Which Personal Development Skills Boost Productivity?
Seeking to enhance your productivity through personal development, we’ve gathered insights from thirteen productivity experts, including productivity consultants and founders. They share skills ranging from practicing daily reflection to balancing activity with relaxation, offering a spectrum of strategies to elevate your efficiency and focus.
- Practice Daily Reflection
- Embrace Meditation
- Cultivate Self-Awareness
- Implement Time-Boxing
- Plan Realistically
- Maintain Holistic Health
- Achieve Clarity of Priorities
- Harness Deadline Power
- Uphold Personal Boundaries
- Master Time Management
- Focus on Top Three Goals
- Learn to Say No
- Balance Activity With Relaxation
Practice Daily Reflection
Daily reflection is one of the best personal development skills you can work on to boost your productivity. You can’t improve or change things you aren’t aware of. Take a few minutes each day to look back and reflect on what went well, what was tricky, and what you could do differently to build your self-awareness. The more aware you are, the more likely you are to listen to your body, adjust your habits, and be more productive.
Ashley Janssen, Productivity Consultant, Ashley Janssen Consulting
Embrace Meditation
Meditation! Meditation teaches you to notice when you are distracted and to come back into focus. I can tell when I haven’t been keeping up with my practice because distractions win out over focus.
Jamie Steele, Productivity Coach and Consultant, Tidy Your Time LLC
Cultivate Self-Awareness
The number one skill to master in order to increase productivity is self-awareness. Understanding how you best work is essential for getting things done; it helps you as well as those around you. If you struggle with time-blindness, for example, you can develop strategies to help mitigate the effects of that, but you can only do so if you are aware that the problem exists. Recognizing the roadblocks in front of you is always the first step to fixing them, and for that reason, self-development work will always be a worthwhile investment.
Caroline Guntur, Organizing & Productivity Coach, The Swedish Organizer LLC
Implement Time-Boxing
One productivity tool I believe in is time-boxing—divide your day into specific time blocks or divisions, with each division dedicated to one task or a set of related tasks only. While scheduling specific hours for work and fitness makes sense, many people forget to account for their social life as well. On the other hand, setting aside a specific block of your day to socialize also sounds a bit weird. However, once you get the hang of it, switching your focus and mindset between tasks becomes easier, and you can focus on being more present in the moment.
Manasvini Krishna, Founder, Boss as a Service
Plan Realistically
Realistic planning is a personal development skill that can skyrocket your productivity.
When you plan for the time you actually have, versus the time you wish you had, or not planning at all, you’re much more likely to accomplish the right things to move forward.
Without planning, without factoring in how much time things will take and when you’d do them, you’re left with a wishlist, hoping you’ll get it done and being frustrated when you don’t.
Planning also helps you to reckon with the fact that you can’t do all the things. When you plan, you’re forced to prioritize what’s actually important, since time is a finite resource.
Alexis Haselberger, Time Management and Productivity Coach, Alexis Haselberger Coaching and Consulting, Inc
Maintain Holistic Health
Besides breaking down goals into daily activities, maintaining my health—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual—has kept me energetic, focused, creative, and productive. Carving out time for exercise, relationships, and rest may seem to take away from productivity when, in reality, it boosts your effectiveness! You can only push so hard for so long before you crash. Burnout takes much more time to recover from than taking a little time every day to ensure your life is balanced.
Lorraine Bossé-Smith, Chief Solutions Officer, Concept One LLC
Achieve Clarity of Priorities
I think one personal development skill is cultivating clarity. Clarity, in the context of self-development, refers to having a deep understanding of what is truly important to you. This includes your values, aspirations, and long-term goals.
When you have clarity about your priorities, you can align your daily actions with your overarching objectives, enabling you to focus on tasks that truly matter.
Clarity can serve as a guiding beacon, allowing you to make decisions and prioritize tasks more effectively. By knowing what is important to you, you can streamline your efforts towards activities that contribute to your personal and professional growth. This focused approach minimizes distractions and prevents the dissipation of energy on non-essential pursuits, thereby enhancing overall productivity.
Moreover, clarity empowers you to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals. With a clear understanding of your objectives, you can create actionable plans and milestones, which serve as tangible markers of progress. This goal-oriented mindset fosters a sense of purpose and direction, motivating you to work consistently towards your desired outcomes.
