efficiency

  Apply the 80-20 Rule (20% of your tasks contribute to 80% of your results)

  Work at your Energy Peaks

  Practice Single Handling with Key Tasks

  Eat That Frog

  Organize Your Work Space

  Use Travel Time Productively

  Get Better at Your Key Tasks

  Work in Real Time

  Re-engineer Your Work

  Reinvent Yourself Annually

  Practice Zero-Based Thinking

  Set Clear Posteriorities

  Keep Your Life in Balance

  Plan Every Project Carefully

  Be Intensely Action Oriented

It feels good when you know you’ve used your time well–like working, spending it with people important to you, accomplishing stuff, tending to things that needed to be done.

That’s how I feel today. From waking up to before sleep, I was busy working on different things. It feels like this day was meaningful.

I remember listening to an audiobook about Leonardo da Vinci, in which it was stated that he often repeated the words “I shall never tire of being useful”, vocally or in writing. This urged him to accomplish his goals and do a lot each day.

Anyway, that’s it for today. Good night~

Enthusiasm is a really powerful thing to use in business, social, and personal matters. With it, one can work for hours on end without rest,and at the end of it still not feel tired at all. If one does feel tired, it is a tiredness that comes with a smile and with a satisfied feeling in your heart.

This was how I felt with this day. I felt enthusiastic about a thing that I’m preparing for. It’s actually for an event of some sort. Since I’m so enthusiastic about this, then I guess I should be an event planner in the future huh? Haha. Maybe so.

When a person is enthusiastic about something, no matter how difficult a thing is, it doesn’t feel stressful. Of course, it’s not easy to force enthusiasm. There are ways to conjure some enthusiasm, but in many cases, it will just come naturally when you do the things that you love, or, for my case, when you do things for the people you love.

Define enthusiasm?

The word enthusiasm comes from the greek enthousiasmos, meaning, inspiration or possession by a divine afflatus or a god. This definition is interesting because one becomes as if a different person when enthusiastic. Enthusiasm is credited for being one of the important factors for the success of influential people in life, as discussed in Napoleon Hill’s the Laws of Success.

How to be Enthusiastic

Honestly, I’m not so enthusiastic myself. For most areas in life, I feel bored or lethargic. But there are some cases that suddenly make me leap into life. I feel as though I’m a totally different individual, as though my previous limits are null, as though I an indeed possessed by a god–or maybe just a good, powerful spirit.

Body. A sound body is an important factor in ones enthusiasm. Eat well, drink water, get enough sleep and rest. Avoid stressful situations, if you can’t avoid them, then deal with them. Exercise! Walk a few blocks instead of riding the bus.

Mind. The mind is so powerful that even with a frail body, someone with a strong mind can still be enthusiastic, giving them power to affect change in their life. Influence your mind with the right thoughts. Listen to motivational speakers, read inspirational books, think positive! If you think you can do something, then you can do it, but if you think you can’t do it, then that’s also what you will get. The mind is one of the keys to success in life. Not IQ, academic grades, certificates and diploma, but ones mindset! Remember the three words from The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne: Thoughts become things! There is great wisdom in that statement.

Exercise your enthusiasm. Exercise your enthusiasm, and it will grow stronger. The more you practice enthusiasm, the easier it will come to you. It’s like a muscle, if you stop utilizing it, it will atrophy. But if you frequently practice enthusiasm in everything that you do, it will come more easily and naturally to you.

Do the things you love. Do the things you love! If you can’t, for reasons such as work that you need for a living but you’re not really interested in, then do your best to be enthusiastic about that work. There’s a thing called The Law of Increasing Returns. If you show that you are enthusiastic about your work, even if it’s not really what you love to do, then someone is bound to notice it. You’ll be surprised that you’ll get promotions, or find a better job.

Don’t force it. If you really feel down, then feel free to feel down. Don’t force it. Take a break. Release all the tension and stress. That done, it will be easier to be enthusiastic again the next couple of days. If you’re doing something that disturbs you or goes against your core persona, then stop. You don’t have to do it. Find something that you are in harmony with.