Additionally, clarity facilitates effective decision-making. When you are aware of your core values and long-term vision, you can assess opportunities and challenges through a lens of alignment with your objectives. This discernment enables you to make choices that resonate with your authentic self and contribute to your personal and professional fulfillment.
Clarity can also promote resilience and adaptability. When faced with obstacles or setbacks, a clear sense of purpose and direction can provide the resilience needed to navigate challenges and stay committed to your goals. It also allows for agile adjustments to plans, ensuring that you remain focused on the most relevant and impactful actions.
Yemisi Iyilade, Founder & CEO, Eminent Coaching Academy
Harness Deadline Power
Time-box your work. I used to think that sitting at a page and rewriting the same sentence for hours was the right approach. Well, I was wrong. I was spending too much time overthinking the wrong things and not leaving enough energy to focus on the right things.
For example, if I set a goal of finishing the first draft of a blog post in one hour, I quickly learned I didn’t have time to overthink—I needed to get it done. The result wasn’t bad. It wasn’t great, but now I had something to work with. Then, I could time-box again to edit. What would have been stretched over a week, I cut down to about 3 hours, with what I believe is actually a stronger result.
Why this works for me is it enhances efficiency and also leaves me with more mental energy for creative and strategic thinking. It also harnesses the power of deadlines to boost focus and productivity. When you know you only have a limited time to accomplish something, you’re less likely to get bogged down by perfectionism. You start prioritizing progress over perfection.
Now go! Apply time-boxing to your tasks. Set specific timeframes for drafting, brainstorming, or tackling emails. This method will help you maintain momentum, prevent burnout, and achieve more in less time. All you need is a timer and a goal.
Chris Meador, Career Strategist & Executive Coach, Yes and Thinking
Uphold Personal Boundaries
Setting boundaries can be a controversial and uncomfortable topic, but it’s essential for maximizing productivity. Productivity hacks are effective, provided they align with your personality and you follow them consistently. They fail when boundaries are not upheld, and distractions seep in. While it’s important to be flexible with boundaries, they should not be disregarded completely to ensure we give our best to what we are doing.
Pavlina Atanasova, Founder, Master The Time
Master Time Management
Time management is essential for productivity. Knowing how to manage and utilize the time we have on our hands is a skill we need to practice and develop. We all have the same amount of time in a day; it’s how we manage that time that determines our productivity levels.
Michelle R. Merrill, Owner, Merrill Marketing Solutions
Focus on Top Three Goals
Effective goal setting is a crucial personal development skill to increase productivity. One approach to goal setting is focusing on the top three goals to achieve in a given time frame, be it a day, a week, or a month. By narrowing your focus to a limited number of high-priority goals, you can allocate your time and resources more effectively, avoiding the pitfalls of multitasking and scattered efforts.
This method helps in clarifying your priorities, ensuring that you are dedicating your energy to tasks that truly matter and will have the most significant impact on your productivity and progress.
Ethan Taub, CEO, Loanry
Learn to Say No
Learning to say no is one of the most important personal development skills to boost productivity. For many professionals, taking on more projects and responsibilities can seem like a great way to advance their careers. However, constantly saying yes can quickly lead to burnout and an overwhelming workload. Learning to say no to tasks that do not align with your goals or priorities allows you to focus on what truly matters and work more efficiently. This doesn’t mean you should say no to everything, but rather be strategic about what you agree to take on and ensure it aligns with your overall objectives.
Shawn Plummer, CEO, The Annuity Expert
Balance Activity With Relaxation
Balancing activity with relaxation is essential for productivity. Just as a good night’s sleep improves focus and performance, regular breaks during the day can prevent burnout and enhance overall productivity. Techniques such as the Pomodoro Technique, which involves working for 25 minutes and then taking a 5-minute break, can help maintain high levels of productivity without leading to burnout.
Moreover, incorporating activities that promote relaxation and mental well-being, such as meditation, yoga, or simply taking a walk, can help reset your focus and boost creativity. Remember, it’s not about working harder, but working smarter by ensuring you have the energy and mental clarity to perform at your best.
Vincent Schwarts, Founder, Four Star Leadership
